Frantisek Smejkal

In an old-school setup, this collection's first half contains essays, and the second half illustrations. The essays are difficult, being written in the cumbersome English too often used by Eastern European authors, and requiring far too much prior knowledge; too often the reader isn't even granted the courtesy of a first name or dates, and artcrit jargon rules too many sentences. What should have happened is that most of the actual information should have been transferred to caption the illustrations, or at least been accompanied by a reference to a specific plate number. As is, the illustrations contain no information other than title, artist, and date. As for the illustrations themselves, they are mostly curiosities, but some are interesting enough and even moving; adding context by including the interpretations found elsewhere would have improved this unsatisfactory medium by some distance.… (mehr)