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Lectures on Art by Alphonse MuchaReview by: John E. BowltLeonardo, Vol. 11, No. 1 (Winter, 1978), p. 78Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1573524 .

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78 78 78 78 Books Books Books Books

the aura, attraction, interest, power, curiosity and provocation that prebureaucratic art possessed?

What is Art History? Mark Roskill. Thames & Hudson, London, 1976. 192 pp., illus. ?4.95. Reviewed by Cecil Gould*

The development of the historiography of art and the struggles for academic recognition of art history are not part of the scope of Roskill's book. Nor does he bring out the changes of accent- even of fashion-in the approach to the subject by art historians of successive generations. His book is a practical statement of the problems that face academic art historians and a demonstration of the courses open for their solution. This is explained with considerable lucidity and common sense. The accent is so much on the practical, as opposed to the high-flown, as to tempt one to characterize the book as dealing with the contents of art historians' work-shops rather than of their studies.

In his first chapter, the Attribution of Pictures, the author does not quite bring out what has long seemed to me an altogether cardinal point. That is, the degree to which major artists have, in the course of time, obliterated most of their lesser con- temporaries. I have actually found people saying that if a picture is not by Raphael it must be by Titian. If not by A, then by B, ignoring the many painters X, whose names are now forgotten, but could, and should, be disinterred.

Roskill takes the differences of quality in works attributed to Piero della Francesca as illustration of the process of dilution of a master's work through being executed by his pupils. But in the 16th and 17th centuries this principle is likely to have been systematized to a larger extent than before. Raphael seems to have had as much genius in getting other people to paint his pictures (at least at the end of his life, when he was overwhelmed with miscellaneous work) as he had for other things that he did; and Veronese was immensely skilful in making a picture look like 'a Veronese', even if most of it had been painted by his pupils. In the 17th century, Bernini was able to force the French students in Rome to carve 'a Bernini'-namely the equestrian statue of Louis XIV. The fact that on arrival in France it failed to please was due not so much to what seems to us inferior execution as to the fact that the Sun King was shown grinning-something that, it seems, he never did.

Concerning fakes, and particularly the case of Hans van Meegeren and his 'Vermeers', Roskill makes some interesting points, but he does not refer to the late Max Friedlander's observation on the subject that renders most others superfluous. This was that after a time fakes give themselves away. The characteristics of the period when they were made, which are unnoticeable at the time, gradually become more obtrusive and finally submerge those of the period the work was imitating. Thus, a Victorian mediaeval fake now looks more Victorian than mediaeval. And the Greta Garbo physiognomy of the van Meegeren 'Vermeers', which was currency at the time, now looks hopelessly 1930s. Friedlander summed up by saying: 'Forgeries must be served hot, as they come out of the oven.'

Lectures on Art. Alphonse Mucha. Academy Editions, London; St. Martin's Press, New York, 1975. 80 pp., illus. ?6.95. Reviewed by John E. Bowlt **

The mature years of Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) coincided with the rapid development of the art of the poster and, in a wider context, of new principles of design advocated in Paris, Berlin and Munich in the 1890s and 1900s. When one reads Mucha's statements on art, one acquaints oneself with the theoretical platform of many artists of Europe and the U.S.A. at the end of the 19th century. Mucha's lectures, sometimes brilliant, sometimes pathetic, provide a sharpened insight into such magic terms as Art nouveau and Jugendstil, as well as into more specific issues, such as the aesthetic organization and function of the poster. Mucha's Lectures are complemented by a short, unsigned

the aura, attraction, interest, power, curiosity and provocation that prebureaucratic art possessed?

What is Art History? Mark Roskill. Thames & Hudson, London, 1976. 192 pp., illus. ?4.95. Reviewed by Cecil Gould*

The development of the historiography of art and the struggles for academic recognition of art history are not part of the scope of Roskill's book. Nor does he bring out the changes of accent- even of fashion-in the approach to the subject by art historians of successive generations. His book is a practical statement of the problems that face academic art historians and a demonstration of the courses open for their solution. This is explained with considerable lucidity and common sense. The accent is so much on the practical, as opposed to the high-flown, as to tempt one to characterize the book as dealing with the contents of art historians' work-shops rather than of their studies.

In his first chapter, the Attribution of Pictures, the author does not quite bring out what has long seemed to me an altogether cardinal point. That is, the degree to which major artists have, in the course of time, obliterated most of their lesser con- temporaries. I have actually found people saying that if a picture is not by Raphael it must be by Titian. If not by A, then by B, ignoring the many painters X, whose names are now forgotten, but could, and should, be disinterred.

Roskill takes the differences of quality in works attributed to Piero della Francesca as illustration of the process of dilution of a master's work through being executed by his pupils. But in the 16th and 17th centuries this principle is likely to have been systematized to a larger extent than before. Raphael seems to have had as much genius in getting other people to paint his pictures (at least at the end of his life, when he was overwhelmed with miscellaneous work) as he had for other things that he did; and Veronese was immensely skilful in making a picture look like 'a Veronese', even if most of it had been painted by his pupils. In the 17th century, Bernini was able to force the French students in Rome to carve 'a Bernini'-namely the equestrian statue of Louis XIV. The fact that on arrival in France it failed to please was due not so much to what seems to us inferior execution as to the fact that the Sun King was shown grinning-something that, it seems, he never did.

Concerning fakes, and particularly the case of Hans van Meegeren and his 'Vermeers', Roskill makes some interesting points, but he does not refer to the late Max Friedlander's observation on the subject that renders most others superfluous. This was that after a time fakes give themselves away. The characteristics of the period when they were made, which are unnoticeable at the time, gradually become more obtrusive and finally submerge those of the period the work was imitating. Thus, a Victorian mediaeval fake now looks more Victorian than mediaeval. And the Greta Garbo physiognomy of the van Meegeren 'Vermeers', which was currency at the time, now looks hopelessly 1930s. Friedlander summed up by saying: 'Forgeries must be served hot, as they come out of the oven.'

Lectures on Art. Alphonse Mucha. Academy Editions, London; St. Martin's Press, New York, 1975. 80 pp., illus. ?6.95. Reviewed by John E. Bowlt **

The mature years of Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) coincided with the rapid development of the art of the poster and, in a wider context, of new principles of design advocated in Paris, Berlin and Munich in the 1890s and 1900s. When one reads Mucha's statements on art, one acquaints oneself with the theoretical platform of many artists of Europe and the U.S.A. at the end of the 19th century. Mucha's lectures, sometimes brilliant, sometimes pathetic, provide a sharpened insight into such magic terms as Art nouveau and Jugendstil, as well as into more specific issues, such as the aesthetic organization and function of the poster. Mucha's Lectures are complemented by a short, unsigned

the aura, attraction, interest, power, curiosity and provocation that prebureaucratic art possessed?

What is Art History? Mark Roskill. Thames & Hudson, London, 1976. 192 pp., illus. ?4.95. Reviewed by Cecil Gould*

The development of the historiography of art and the struggles for academic recognition of art history are not part of the scope of Roskill's book. Nor does he bring out the changes of accent- even of fashion-in the approach to the subject by art historians of successive generations. His book is a practical statement of the problems that face academic art historians and a demonstration of the courses open for their solution. This is explained with considerable lucidity and common sense. The accent is so much on the practical, as opposed to the high-flown, as to tempt one to characterize the book as dealing with the contents of art historians' work-shops rather than of their studies.

In his first chapter, the Attribution of Pictures, the author does not quite bring out what has long seemed to me an altogether cardinal point. That is, the degree to which major artists have, in the course of time, obliterated most of their lesser con- temporaries. I have actually found people saying that if a picture is not by Raphael it must be by Titian. If not by A, then by B, ignoring the many painters X, whose names are now forgotten, but could, and should, be disinterred.

Roskill takes the differences of quality in works attributed to Piero della Francesca as illustration of the process of dilution of a master's work through being executed by his pupils. But in the 16th and 17th centuries this principle is likely to have been systematized to a larger extent than before. Raphael seems to have had as much genius in getting other people to paint his pictures (at least at the end of his life, when he was overwhelmed with miscellaneous work) as he had for other things that he did; and Veronese was immensely skilful in making a picture look like 'a Veronese', even if most of it had been painted by his pupils. In the 17th century, Bernini was able to force the French students in Rome to carve 'a Bernini'-namely the equestrian statue of Louis XIV. The fact that on arrival in France it failed to please was due not so much to what seems to us inferior execution as to the fact that the Sun King was shown grinning-something that, it seems, he never did.

Concerning fakes, and particularly the case of Hans van Meegeren and his 'Vermeers', Roskill makes some interesting points, but he does not refer to the late Max Friedlander's observation on the subject that renders most others superfluous. This was that after a time fakes give themselves away. The characteristics of the period when they were made, which are unnoticeable at the time, gradually become more obtrusive and finally submerge those of the period the work was imitating. Thus, a Victorian mediaeval fake now looks more Victorian than mediaeval. And the Greta Garbo physiognomy of the van Meegeren 'Vermeers', which was currency at the time, now looks hopelessly 1930s. Friedlander summed up by saying: 'Forgeries must be served hot, as they come out of the oven.'

Lectures on Art. Alphonse Mucha. Academy Editions, London; St. Martin's Press, New York, 1975. 80 pp., illus. ?6.95. Reviewed by John E. Bowlt **

The mature years of Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) coincided with the rapid development of the art of the poster and, in a wider context, of new principles of design advocated in Paris, Berlin and Munich in the 1890s and 1900s. When one reads Mucha's statements on art, one acquaints oneself with the theoretical platform of many artists of Europe and the U.S.A. at the end of the 19th century. Mucha's lectures, sometimes brilliant, sometimes pathetic, provide a sharpened insight into such magic terms as Art nouveau and Jugendstil, as well as into more specific issues, such as the aesthetic organization and function of the poster. Mucha's Lectures are complemented by a short, unsigned

the aura, attraction, interest, power, curiosity and provocation that prebureaucratic art possessed?

What is Art History? Mark Roskill. Thames & Hudson, London, 1976. 192 pp., illus. ?4.95. Reviewed by Cecil Gould*

The development of the historiography of art and the struggles for academic recognition of art history are not part of the scope of Roskill's book. Nor does he bring out the changes of accent- even of fashion-in the approach to the subject by art historians of successive generations. His book is a practical statement of the problems that face academic art historians and a demonstration of the courses open for their solution. This is explained with considerable lucidity and common sense. The accent is so much on the practical, as opposed to the high-flown, as to tempt one to characterize the book as dealing with the contents of art historians' work-shops rather than of their studies.

In his first chapter, the Attribution of Pictures, the author does not quite bring out what has long seemed to me an altogether cardinal point. That is, the degree to which major artists have, in the course of time, obliterated most of their lesser con- temporaries. I have actually found people saying that if a picture is not by Raphael it must be by Titian. If not by A, then by B, ignoring the many painters X, whose names are now forgotten, but could, and should, be disinterred.

Roskill takes the differences of quality in works attributed to Piero della Francesca as illustration of the process of dilution of a master's work through being executed by his pupils. But in the 16th and 17th centuries this principle is likely to have been systematized to a larger extent than before. Raphael seems to have had as much genius in getting other people to paint his pictures (at least at the end of his life, when he was overwhelmed with miscellaneous work) as he had for other things that he did; and Veronese was immensely skilful in making a picture look like 'a Veronese', even if most of it had been painted by his pupils. In the 17th century, Bernini was able to force the French students in Rome to carve 'a Bernini'-namely the equestrian statue of Louis XIV. The fact that on arrival in France it failed to please was due not so much to what seems to us inferior execution as to the fact that the Sun King was shown grinning-something that, it seems, he never did.

Concerning fakes, and particularly the case of Hans van Meegeren and his 'Vermeers', Roskill makes some interesting points, but he does not refer to the late Max Friedlander's observation on the subject that renders most others superfluous. This was that after a time fakes give themselves away. The characteristics of the period when they were made, which are unnoticeable at the time, gradually become more obtrusive and finally submerge those of the period the work was imitating. Thus, a Victorian mediaeval fake now looks more Victorian than mediaeval. And the Greta Garbo physiognomy of the van Meegeren 'Vermeers', which was currency at the time, now looks hopelessly 1930s. Friedlander summed up by saying: 'Forgeries must be served hot, as they come out of the oven.'

Lectures on Art. Alphonse Mucha. Academy Editions, London; St. Martin's Press, New York, 1975. 80 pp., illus. ?6.95. Reviewed by John E. Bowlt **

The mature years of Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) coincided with the rapid development of the art of the poster and, in a wider context, of new principles of design advocated in Paris, Berlin and Munich in the 1890s and 1900s. When one reads Mucha's statements on art, one acquaints oneself with the theoretical platform of many artists of Europe and the U.S.A. at the end of the 19th century. Mucha's lectures, sometimes brilliant, sometimes pathetic, provide a sharpened insight into such magic terms as Art nouveau and Jugendstil, as well as into more specific issues, such as the aesthetic organization and function of the poster. Mucha's Lectures are complemented by a short, unsigned

*National Gallery, London WC2N 5DN, England. **Dept. of Slavic Languages, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712, U.S.A.

*National Gallery, London WC2N 5DN, England. **Dept. of Slavic Languages, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712, U.S.A.

*National Gallery, London WC2N 5DN, England. **Dept. of Slavic Languages, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712, U.S.A.

*National Gallery, London WC2N 5DN, England. **Dept. of Slavic Languages, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712, U.S.A.

Foreword, a biographical chronology and reproductions of his diagrams, posters, panneaux and book illustrations, covering the period 1892-1928.

Mucha derived some of his ideas from the various European interpretations and extensions of the Arts and Crafts movement and the Aesthetic Revival, and remarks, such as 'the more logically the accord of the ornament is expressed with the character and the utility of the object to be decorated, the greater the certainty of the ornamentation and the higher the artistic merit' (p. 24) echo the strict canons of William Morris. But Mucha the theorist deserves attention because of his distinct and distinctive application of design principles to the 'lower' art of the poster. He regarded the poster as a central medium of expression and, for him, it was a particular entity that operated in accordance with its own rules: it was much more than a simple extension of studio painting, as it was for Lev Bakst and Toulouse-Lautrec.

It is well to remember that Mucha was a Czech from Bohemia, even though he lived many years in Paris. He was almost of the same generation as Franz Kupka and, like him, influenced many younger artists both at home and abroad. Mucha's national derivation might help to explain his intense concern with the applied arts, since the Czech tradition of design was, and is, a very forceful one. The intricate, but calculated, ornamentation of Mucha's art is, at times, even reminiscent of the fantastic, exuberant decorative arts of the Czech Renaissance (i.e. the vernacular of Bohemia). Furthermore, as in the case of Kupka's expressive illustrations for L'Assiette au beurre and other magazines, Mucha's posters and book designs contain an important didactic or moralizing principle-something that is overlooked in general surveys of Art nouveau. How to project these 'moral harmonies on material and spiritual planes' (p. 9) is Mucha's primary concern in his Lectures.

The collection is divided into nine sections: the author's Introduction, The Harmony of the Three Points, The Application of Art to Decoration, The Elements of Decoration, Style and Composition, The Harmony of Line in Composition, The Harmony of Masses in Composition, and Colour. These constitute a theoretical approach to design, one that Mucha intended to be precise, practicable and applicable to many aspects of composition. A reading of these sections, especially The Harmony of the Three Points and The Elements of Decoration, does much to clarify the attitude to poster design adopted by Mucha and some of his contemporaries. His formulations also explain why many elements of his posters, including his buxom 'heroines', are, unfortunately, repetitious. Mucha's strict, analytical approach to design also illuminates a property of Art nouveau that is often disguised by its rhapsody of serpentine forms, namely its simplicity and rigidity of organization. When Mucha determined a ratio between muscular exertion and aesthetic pleasure (p. 11) or applied a mathematical constant of physiological structure to pictorial composition (p. 12), he anticipated key principles supported and elaborated by the constructivists in the 1920s. Similarly, Mucha's own interpretation and justification of ornament-that it should emphasize the functional aspect of a given design-is also reminiscent of more modern ideas, both of Constructivism and of Art Deco.

Obviously, one should be grateful to the publishers for making available the text of Mucha's lectures. But readers are also entitled to a contextual essay or, at least, to a comprehensive and scholarly introduction. The most elementary information is missing: neither the date, nor the place of the lectures is supplied, there is no indication as to how the lectures were received by critics and the public, there is no attempt to present a historical perspective. The editors and compilers (who remain anonymous) must be brought to task for these serious omissions, as well as for the typographical errors that mar the text.

Ex Libris 6: Constructivism and Futurism: Russian and Other. Catalogue. Gail Harrison and Trevor Winkfield. T J Art, New York, 1977. 792 bibliographical items, illus. Paper, $10.00. Reviewed by John Milnert

Foreword, a biographical chronology and reproductions of his diagrams, posters, panneaux and book illustrations, covering the period 1892-1928.

Mucha derived some of his ideas from the various European interpretations and extensions of the Arts and Crafts movement and the Aesthetic Revival, and remarks, such as 'the more logically the accord of the ornament is expressed with the character and the utility of the object to be decorated, the greater the certainty of the ornamentation and the higher the artistic merit' (p. 24) echo the strict canons of William Morris. But Mucha the theorist deserves attention because of his distinct and distinctive application of design principles to the 'lower' art of the poster. He regarded the poster as a central medium of expression and, for him, it was a particular entity that operated in accordance with its own rules: it was much more than a simple extension of studio painting, as it was for Lev Bakst and Toulouse-Lautrec.

It is well to remember that Mucha was a Czech from Bohemia, even though he lived many years in Paris. He was almost of the same generation as Franz Kupka and, like him, influenced many younger artists both at home and abroad. Mucha's national derivation might help to explain his intense concern with the applied arts, since the Czech tradition of design was, and is, a very forceful one. The intricate, but calculated, ornamentation of Mucha's art is, at times, even reminiscent of the fantastic, exuberant decorative arts of the Czech Renaissance (i.e. the vernacular of Bohemia). Furthermore, as in the case of Kupka's expressive illustrations for L'Assiette au beurre and other magazines, Mucha's posters and book designs contain an important didactic or moralizing principle-something that is overlooked in general surveys of Art nouveau. How to project these 'moral harmonies on material and spiritual planes' (p. 9) is Mucha's primary concern in his Lectures.

The collection is divided into nine sections: the author's Introduction, The Harmony of the Three Points, The Application of Art to Decoration, The Elements of Decoration, Style and Composition, The Harmony of Line in Composition, The Harmony of Masses in Composition, and Colour. These constitute a theoretical approach to design, one that Mucha intended to be precise, practicable and applicable to many aspects of composition. A reading of these sections, especially The Harmony of the Three Points and The Elements of Decoration, does much to clarify the attitude to poster design adopted by Mucha and some of his contemporaries. His formulations also explain why many elements of his posters, including his buxom 'heroines', are, unfortunately, repetitious. Mucha's strict, analytical approach to design also illuminates a property of Art nouveau that is often disguised by its rhapsody of serpentine forms, namely its simplicity and rigidity of organization. When Mucha determined a ratio between muscular exertion and aesthetic pleasure (p. 11) or applied a mathematical constant of physiological structure to pictorial composition (p. 12), he anticipated key principles supported and elaborated by the constructivists in the 1920s. Similarly, Mucha's own interpretation and justification of ornament-that it should emphasize the functional aspect of a given design-is also reminiscent of more modern ideas, both of Constructivism and of Art Deco.

Obviously, one should be grateful to the publishers for making available the text of Mucha's lectures. But readers are also entitled to a contextual essay or, at least, to a comprehensive and scholarly introduction. The most elementary information is missing: neither the date, nor the place of the lectures is supplied, there is no indication as to how the lectures were received by critics and the public, there is no attempt to present a historical perspective. The editors and compilers (who remain anonymous) must be brought to task for these serious omissions, as well as for the typographical errors that mar the text.

Ex Libris 6: Constructivism and Futurism: Russian and Other. Catalogue. Gail Harrison and Trevor Winkfield. T J Art, New York, 1977. 792 bibliographical items, illus. Paper, $10.00. Reviewed by John Milnert

Foreword, a biographical chronology and reproductions of his diagrams, posters, panneaux and book illustrations, covering the period 1892-1928.

Mucha derived some of his ideas from the various European interpretations and extensions of the Arts and Crafts movement and the Aesthetic Revival, and remarks, such as 'the more logically the accord of the ornament is expressed with the character and the utility of the object to be decorated, the greater the certainty of the ornamentation and the higher the artistic merit' (p. 24) echo the strict canons of William Morris. But Mucha the theorist deserves attention because of his distinct and distinctive application of design principles to the 'lower' art of the poster. He regarded the poster as a central medium of expression and, for him, it was a particular entity that operated in accordance with its own rules: it was much more than a simple extension of studio painting, as it was for Lev Bakst and Toulouse-Lautrec.

It is well to remember that Mucha was a Czech from Bohemia, even though he lived many years in Paris. He was almost of the same generation as Franz Kupka and, like him, influenced many younger artists both at home and abroad. Mucha's national derivation might help to explain his intense concern with the applied arts, since the Czech tradition of design was, and is, a very forceful one. The intricate, but calculated, ornamentation of Mucha's art is, at times, even reminiscent of the fantastic, exuberant decorative arts of the Czech Renaissance (i.e. the vernacular of Bohemia). Furthermore, as in the case of Kupka's expressive illustrations for L'Assiette au beurre and other magazines, Mucha's posters and book designs contain an important didactic or moralizing principle-something that is overlooked in general surveys of Art nouveau. How to project these 'moral harmonies on material and spiritual planes' (p. 9) is Mucha's primary concern in his Lectures.

The collection is divided into nine sections: the author's Introduction, The Harmony of the Three Points, The Application of Art to Decoration, The Elements of Decoration, Style and Composition, The Harmony of Line in Composition, The Harmony of Masses in Composition, and Colour. These constitute a theoretical approach to design, one that Mucha intended to be precise, practicable and applicable to many aspects of composition. A reading of these sections, especially The Harmony of the Three Points and The Elements of Decoration, does much to clarify the attitude to poster design adopted by Mucha and some of his contemporaries. His formulations also explain why many elements of his posters, including his buxom 'heroines', are, unfortunately, repetitious. Mucha's strict, analytical approach to design also illuminates a property of Art nouveau that is often disguised by its rhapsody of serpentine forms, namely its simplicity and rigidity of organization. When Mucha determined a ratio between muscular exertion and aesthetic pleasure (p. 11) or applied a mathematical constant of physiological structure to pictorial composition (p. 12), he anticipated key principles supported and elaborated by the constructivists in the 1920s. Similarly, Mucha's own interpretation and justification of ornament-that it should emphasize the functional aspect of a given design-is also reminiscent of more modern ideas, both of Constructivism and of Art Deco.

Obviously, one should be grateful to the publishers for making available the text of Mucha's lectures. But readers are also entitled to a contextual essay or, at least, to a comprehensive and scholarly introduction. The most elementary information is missing: neither the date, nor the place of the lectures is supplied, there is no indication as to how the lectures were received by critics and the public, there is no attempt to present a historical perspective. The editors and compilers (who remain anonymous) must be brought to task for these serious omissions, as well as for the typographical errors that mar the text.

Ex Libris 6: Constructivism and Futurism: Russian and Other. Catalogue. Gail Harrison and Trevor Winkfield. T J Art, New York, 1977. 792 bibliographical items, illus. Paper, $10.00. Reviewed by John Milnert

Foreword, a biographical chronology and reproductions of his diagrams, posters, panneaux and book illustrations, covering the period 1892-1928.

Mucha derived some of his ideas from the various European interpretations and extensions of the Arts and Crafts movement and the Aesthetic Revival, and remarks, such as 'the more logically the accord of the ornament is expressed with the character and the utility of the object to be decorated, the greater the certainty of the ornamentation and the higher the artistic merit' (p. 24) echo the strict canons of William Morris. But Mucha the theorist deserves attention because of his distinct and distinctive application of design principles to the 'lower' art of the poster. He regarded the poster as a central medium of expression and, for him, it was a particular entity that operated in accordance with its own rules: it was much more than a simple extension of studio painting, as it was for Lev Bakst and Toulouse-Lautrec.

It is well to remember that Mucha was a Czech from Bohemia, even though he lived many years in Paris. He was almost of the same generation as Franz Kupka and, like him, influenced many younger artists both at home and abroad. Mucha's national derivation might help to explain his intense concern with the applied arts, since the Czech tradition of design was, and is, a very forceful one. The intricate, but calculated, ornamentation of Mucha's art is, at times, even reminiscent of the fantastic, exuberant decorative arts of the Czech Renaissance (i.e. the vernacular of Bohemia). Furthermore, as in the case of Kupka's expressive illustrations for L'Assiette au beurre and other magazines, Mucha's posters and book designs contain an important didactic or moralizing principle-something that is overlooked in general surveys of Art nouveau. How to project these 'moral harmonies on material and spiritual planes' (p. 9) is Mucha's primary concern in his Lectures.

The collection is divided into nine sections: the author's Introduction, The Harmony of the Three Points, The Application of Art to Decoration, The Elements of Decoration, Style and Composition, The Harmony of Line in Composition, The Harmony of Masses in Composition, and Colour. These constitute a theoretical approach to design, one that Mucha intended to be precise, practicable and applicable to many aspects of composition. A reading of these sections, especially The Harmony of the Three Points and The Elements of Decoration, does much to clarify the attitude to poster design adopted by Mucha and some of his contemporaries. His formulations also explain why many elements of his posters, including his buxom 'heroines', are, unfortunately, repetitious. Mucha's strict, analytical approach to design also illuminates a property of Art nouveau that is often disguised by its rhapsody of serpentine forms, namely its simplicity and rigidity of organization. When Mucha determined a ratio between muscular exertion and aesthetic pleasure (p. 11) or applied a mathematical constant of physiological structure to pictorial composition (p. 12), he anticipated key principles supported and elaborated by the constructivists in the 1920s. Similarly, Mucha's own interpretation and justification of ornament-that it should emphasize the functional aspect of a given design-is also reminiscent of more modern ideas, both of Constructivism and of Art Deco.

Obviously, one should be grateful to the publishers for making available the text of Mucha's lectures. But readers are also entitled to a contextual essay or, at least, to a comprehensive and scholarly introduction. The most elementary information is missing: neither the date, nor the place of the lectures is supplied, there is no indication as to how the lectures were received by critics and the public, there is no attempt to present a historical perspective. The editors and compilers (who remain anonymous) must be brought to task for these serious omissions, as well as for the typographical errors that mar the text.

Ex Libris 6: Constructivism and Futurism: Russian and Other. Catalogue. Gail Harrison and Trevor Winkfield. T J Art, New York, 1977. 792 bibliographical items, illus. Paper, $10.00. Reviewed by John Milnert

IDept. of Fine Art, The University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, England. IDept. of Fine Art, The University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, England. IDept. of Fine Art, The University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, England. IDept. of Fine Art, The University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, England.

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