National Art Education Association

Primitive and Folk Jewelry by Martin GerlachReview by: Harold J. McWhinnieArt Education, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Feb., 1972), pp. 30+32Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3191733 .

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EDWARD HOPPER. Text by Lloyd Goodrich. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1971. 272 pages. $50.00 When Edward Hopper was asked what it was that he was after in his nostalgic painting "Sun in an Empty Room" he replied, "I'm after me." In all of his hauntingly melancholic canvases one does feel that the artist is searching to establish a sense of the eternal and a personal identity for his own ego.

Born on July 22, 1882, in Nyack on the Hudson River just north of New York City Edward Hopper died in his studio at No. 3 Washington Square North in Manhattan on May 15, 1967, at the age of 84. (During the summer of 1971 a group of people interested in preserving as a memorial the house where Edward and his sister grew up began a fund-raising campaign at the home of painter Rodolfo Mishaan who lives nearby.)

Hopper had his first successful one man show at the Frank Rehn Gallery in 1924. The show of 11 watercolors was a sell-out, and five additional pictures were brought to the gallery and sold. This was also the year when at the age of 42 he married Josephine Verstille Nivison who was also a painter whose quick wit and volu- bility were exactly opposite to Hop- per's quiet slowness.

Hopper early in his career estab- lished a style and direction for his art which he never changed except to improve upon. His realism remained uncompromised through all the ma- jor movements and art fads that in- fluenced the nearly seven decades of his life as a painter.

He was obviously thinking of his own experience as an artist when he wrote:

"In every artist's development the germ of the later work is always found in the earlier. The nucleus around which the artist's intellect builds his work is himself, the cen- tral ego, personality or whatever it may be called, and this changes little from birth to death. What he once was, he always is, with slight modification. Changing fashions in methods or subject matter alter him little or not at all."

"The only real influence I've ever had," he once said, "was myself."

The Whitney Museum's September 10-October 24, 1971, exhibit of the 157 paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints drawn from more than 1,000 items, the entire contents of his

EDWARD HOPPER. Text by Lloyd Goodrich. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1971. 272 pages. $50.00 When Edward Hopper was asked what it was that he was after in his nostalgic painting "Sun in an Empty Room" he replied, "I'm after me." In all of his hauntingly melancholic canvases one does feel that the artist is searching to establish a sense of the eternal and a personal identity for his own ego.

Born on July 22, 1882, in Nyack on the Hudson River just north of New York City Edward Hopper died in his studio at No. 3 Washington Square North in Manhattan on May 15, 1967, at the age of 84. (During the summer of 1971 a group of people interested in preserving as a memorial the house where Edward and his sister grew up began a fund-raising campaign at the home of painter Rodolfo Mishaan who lives nearby.)

Hopper had his first successful one man show at the Frank Rehn Gallery in 1924. The show of 11 watercolors was a sell-out, and five additional pictures were brought to the gallery and sold. This was also the year when at the age of 42 he married Josephine Verstille Nivison who was also a painter whose quick wit and volu- bility were exactly opposite to Hop- per's quiet slowness.

Hopper early in his career estab- lished a style and direction for his art which he never changed except to improve upon. His realism remained uncompromised through all the ma- jor movements and art fads that in- fluenced the nearly seven decades of his life as a painter.

He was obviously thinking of his own experience as an artist when he wrote:

"In every artist's development the germ of the later work is always found in the earlier. The nucleus around which the artist's intellect builds his work is himself, the cen- tral ego, personality or whatever it may be called, and this changes little from birth to death. What he once was, he always is, with slight modification. Changing fashions in methods or subject matter alter him little or not at all."

"The only real influence I've ever had," he once said, "was myself."

The Whitney Museum's September 10-October 24, 1971, exhibit of the 157 paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints drawn from more than 1,000 items, the entire contents of his studio, which Hopper willed to the Museum, further underscores the painter's directness of style, simplicity of composition, and poetic nostalgia with which he endowed his work.

Hopper imbued his canvases with

studio, which Hopper willed to the Museum, further underscores the painter's directness of style, simplicity of composition, and poetic nostalgia with which he endowed his work.

Hopper imbued his canvases with

a sense of privacy and aloneness whether the subject was a street, a house, a room, or a person. Using his intuitive feeling for structuring light into his composition he developed a nostalgic desolation as the mood for most of his paintings. One senses that the scene is an instantaneous picture captured in the complex seeing ap- paratus of the artist in the interval be- tween the blinking of an eyelid.

Lloyd Goodrich, a close friend of Hopper, contributes the knowledge- able commentaries distributed throughout the pages of the hand- some volume.

Goodrich first saw Hopper's work in 1926 and at that time said: "I felt a new vision and new viewpoint on the contemporary world had ap- peared." A comment that remains valid 35 years later.

Hopper's paintings and drawings included in the book are a fine selec- tion from his total oeuvre and bring a better understanding to the reader of the breadth and sensitivity of the artist as one of America's finest native painters. His realism is not literal. Discriminatingly he uses memory and observation to reconstruct a compo- sition into a personal and subjective statement. In writing about his paint- ing "Cape Cod Evening" he said: "It is no exact rendering of a place, but pieced together from sketches and mental impressions of things in the vicinity."

As it is with most artists, the crea- tive act is complex and difficult to explain in specific and detailed steps. It is an intellectual and emotional in- volvement combined in the act of expressively creating art. The result is the conversion of reality into a pictorial image.

For Hopper, painting was a slow and difficult process often preceded by many sketches and drawings.

Three statements made by Hopper during a period spanning an interval of nearly a quarter of a century are included in the volume. Comments from each of these quotations in- clude the following:

"In its larger and irrevocable sense it is the art of all time; of definite personalities that remains forever modern by the fundamental truth that is in them. Moliere at his greatest is as new as Ibsen, Giotto as modern as Cezanne." "My aim in painting, using nature as the medium is to try to project upon canvas my most intimate re-

a sense of privacy and aloneness whether the subject was a street, a house, a room, or a person. Using his intuitive feeling for structuring light into his composition he developed a nostalgic desolation as the mood for most of his paintings. One senses that the scene is an instantaneous picture captured in the complex seeing ap- paratus of the artist in the interval be- tween the blinking of an eyelid.

Lloyd Goodrich, a close friend of Hopper, contributes the knowledge- able commentaries distributed throughout the pages of the hand- some volume.

Goodrich first saw Hopper's work in 1926 and at that time said: "I felt a new vision and new viewpoint on the contemporary world had ap- peared." A comment that remains valid 35 years later.

Hopper's paintings and drawings included in the book are a fine selec- tion from his total oeuvre and bring a better understanding to the reader of the breadth and sensitivity of the artist as one of America's finest native painters. His realism is not literal. Discriminatingly he uses memory and observation to reconstruct a compo- sition into a personal and subjective statement. In writing about his paint- ing "Cape Cod Evening" he said: "It is no exact rendering of a place, but pieced together from sketches and mental impressions of things in the vicinity."

As it is with most artists, the crea- tive act is complex and difficult to explain in specific and detailed steps. It is an intellectual and emotional in- volvement combined in the act of expressively creating art. The result is the conversion of reality into a pictorial image.

For Hopper, painting was a slow and difficult process often preceded by many sketches and drawings.

Three statements made by Hopper during a period spanning an interval of nearly a quarter of a century are included in the volume. Comments from each of these quotations in- clude the following:

"In its larger and irrevocable sense it is the art of all time; of definite personalities that remains forever modern by the fundamental truth that is in them. Moliere at his greatest is as new as Ibsen, Giotto as modern as Cezanne." "My aim in painting, using nature as the medium is to try to project upon canvas my most intimate re- action to the subject as it appears when I like it most; when these facts are given unity by my interest and prejudices. Why I select cer- tain subjects rather than others, I do not exactly know unless it is

action to the subject as it appears when I like it most; when these facts are given unity by my interest and prejudices. Why I select cer- tain subjects rather than others, I do not exactly know unless it is

they are the best mediums for a synthesis of my inner experience." "Great art is the outward expres- sion of an inner life in the artist, and this inner art will result in his personal vision of the world. No amount of skillful invention can replace the essential element of imagination. Attempts to substitute the inventions of the intellect for a pristine imaginative conception often results in failure." The handsome and large volume

is beautifully illustrated with nearly 300 plates, many in excellent color and some are double foldouts. It was designed by Nai Y. Chang and was printed in Japan.

Mr. Chang deserves credit for choosing a classic typeface of a size that scales beautifully to the large pages of text and illustrations making the entire volume aesthetically re- warding and visually delightful.

This first monograph on Edward Hopper by his close and long time friend, Lloyd Goodrich, is a fine me- morial to the painter and an excellent book to have and to hold.

John Ruddley New York, N.Y.

PRIMITIVE AND FOLK JEWELRY. Mar- tin Gerlach. New York: Dover Press, 1971. $5.00. Jewelry, by its very nature and costli- ness, inclines more than any other item of human utility toward stagna- tion of form. Being less subject to the restlessness of fashion, it needs an occasional artistic freshening and an infusion of new inventiveness and proven attractiveness. Dover's new Primitive and Folk Jewelry edited by Martin Gerlach ($5.00) includes ex- amples of the jewelry of all mankind. it is a collection of models for the creative art of the goldsmith, a treas- ury of motifs and sources of inspira- tion for ever new inventiveness in the field of personal adornment.

Martin Gerlach's well-known col- lection of primitive and folk jewelry includes over 1,900 pieces illustrating the technical and esthetic develop- ment of man's jewelry from the first known pre-metallic forms made of stones, teeth, claws, feathers, bones, tortoise-shell, bright berries, seeds, and sea shells to the rich stores of folk jewelry produced by the peoples

they are the best mediums for a synthesis of my inner experience." "Great art is the outward expres- sion of an inner life in the artist, and this inner art will result in his personal vision of the world. No amount of skillful invention can replace the essential element of imagination. Attempts to substitute the inventions of the intellect for a pristine imaginative conception often results in failure." The handsome and large volume

is beautifully illustrated with nearly 300 plates, many in excellent color and some are double foldouts. It was designed by Nai Y. Chang and was printed in Japan.

Mr. Chang deserves credit for choosing a classic typeface of a size that scales beautifully to the large pages of text and illustrations making the entire volume aesthetically re- warding and visually delightful.

This first monograph on Edward Hopper by his close and long time friend, Lloyd Goodrich, is a fine me- morial to the painter and an excellent book to have and to hold.

John Ruddley New York, N.Y.

PRIMITIVE AND FOLK JEWELRY. Mar- tin Gerlach. New York: Dover Press, 1971. $5.00. Jewelry, by its very nature and costli- ness, inclines more than any other item of human utility toward stagna- tion of form. Being less subject to the restlessness of fashion, it needs an occasional artistic freshening and an infusion of new inventiveness and proven attractiveness. Dover's new Primitive and Folk Jewelry edited by Martin Gerlach ($5.00) includes ex- amples of the jewelry of all mankind. it is a collection of models for the creative art of the goldsmith, a treas- ury of motifs and sources of inspira- tion for ever new inventiveness in the field of personal adornment.

Martin Gerlach's well-known col- lection of primitive and folk jewelry includes over 1,900 pieces illustrating the technical and esthetic develop- ment of man's jewelry from the first known pre-metallic forms made of stones, teeth, claws, feathers, bones, tortoise-shell, bright berries, seeds, and sea shells to the rich stores of folk jewelry produced by the peoples of the Balkan peninsula, marking the transition to the jewelry of modern Europe. The captions that accompany each plate, detailing age, material, color, and origin of each piece of jewelry, and the complete table of

of the Balkan peninsula, marking the transition to the jewelry of modern Europe. The captions that accompany each plate, detailing age, material, color, and origin of each piece of jewelry, and the complete table of

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illustrations arranged by period and place of origin, enable any reader to identify the age, origin, or substance of any artifact, thereby providing an invaluable source of information for the historian and ethnographer as well.

This volume contains a wealth of models from many of the world's most prized museum collections. It is part of the Dover series of Pictorial Archives, and individual items in the book are copyright-free. You purchase these rights when you buy the book. I have remarked in other reviews of books in this series that Dover Press has made a real contribution to the problems of maintaining out-of-date copyright laws in an age of easily copied photo. images.

Harold J. McWhinnie College Park, Maryland

illustrations arranged by period and place of origin, enable any reader to identify the age, origin, or substance of any artifact, thereby providing an invaluable source of information for the historian and ethnographer as well.

This volume contains a wealth of models from many of the world's most prized museum collections. It is part of the Dover series of Pictorial Archives, and individual items in the book are copyright-free. You purchase these rights when you buy the book. I have remarked in other reviews of books in this series that Dover Press has made a real contribution to the problems of maintaining out-of-date copyright laws in an age of easily copied photo. images.

Harold J. McWhinnie College Park, Maryland

RODIN ON ART translated from the French of Paul Gsell by Mrs. Romilly Fedden. Introduction by Richard Howard. New York: Horizon Press, 1971, 259 pp. $10.00. Completing Rodin on Art and review-

RODIN ON ART translated from the French of Paul Gsell by Mrs. Romilly Fedden. Introduction by Richard Howard. New York: Horizon Press, 1971, 259 pp. $10.00. Completing Rodin on Art and review-

ing slide tapes on art and technology the same day, I wondered whether Rodin holds a relevant position within our technological society other than that of a historical earmark. Rodin was the last great sculptor to remain true to the synonymy of nature, art, and religion and to exalt the suprem- acy of nature. For he exclaimed to Gsell ". . . one evening when night had begun to darken the atelier with heavy shadows, '. . . the only prin- ciple in art is to copy what you see.' " The statement brings to mind the contemporary painter Philip Pearlstein who says that he paints what he sees and that that is what people have done the least of. Rodin expounds: "There is no recipe for improving nature." And further, "The artist . . . sees; that is to say his eye, grafted on his heart reads deeply into the bosom of nature." Rodin admits to changes within his realism but purports to in- clude the spirit of the external. Pearl- stein explains that he paints what he sees but that what he sees constantly changes-a fact anyone can prove by staring long enough at one thing.

Although sculpture now utilizes technological advances and materials and has become computerized, neon- ized, synthesized, electronisized, and kineticized in order to be pertinent,

ing slide tapes on art and technology the same day, I wondered whether Rodin holds a relevant position within our technological society other than that of a historical earmark. Rodin was the last great sculptor to remain true to the synonymy of nature, art, and religion and to exalt the suprem- acy of nature. For he exclaimed to Gsell ". . . one evening when night had begun to darken the atelier with heavy shadows, '. . . the only prin- ciple in art is to copy what you see.' " The statement brings to mind the contemporary painter Philip Pearlstein who says that he paints what he sees and that that is what people have done the least of. Rodin expounds: "There is no recipe for improving nature." And further, "The artist . . . sees; that is to say his eye, grafted on his heart reads deeply into the bosom of nature." Rodin admits to changes within his realism but purports to in- clude the spirit of the external. Pearl- stein explains that he paints what he sees but that what he sees constantly changes-a fact anyone can prove by staring long enough at one thing.

Although sculpture now utilizes technological advances and materials and has become computerized, neon- ized, synthesized, electronisized, and kineticized in order to be pertinent,

one wonders if sculpture like paint- ing will also experience a return to the figure. Rodin's closing statement in this book shows that he was fight- ing an industrial take-over and that he wanted the artist to be as much esteemed as the manufacturer and the engineer. Today the antagonist is technology and some propose a union of art and technology.

The introduction by Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Howard is so well written I wished Howard were the literary notetaker in the presence of the Master, but then he would not have had the advantage of a hundred years' perspective. Howard justifiably emphasized the misdirected praise Rodin has received and sets straight some misconceptions about his work. Rodin modelled, he did not carve. His main claim to fame, popularity- wise, "The Thinker," was a private work for the artist just as his most swiftly executed drawings were.

Of the forty illustrations in this book, twelve are of Rodin's drawings; and maybe because they have not been over-exposed and because draw- ings lend themselves better to repro- duction, I enjoyed them as much or more than his familiar sculpture. The drawings are so intriguing I would like to see the seven thousand private

one wonders if sculpture like paint- ing will also experience a return to the figure. Rodin's closing statement in this book shows that he was fight- ing an industrial take-over and that he wanted the artist to be as much esteemed as the manufacturer and the engineer. Today the antagonist is technology and some propose a union of art and technology.

The introduction by Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Howard is so well written I wished Howard were the literary notetaker in the presence of the Master, but then he would not have had the advantage of a hundred years' perspective. Howard justifiably emphasized the misdirected praise Rodin has received and sets straight some misconceptions about his work. Rodin modelled, he did not carve. His main claim to fame, popularity- wise, "The Thinker," was a private work for the artist just as his most swiftly executed drawings were.

Of the forty illustrations in this book, twelve are of Rodin's drawings; and maybe because they have not been over-exposed and because draw- ings lend themselves better to repro- duction, I enjoyed them as much or more than his familiar sculpture. The drawings are so intriguing I would like to see the seven thousand private

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