Apropos No. 3. Portrait PaintingReview by: Eric NewtonJournal of the Royal Society of Arts, Vol. 94, No. 4705 (NOVEMBER 23rd, 1945), pp. 17-18Published by: Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and CommerceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41362186 .

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NOV. 23, 1945 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS I7

The British Journal Photographic Almanac for i 945 . Henry Greenwood . 1945. 5s-

From being a hardy annual, this almanac, now in its 86th year of publication, is well on its happy way to becoming a perennial ; it long ago achieved the reputation of an ever- green, a reputation it has, even in the dark days of the First and the even darker days of the Second World Wars, uninterruptedly sustained with courage and a blithe cheer- fulness.

Of interest to the nòn-photographer - as well, of course, as to the photographer - are the excellent article upon " The Field of Photography To-morrow," and the thirty illustrations. First place among these photo- graphs has been fittingly accorded to " Seagulls," by the late F. J. Mortimer, c.b.e., a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Past President of the Royal Photographic Society and forty years editor of The Amateur Photographer ; seagulls and storm-laden sky blend into a scene possessing all the artistic grace and rightness of a scrupulously posed group ; how patiently must the photographer have awaited his opportunity ! Once again, the child-studies are delicate, delightful, ex- quisite ; especially attractive is " Ann " with its unstudied combination of mischief and ethereality ; winsome-enigmatic is the humor- ous tolerance of" Pre-Raphaelite " ; the girls, indeed, are better than the boys. The " interior s," as they were last year, and the two " from within looking out " photographs, are quite first-class, none more so than " Sacred Retreat," which combines a sacred calm with a secular peace, the quiet of the spirit with the stillness of a late summer afternoon. Lincoln cathedral receives an effectual contrast in " Emperor and Clown." I like, too, the careful, yet most effective positioning of the glass-ware against a rich brown panelling in " Cordial Bottle " ; the pose is almost dramatic. The portraits of adults - best of all, that of Mr. H . G. Wells - are maturely conceived and competently executed. The four specifically topical photographs, though meritorious, are, as a group, a shade less good, although one of them, " The Bivouac," far exceeds the others. Of the four animal-world photo- graphs, " Vigilant " has the most character ; yet one must not overlook the drollery of the penguin " Sleeping Partners." The un- compromising modernism of " Romance on the Wall," despite its sentimental title, succeeds by its realism. The sole nude

possesses charm, but so charming a girl has no need to look as if she were about to burst into tears, for surely she must have known that she was looking her best ; the one semi- nude is better in its dignified self-offering to " the working of a god " (as Euripides termed the passion of love).

The initiated will find much to please and instruct them in the articles entitled " Photo- graphic Dermatitis," " A Compact Copier Attachment for the Leica," "Colour Photo- graphy Practice," " ' U ' Factors," and " pH Measurement by Indicators," and perhaps less pleasure, but even more profit, from the technical sections entitled " Epitome of Progress," " Glossary," " Formulae," " Tables," " Chemicals," and so forth. Moreover, the advertisements constitute a sort of vade-mecum to all photographers, whether professional or amateur, so extra- ordinarily numerous and extensive are they ; several go near to being " works of art."

In that informative and stimulating article, i " The Field of Photography To-Morrow," the Editors write, " In a matter of little more than thirty years a complete revolution has taken place, so that the incidence of activity in photography has altered entirely its aims, methods, materials, personnel, results- all these are vastly different to-day from what they were .... Not only that, but the change has been an accelerating one, and there is no brake on that accleration to-day." The Editors make the sound point that photo- graphy is " at once a science and an art."

The Almanac offers stupendous " value for money " ; it is unlikely to remain long in print.

E. P.

Apropos No. 3. Portrait Painting.. Lund Humphries. 1945. 4 s. 6 d.

" Apropos " is a good title for a series of books , designed to introduce rather than to examine, still less exhaust, a subject. It leaves the Editor, Mr. Paul Wengraf, free to choose writers who will stimulate rather than inform. It avoids pretentiousness without disclaiming seriousness. " Apropos " stands halfway be- tween a magazine published to amuse and a treatise designed to instruct.

This, the third of the series, is devoted to portraiture - an excellent subject for such treatment, being itself a half-way art. Docu- mentation, the statement of fact, the establish- ing of a likeness must be balanced with aesthetics. A portrait is neither mere likeness nor mere pattern (Samuel Butler's remark that

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l8 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS Nov, 23, I945

" Nothing is ever merely anything " deserves to be pondered) so the four essayists who have contributed to this booklet can choose to regard their subject either as an art that has to bow to objective truth or a human docu- ment that owes a special allegiance to beauty. But the subject's fascination must not tempt the reviewer to produce a fifth essay instead of reviewing the other four.

Mr. E. H. Gombričh writes on the aftist's advantage over the photographer in the matter of revealing human character.. Mr., Melville, who specialises on Picasso, comes to the subject from the opposite side and examines Picasso's treatment of the human head as though the various meanings of the word " likeness " had been narrowed down to a central core from which the sitter's individuality had somehow escaped. Peter Ustinov writes a pleasant essay on the way in which a face alters with its period- context, and revealingly asks us to imagine Ibsen in a periwig; Oskar Kokoschka, the only professional painter in the team, writes as a sociologist-philosopher. His meaning escapes me altogether, because, alas, I have the misfortune to find sociological generalisa- tions unintelligible. That is my fault, not his. But he illustrates his essay with the becrowned and bejewelled head of the Empress Theodora from the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna - the most impressive of the many reproductions.

Eric Newton.

Basic English Fare. By André Simon. Gramol Publications, Ltd. 1945. 55.

A book that provides practical help and instruction in the art of cookery with a philosophy of life is an innovation. And André Simon makes it appear a very sound one, for, as he points out, " to live we must eat, this rule has no exceptions. But merely to be alive is not enough ; we must enjoy life, enjoy good health, sound sleep, our work and our meals, all of which depend to a very great extent upon the quantity, quality and cooking of our food."

There is much truth in what he says re- garding the " pseudo scientific nonsense written about nutrition by all sorts of people - some merely ignorant, others unscrupulous - all alike, lacking in taste for or interest in good food." As he so rightly points out, the science of nutrition is not opposed to Gastronomy, which is the art of good living based on tradition and in the majority of cases confirmed by science. But science is

the business of the scientists and a scientific chart in the hands of the insufficiently educated in this branch of knowledge can be more of a danger than a help, so he backs the sense of T aste as a chart for the non^-scientific.

It is, indeed, a pity that more English people take no pains to cultivate their palate, but I think it is doubtful whether to achieve this result the overworked teacher will appreciate Mr. André Simon's ingenuous suggestion that proper training of the Taste should be part of the school curriculum,. No doubt the subject would be popular, and one can imagine the schoolboy looking for- ward with some zest to his weekly lesson.

Frenchmen, as a rule, have the art of paying a compliment and this book gives Mr. André Simon the opportunity of offering a graceful tribute to English cooking. It is refreshing to find the much maligned English cookery given a word of praise and to read " to call cooking in England English cooking is wrong, and to dub English cooking bad is sheer nonsense. If there are more good cooks in France than in England, it is solely because there are many more people who take an intelligent interest in what they eat and drink, whose taste is more highly- trained, and whose critical appreciation is more articulate."

I agree with him that where bad cooking exists it is often due to the lack of appre- ciation shown by so many English people and that it is the consumer rather than the cook who is responsible. Certainly there is little doubt that if we demanded better cooking not only in our homes but in our hotels and restaurants., we should have it in the long run.

This book does not claim to be a standard work of cookery but it breathes the spirit of good cookery. The dishes are, in the main, simple examples as the title indicates of standard or basic recipes. After years of war- time rationing it is refreshing even to read of the roast beef of England and picture, if not a baron of beef, at least a noble-sized sirloin and even to be reminded of a breakfast of bacon and eggs. Most branches of English cookery are included but in limited space only a few representative recipes could be given under each heading.

This attractively produced book is a volume to be read as well as used by those who are interested in the art of cooking, an art which is not dependent on test tube experiments, but is just as important an aspect of living as the scientist's more material and less romantic experiments. Seldom have we seen a booklet

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