SIMPLE SOLOMON
“When Solomon staked his reputation for wisdom as well as originality on the assertion that there is nothing new under the sun, he did not think some day the Cubist painter, the Futurist artist, and the color musician would rise in the twentieth century and make him ridiculous. There is something new under the sun even in these departures, and like everything original since the first sin, the innovations are now roundly condemned.
“It is the fashion now to condemn the Cubist and the Futurist in art, even as not long ago it was the fashion to condemn the realist, the impressionist and the Post-Impressionist; but it is a peculiar tribute to the authority of an innovation that it requires such a general attack of condemnation. A trivial thing requires mere neglect; a war of condemnation implies some strong and virile thing to be subdued.
“These new things have a substantial basis for existence; else they would not exist. Their novelty has caused some extravagant adherents to carry them to unreasonable excess. They have abused the discoveries, not used them. They will pass away but the new principles will survive.
“The cubist takes his cue from the idea of perspective itself—carried to excess. No one can imagine anything but straight lines as the basis for ‘vanishing points.’ Curved lines, while apparent and obvious, are not the scientific representations of actualities. The things we see strike the eye on the basis of flat images and our imagination brings out shape and significance. It is but a simple reversal to present flat art and give the imagination equal play in reconstructing real images in the eye.
“If we take a half-tone engraving and examine it with a magnifying glass we find it is a series of holes of uniform size but more or less dense on the surface according to the requirements of light, shade and line. Magnify a half-tone 100 times and we have a large grating of black and white circles or squares. That is cubist art. It requires a slight shift in the point of view, a little development and stimulation of the imagination—nothing more.
“When Gulliver visited the Brobdingnagians and viewed the complexions of their women at close range, it almost made him sick—yet they were noted beauties. He looked too close. When they looked at him they observed no complexion—they looked too far. Yet each had a concrete complexion and the only trouble was the point of view and the shock of comparison.
“The futurists have a very novel and, at this time, an outlandish art. One of them has a full page picture used as an advertisement of the peculiar sound of a horn. It is a picture of a sound that saws its way through other sounds. There is a straight, fan-like picture for a constant, augmenting note, rising in scale. It is gray. There is a black ellipse for a loud varying noise of fairly regular variation of note, and so on. The foreign noise of the horn is shown as utterly unlike in form, intensity, regularity or harmony, any other sound.
“If one has a diagram one can understand the futurist art and, when one understands, he approves. The new arts are simply aids to comparison, discrimination and inspiration. They have all the delights of wine-tasting or salad-judging—and some salads are vile.
“The color musician has developed only another exercise in discrimination. If we were to make mathematics of music we would find that there is an exact relation between the number of vibrations of notes an octave apart; a constant relation between the vibrations in the natural and the sharp; a direct ratio between the vibrations of the notes in a chord; a formula for harmony and another for discord. It is an interesting mathematical study, a science as well as an art, and it proves that our appreciation through the senses is based on natural mathematical sequences and on well understood ratios, seasoned for variety’s sake by divergences from type.
“Now the color musician has taken the spectrum and made notes out of it like the notes on the gamut. He has a color-scale and can do as much on it for the delight of the eye as a musician can with the musical scale for the ear. He merely brings out an extra way of enjoying distinctions and of enjoying that most restful of enjoyable things—conventionality. The certainty and the satisfaction of the conventional is about the most assuring thing in all experience. There is no more steadying feeling in all the world than to know that two and two make four, and that c-a-t spells cat. The more ways by which we can be assured of the belief we hold by faith, that there is an uniform, unchanging, all-pervading rule in the world, arguing an individual, mastering central consciousness and direction, the happier we are.
“The cubists and the futurists and the color musicians may be faddists, but they help to drive out old Solomon’s pessimism. They help us to understand by purely human experience how it is that there may be some things which even humans cannot understand—but which are.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ENGLISH
In attempting this bibliography of the modern movement in art, the search in periodical literature in England, France, and Germany has been carried back no farther than 1908.
Is Art a Failure? by Robert Fowler. Nineteenth Century, July, 1912.
Art, A New Venture in. Exhibition at the Omega Workshops. Times, July 9, 1913.
Bakst, Leon. Art Exhibitions. A Great Designer. Times, June 17, 1912. Morning Post, June 18, 1912.
Bakst, Leon. Exhibition. Athenaeum, July 6, 1912.
Berlin Secession. For short notices on see “Studio”: LI, p. 241; LI, p. 328; LII, p. 68; LII, p. 153; LII, p. 240; LIII, p. 324; LIV, p. 84; LV, p. 59; LV, p. 249; LVI, p. 241.
Cézanne. Article by Maurice Denis. Burlington Magazine, XVI Part I, p. 207; Part II, p. 275.
Cézanne. Manet and the French Impressionists. Pissaro—Claude Monet—Sisley—Rénoir—Berthe Morisot—Cézanne—Guillaume. Translated by J. E. Crawford Flitch. Illustrated with 34 etchings, 4 wood engravings, and 32 reproductions in half-tone No. 9 by Theodore Duret. J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, 1910.
Cézanne. Cézanne and Gauguin. Athenaeum, Dec. 2, 1911.
Cézanne. Cézanne and Gauguin. London Times, Nov. 28, 1911.
Courbet. Exhibition. Times, March 8, 1911.
Cubists. Cubism. Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger. Translated from the French, with illustrations. T. Fisher Unwin, 1912.
Drama and Art, The New Spirit in. Huntley Carter. London, Frank Palmer, 1912.
Futurists. Athenaeum, March 9, 1912.
Futurists. Spectator, March 16, 1912.
Futurists. The Initial Manifesto of Futurism. F. T. Marinetti. Printed in the Catalogue of Exhibition in the Sackville Gallery, London, of works by the Italian Futurist painters, March, 1912.
Futurists. Severini (Gino). Introduction to catalogue of his pictures on view at the Marlborough Galleries, Duke street, London, 1913.
Gauguin. Cézanne and Gauguin. London Times, Nov. 28, 1911.
Harrison, Frederic. Aischro Latreia—The Cult of the Foul. Nineteenth Century, February, 1912.
Hind, C. Lewis. The Consolations of a Critic. London, A. and C. Black, 1911.
Hourticg, Louis. Art in France. London, Heinemann, 1911.
Huneker, James. Promenades of an Impressionist.
Impressionists. The Post Impressionists. Article by Clutton-Brock (A), Burlington Magazine, XVIII, p. 216.
International Society. Exhibitions. Times, April 8, 1911; Spectator, April 15, 1911.
London Salon. See Times July 8, 1911; July 30, 1912, Effects of Artistic Freedom; July 7, 1913.
MacColl, D. S. Ugliness, Beauty and Mr. Frederic Harrison. Nineteenth Century, March, 1912.
Maillol. The Sculpture of Maillol. Roger Fry. Burlington Magazine, XVII, p. 26.
Meier-Graefe, Alfred Julius. Modern Art, Being a Contribution to a New System of Aesthetics. Translated from the German by Florence Simmons and George W. Chrystal. 2 vols. London, 1908.
Munich Neue Vereinigung. Studio, LIII, p. 320.
New English Art Club Exhibition. Spectator, Nov. 30, 1912.
Post Impressionists. The Post Impressionists. C. Lewis Hind. London, Methuen & Co., 1911.
Post Impressionists. Review of Mr. Hind’s Book. Athenaeum, July 8, 1911.
Post Impressionists. Notes on the Post Impressionist Painters at the Grafton Galleries. C. J. Holmes. 1910-1911.
Post Impressionists. On Post Impressionism. Sir William Richmond. Times, Jan. 10, 1911.
Post Impressionists. Pages on Art. Charles Ricketts. Containing article on Post-Impressionism at the Grafton Gallery. London, Constable & Co., 1913.
Post Impressionists. French Artists of Today. London, Heinemann, 1912.
Post Impressionists. From Impressionism to the Spectral Palette. H. P. H. Friswell. Saturday Review, Feb. 23, 1901.
Post Impressionists. Foreword to catalogue of exhibition by Frank Rutter. Doré Galleries, London.
Post Impressionists. Letter on The Post Impressionists at the Grafton Gallery. A. Warren Dow. Spectator, Oct. 12, 1912.
Post Impressionists. Athenaeum, Jan. 7, 1911; December, 1911.
Post Impressionists. A Year of Post-Impressionism. D. S. MacColl. Nineteenth Century, February, 1912; “The Spectral Palette,” Saturday Review, Feb. 9, 1901.
Post Impressionists. The Post Impressionist and Others. Yoshio Markino. Nineteenth Century, February, 1913.
Revolution in Art. Athenaeum, Feb. 4, 1911.
Rodin, Auguste. Art. From the French of Paul Gsell. London, Hodder & Stoughton.
Sculpture. Gills, Eric. Times, Jan. 27, 1911.
Sculpture. Post Impressionist Sculptures. Athenaeum, Jan. 28, 1911.
Sculpture. The Sculpture of Maillol. Roger Fry. Burlington Magazine, XVII, p. 26.
Van Gogh. The Letters of a Post Impressionist, Being the Familiar Correspondence of Vincent Van Gogh. Translated from the German by Anthony M. Ludovici. London, Constable & Co., 1912.
Van Gogh. Review of V. Van Gogh’s Letters. Athenaeum, Dec. 21, 1912.
Van Gogh. Riefstahl, R. Meyer. Part I, Vincent Van Gogh, Burlington Magazine, XVIII, p. 91; Part II, Van Gogh’s Style in Relation to Nature, Burlington Magazine, XVIII, p. 155.
Van Gogh. The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh. F. Melian Stawell (review) Burlington Magazine, XVIX, p. 152.
FRENCH
Apollinaire, Guillaume. Meditations esthétiques. Les peintres cubistes. 1ère série: Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Jean Metzinger, Albert Gleizes, Juan Gris, Mlle. Marie Laurencin, Fernand Léger, Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp, Duchamp Villon. Paris, Eug. Figuière, 1913. In-40, 84 p. et 46 planches, reproductions.
Bernard, Emile. Souvenirs sur P. Cézanne. Paris, office central de librairie, 5 rue Palatine, 1908. In-12.
Buzzi, Paolo. Aeroplani. Canti alati di Paolo Buzzi. Col. IIe Proclama futurista di F. T. Marinetti. Milano, edizione di Poesia, 1909. In-16, 282 p.
Denis, Maurice. Théories 1890-1910. Du symbolisme et de Gauguin vers un nouvel ordre classique. Paris, Bibliothèque de l’occident, 17 rue Eble, 1912. In-80, 272 p.
Duhem, Henri. Impressions d’art contemporain. Paris, Eug. Figuière, 1913. In-120, 382 p.
Gleizes, Albert et Metzinger, Jean. Du cubisme. Paris, Eug. Figuière, 1912. In-40, 80, 44 p., et 30 pl., reproductions.
Guy, Michel. Le dernier état de la peinture. Paris, Union française d’édition, Le Feu, 1911. In-16, plaquette.
Letalle, Abel. Idées et figurations d’art. Paris, E. Sansot, 1911. In-160.
Marinetti, F. T. Le futurisme. Paris, E. Sansot, 1911. In-12, 240 p. La Iere édition italienne est de.
Marinetti, F. T. Coupées électriques. Drama en trois actes avec une préface sur le futurisme. Paris, E. Sansot, 1909. In-12, 194 p.
Marinetti, F. T. Le monoplan du pape, roman politique en vers libres. Paris, E. Sansot, 1913. In-16, 349 p.
Les peintres futuristes italiens. Exposition du Lundi 5, au Mardi 24 Février 1912. Paris, Bernheim, Jeune, 1912. Oct. In-16, 32 p., 8 fig. ou reproductions.
Catalogues des peintres futuristes et sculpteurs. Paris, Bernheim-Jeune, 1912. In-16. Même opuscule que le précédent à peu de chose près 3 éditions: en français, en anglais, en italien.
Mellerio, André. Le mouvement idéaliste en peinture. Paris, H. Floury, 1896. In-80, 75 p.
Mellerio, André. L’Exposition de 1900 et l’impressionnisme. Paris, H. Floury, 1900. In-80, 48 p.
Nocq, Henry. Tendances nouvelles. Enquête sur l’évolution des industries d’art. Paris, H. Floury, 1896. In-80, 204 p.
Salmon, André. La jeune peinture française. Paris, Société des Trente. Albert Messein, 1910. In-80, 124 p.
Lors paraître prochainement du même auteur:
Salmon, André. La jeune sculpture française. Paris, Société des Trente. Albert Messein, 1912. In-80.
Signac, Paul. D’Eugène Delacroix au néo-impressionnisme. Paris, Floury, 1911. In-80, 120 p. (nouvelle édition) La Iere édition en 1899.
Uhde, J. B. Henri Rousseau, (dit Rousseau le Douanier) Paris, Eug. Figuière, 1913. In-40, avec reproductions.
EN PRÉPARATION.
Morisse, Charles. Gauguin. In-80. Chez l’éditeur H. Floury, Boulevard des Capucines, Paris.
A noter pour paraître prochainement sous la direction de Guillaume Apollinaire, à la librairie Eugène Figuière à Paris, 7 rue Corneille; Une volume sur Cézanne, sur Seurat, sur Dégas, sur Rénois, par des auteurs différents. Une volume également sur Les peintres orphiques par Guillaume Apollinaire lui-même.
À noter aussi l’ouvrage suivant:
Rénoir. Album de quarante reproductions dont 4 fac-similés en couleur et 36 phototypes. Préface d’Octave Mirebeau. Texte des plus notoires écrivains de tous les pays. Paris, chez Bernheim-Jeune, 28 boulevard de la Madeleine, 1913. In folio.
ARTICLES.
Alexandre, Arsène. Maurice Denis. Signé: Arsène Alexandre. In-40, 6 pages, 5 reproductions. L’art et les artistes. Tome VIII, Janvier, 1909.
Apollinaire, Guillaume. Henri Matisse. Signé: Guillaume Apollinaire. In-80, 5 pages, et 3 reproductions. La Phalange. No. du 15 Décembre, 1907.
Aurel. L’Ensiegnement d’Emile-Antoine Bourdelle. Signé: Aurel. In-80, 14 p. La Phalange. No. du 20 Mars, 1912.
Bertaux, Emile. Notes sur le Gréco. I. Les Portraits. II. L’Italienne. III. Le Byzantisme. 3 articles dans de revue de l’art ancien et moderne, Années: 1911, Juin; 1912, Décembre et 1913, Janvier. Nombreuses reproductions et planches hors texte.
Besson, Georges. Le grand palais aux bestiaux. Signé: Georges Besson. In-80, 5 pages. La Phalange. No. du 20 Décembre, 1912.
Bricaut, Jean. Essai sur la couleur. Signé: Jean Bricaut. In-80, 5 pages. La Phalange. No. du 20 Avril, 1913.
Cornu, Paul. Bernard Naudin, dessinateur et graveur. Signé: Paul Cornu. Les Cahiers du Centre. 40 Série, Mars, 1913.
A noter dans cette même revue; La Phalange—Léon Werth puis Georges Besson rédigent le mois du peintre donnet à propos des différentes expositions à la galerie Bernheim-Jeune, à la Galerie Volard et autres, des aperçus et des considerations souvent fort intéressants sur le cubisme et le néo-impressionisme et sur de nombreux artistes tels que Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Rénois, Cissaro, Seurat, etc.
Dans de Mercure de France, Charles Morisse, puis Gustave Kahn, font le même sous la rubrique Art et art moderne.
Cousturier, Lucie. Georges Seurat. (1889-1891.) Signé: Lucie Cousturier. In-40, 16 pages, 15 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 174, 20 Juin, 1912.
Cousturier, Lucie. Pierre Bonnard. Signé: Lucie Cousturier. In-40, 16 pages, 16 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 186, 20 Décembre, 1912.
Cousturier, Lucie. Henri-Edmond Cross. Signé: Lucie Cousturier. In-40, 16 pages, 15 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 189, Mars, 1913.
Cousturier, Lucie. Maurice Denis. Signé: Lucie Cousturier. In-40, 16 pages, 16 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 191, Mai, 1913.
Denis, Maurice. Maillol. (Aristide.) Signé: Maurice Denis. In-40, 6 p., 5 reproductions. L’art et les artistes. Tome VIII, Janvier, 1909.
Deverin, Edouard. Paul-Emile Colin. Signé: Edouard Deverin. In-40, 8 pages, 7 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 190, Avril, 1913.
Faure, Elie. Paul Cézanne. Signé: Elie Faure. In-40, 16 pages, 17 reproductions dont 1 en couleur. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 157, Octobre, 1911.
Faure, Elie. Francisco Iturino. Signé: Elie Faure. In-40, 4 p., 3 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 178, 20 Août, 1912.
Godet, Pierre. Vincent Van Gogh. Signé: Pierre Godet. In-40, 16 p., 14 reproductions dont une en couleur. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 156, Septembre, 1911.
Godet, Pierre. Puvis de Chavannes et la peinture d’aujourd’hui. Signé: Pierre Godet. In-40, 16 pages, 13 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 164, Janvier, 1912.
Godet, Pierre. Un peintre suisse. Cuno Amiet. Signé: Pierre Godet. In-40, 10 pages, 11 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 171, 5 Mai, 1912.
Guy, Michel. Paul Gauguin. Signé: Michel Guy. In-40, 16 pages, 13 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 151, Avril, 1911.
Guy, Michel. Les Fauves. Signé: Michel Guy. In-89, 9 pages. La Phalange. No. du 15, Septembre, 1907.
Guy, Michel, van Gogh. Signé: Michel Guy. In-80. La Phalange. No. du 15, Février, 1908.
Henri, Frantz. La Collection Henri Rouart. Signé: Henri Frantz. In-40, 31 pages et 32 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 185, 5 Décembre, 1912. Contient de nombreux aperçus sur des œuvres des peintres impressionistes tels que Cézanne, Rénoir, Monet, Degois, etc.
Laenen, Jean. Jacob Smits. Signé: Jean Laenen. In-40, 9 pages, 8 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 121, Octobre, 1908.
Marval, Jacqueline, Les danseurs de Flandrin. Signé: Jacqueline Marval. In-40, 12 pages, 12 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 190, Avril, 1913.
Mauclain, Camille. Gaston Crunier. Signé: Camille Mauclain. In-40, 12 pages, 14 reproductions et 1 planche en couleur hors texte. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 139, Avril, 1910.
Meier-Graefe, J. Grêco peintre baroque. Signé: J. Meier-Graefe. Trav. de l’allemand par Pierre Godet. In-40, 36 pages, 35 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 182, 20 Octobre, 1912.
Ritter, William. Frank Brangwyn. Signé: William Ritter. In-40, 14 p., 14 reproductions. L’art décoratif, revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 144, Septembre, 1910.
Rivière, Jacques. Coussin et la peinture contemporaine. Signé: Jacques Rivière. In-40, 16 pages, 14 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 167, Mars, 1912.
Salmon, André. Odilon Rédon. Signé: André Salmon. In-40, 16 pages, 16 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 187, Janvier, 1913.
Salmon, André. Marie Laurencin. Signé: André Salmon. In-40, 6 pages, et 6 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. Nos. 194-198, Août-Septembre, 1913.
Tougendhold, Jacques. Borissoff Moussatoff. Signé: Jacques Tougendhold. In-40, 12 pages, 13 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 188, Février, 1913.
Vauxcelles, Louis. A propos des bois sculptes de Paul Gauguin. In-160, 2 pages, 3 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 148, Janvier, 1911.
Werth, Léon. Aristide Maillol. Signé: Léon Werth. In-40, 16 pages, 16 reproductions. Art décoratif. Revue de l’art ancien et de la vie artistique moderne. No. 188, Février, 1913.