Art; Literature, Modern -- History and criticism; Music -- History and criticism
As confused as is No. 27, The Pan-Pan Dance at the Monico, by
Severini, there are some vital bits, excellent modelling, striking
detail, though as a whole, it is hard to unravel; the point d'appui is
missing; the interest is nowhere focussed, though the dancer woman
soon catches the eye. No doubt a crowded supper room in a Continental
cafe, the white napery, variegated colours of the women's attire, the
movement and blinding glare of the lights are a chaotic blur when you
first open your eyes upon them; but the human eye with its almost
infinite capacity for adaptation soon resolves disorder into order,
formlessness into form. The trouble with the Futurist is that he
catches the full force of the primal impression, then later loads it
with his own subjective fancies. The outcome is bound to be a riddle.
I confess without hesitation there are several pictures in the
exhibition which impressed me. Power is power, no matter the strange
airs it may at times assume. Browning's Sordello, despite its numerous
obscure passages, is withal a work of high purpose, it always stirs
the imagination. I found myself staring at Carra's Funeral of the
Anarchist Galli and wondering after all whether a conflict shouldn't
be represented in a conflicting manner. Zola reproached both De
Goncourt and Flaubert for their verbal artistry. "Vulgar happenings,"
he said, "should be presented in the bluntest fashion." And then he
contradicted himself in practice by attempting to write like Hugo and
Flaubert. Signor Carra, who probably witnessed the street row at the
funeral of Galli between the students and the police, sets before us
in all its vivacity or rhythm--or rhythms--the fight. It is a real
fight. And while I quite agree with Edgar Degas, who said he could
make a crowd out of four or five figures in a picture, it is no
reflection on Carra's power to do the same with a dozen or more. A
picture as full of movement and the clash of combatants as is the
battle section of the Richard Strauss Symphony, A Hero's Life. Realism
is the dominating factor in both works. The cane and club swinging
sympathisers of the anarchist are certainly vital.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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