. International studio. ing, even the semi-modern sort ofOrlik and Valloton, has almost disappeared. Onehears most, of course, ot the extremist group,beginning with such prints as Noldes and carryingon with the still looser and coarser work of thatseething, searching, powerfully creative, but oftenwild group of Junge Kunst painters thatincludes Pechstein, Kirchner, Klein, Schmidt-Rotluff, Rohlfs and Heckel. Every observer is entitled to his opinion in amatter so new as this. Mine is that the art ofwoodcutting of the future is more likely to evolveout of these feverishly direct, sketchy, short-
. International studio. ing, even the semi-modern sort ofOrlik and Valloton, has almost disappeared. Onehears most, of course, ot the extremist group,beginning with such prints as Noldes and carryingon with the still looser and coarser work of thatseething, searching, powerfully creative, but oftenwild group of Junge Kunst painters thatincludes Pechstein, Kirchner, Klein, Schmidt-Rotluff, Rohlfs and Heckel. Every observer is entitled to his opinion in amatter so new as this. Mine is that the art ofwoodcutting of the future is more likely to evolveout of these feverishly direct, sketchy, short-handblocks than out of any other tendency nowapparent in wood engraving. I am perfectly will-ing to listen to the man who answers, But theyhave lost beauty out of their work—although Imay suspect his definition of beauty. It may bemerely something concerned with accuracy, nottruth, and surface prettiness. But I grant that alot might be said profitably about combining thisvigor, power and spiritual drive of the Germans. WORSHIP OF THE THREE KINGS BY OTTO LANGE with surer execution, and with the temperingsteadiness that grows out of it is the other point that I wish to em-phasize again here at the end; that it is not care-lessness or accidental effect that gives theseprints their feel of freedom and emotion. Iknow from experience that wood does not workthat way. It is perhaps the most uncompromisingmedium in the whole field of the graphic arts. Awoodblock under the knife may, indeed, be one ofthe cussedest things in the world; I remembercertain ones that for general misbehavior I cancompare only with a duck I once attempted tocarve with a dull knife on a greased platter. Areal bit of carelessness, in the case of NoldesProphet or Gerbigs Vintage would havewrecked just those qualities that the artist wasmost intent on achieving. An understanding ofwhat that apparent carelessness, in engraving asin painting, really means, what it implies by wayof a theory of di
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