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76 Books 1976 for the New York Review of Books, which has been augmented with 62 full-page plates of adequate quality, each with accompanying commentary and a number of comparative illustrations. The text includes the basic facts of Beardsley's life, together with a rather personal and occasionally patronising critique of his work. In remarking on individual works, he tends to stress their formal 'quality' above other considerations. His avowed purpose is to emphasise the extent of Beardsley's influence on later artists and, in particular, to demonstrate 'how often [his] design [as opposed to his imagery] anticipates contemporary painting and ... hard-edge abstraction.' This thesis prompts a selection and analysis of Beardsley's work in which meaning plays only a minor part; perhaps this unwillingness to deal with subject matter, together with a desire to make the book as acceptable as possible to the general public, explains why Clark decided to omit the 'indecent' drawings, some of which Beardsley considered to rank among his best. Furthermore, Clark's bias leads him to denigrate those drawings that rely on a complex and detailed linearity in favour of the type that display a broad pattern of flat light and dark areas. But Clark's approach brings in its wake much graver pitfalls than these. He casts Beardsley in the role of a 'protomodernist ' who 'anticipates' not only Picasso, Kandinsky, the Ballets Russes and Cubist Braque of 1912, but also, by implication, the post-painterly abstractionists of the 1970s! Since Beardsley could not have 'anticipated' any of these later developments, Clark's reliance on historical hindsight is at the very least dubious. Furthermore, one learns little about Beardsley by placing him within the context of the 20th century. On the contrary, only by setting him in his own historical situation can one begin to understand the scope of his accomplishment. This is precisely the premise that Clark sets out to deny. For him, Beardsley is almost totally detached from his own era, and his diabolism is 'do-it-yourself', a self-generated phenomenon that one is meant to believe had nothing to do with his attitudes toward the British society in which he lived. As a result, Beardsley emerges here as a shadow of his former self. Drawings by Wharton Esherick. Gene Rochberg, ed. Van Nostrand Reinhold, London, 1978. 106 pp., illus. £10.45. Reviewed by Jeffrey S. Erickson" Esherick lived from 1887 to 1970, spending most of his years in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. area. Initially involved primarily in painting and drawing, his muse eventually led him into printmaking, sculpture and even furniture making . Acknowledged by many as 'the dean of American craftsmen ', he apparently had little formal training, preferring to chart his own course. This book is a compilation of pencil, ink and crayon drawings that date from 1918 to 1965 and of a dozen photographs of his sculptures. There are rough sketches for later sculptures and many drawings that seem to have a similar intention, as well as many that might best be described as incidental and thumbnail sketches. There are few drawings that can or should be seen as ends in themselves, that is, as attempts at a complete, cohesive artwork. I do not mean to belittle Esherick's capabilities as an artist, but I question the motive behind this book (in a very attractive format) of drawings that might charitably be described as hurried and unattractive. Perhaps the best way to view the book is in the spirit of a memorial to a loved and respected artist. As such it has a certain charm and, beyond that, it is for those interested in Esherick's mature work, in terms of acquainting them further with the pictorial art of one whose talent was primarily in sculpture. Unfortunately, the few photographs of his sculptures reproduced are alluring enough to make most of the drawings seem rather shallow. Lest I be accused either of lack of heart or of lack of objectivity, there are a few instances, especially in the ink drawings of outdoor scenes, where the *404 Walnut St., Carbondale, IL 62901, U.S.A. looseness and vigor of line are controlled enough to provide a...

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