oriental art will consent to learn enough of the Japanese or Chinese
language to familiarize himself with any other than the commonly known
artists of these countries, and all that one can do within the frame of
an international exhibition is to single out those things which appeal
on the basis of certain artistic principles which are the same the world
over. To go into the many religious and other sentimental considerations
which are sometimes the basic justification for some very extraordinary
fantastic things, charmingly exploited by certain art dealers, is
impossible within the scope of this book.



Japan

The Japanese people, at the extreme southern end of the Palace of Fine
Arts, have a representative show of painted screens, of extraordinary
beauty. Anyone, without being in the least familiar with the fauna and
flora of Japan, must admire the tremendously acute power of observation
and surety of drawing which made these designs possible. The two sixfold
screens by Taisei Minakami on the east wall of the eastern gallery are
probably the most magnificently daring examples of modern Japanese art.
To the student of design they offer a most stimulating opportunity for
study. Acutely observed, their tropical subjects, very daring in colour,
are exhaustively beautiful. The spacing of the design, the relative
distribution of the few daring colours against a gold background of
wonderful texture, combine in a picture of great vitality. The art of no
people is so scientific as that of these people, whose every effort, no
matter how insignificant, is technically always sound. Our modern art
schools could very profitably imitate the Japanese principle of teaching
their young students how to do a thing well and of leaving the choice of