Feminine Interests

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 823, 18 November 1929, Page 5

Feminine Interests

modern art Jean Dev army's Views THE JAZZ AGE A tut Oi :i. ■ • I', talk. «i about An. l::VlV ’* ll U,i Va -’ , » r i , s •>«* temper lniental >■ nth -ays tlm New Zealand writer. J* 'in \ . in the Sydney •Morning' H*rald.' - ; these lines. The great'r tie- artist the more sensitive he is fu his environment; thv assume leadership of the art world ' The intei ai tiun of the id- a! ami the music, pa intin-4, sculpture, and liter.t ideal: a striving toward something letter and higher. ami that idealism arising, out ..f social life, in its turn reacts -ti it. I'n-m ttlic diverse elements of society the artist l.as evolved idealised abstractions, which have been received as t standard by ti e people. In fonie '' »a nturies. before industrialism. art in all its forms was. generally speaking, quiet, immobile, semistatic. It differe«l. it evolved but it remained quiet. There was nothing- of a torrential nature and little of the amorphous about the art of those times. And why ? because society then dawdled along to the steady rhvthm of slow, handieraft methods of production. Social life itself was quiet. It ••ould give forth but tranquil impressions. Hut industrialism transformed this ‘ldiet, seemingly semi-static society m the twinkling of an eye to a monstrous orld of swift and brutal changes; and it had to bring forth an imagery of itself from the world of art. Exactly in proportion as Industrialism has speeded up. lies taken bold of and metamorphosed society, by method of a series of startling and rapid changes, just exactly in 'that proportion has Art responded anti necessarily in the same

Til- mo-l'in m-hool. in all the art!-. phase. Ii i I . " an e.\< i< s.-.-nce m>on immortal art: 1 r!? , 1 - 1 ° StU : Knt of can fail to * • « ognise tuia jazz era to be a culmint The great artist today, again in- c - hi, own reaction to enormously’! * t--i t. d conditions, wlurh results in work a u ..a n is transcendent in v. hat is pureij r id- a logical and for that reason may l>c 1 lio\\ . vcr. guv. us exquisite pictures of j *• lii*- in its fundanu nt. so to say; they ' “ painted cows which will be cows for ail i rinu- whereas today s art is the symbol ot our modern artificiality, the expression of a passing mood. It is highly individual art. because it reflects. an intensely individual society, but nevertheless as “great” an ' 3 n- >s is it matter of personality. Th* uf the artist is not deadened by ’ to. machine but only diverted j mr.» < orresponding forms. The mas- ’ sive giandoiu and force of a ••Rinin" is exactly allied with the art of Leonardo da Vinci and of his successors. • gulf between the old and til.- new today cannot be bridged; the rapidity ot technical development will not allow it. Rut we can expect to >• i , before many decades are over u-. : t‘ exponents of today’s art usurping j t 10 place ot tie ir now critics’ and sitting in wrathful judgment on the “chaotic and unhealthy state'' of the ; artforms arising from already rapidly i developing new material conditions. Poday. because society is in the ! melting pot. because the life of the i" ople is more or less of a jazz night- | mare, we have art expressions taking l tin.* torni of cubist drolleries in paint- j iim golliwogs in sculpture. Stravin- I sky in music, and startling and daring i experiments in literature. Which docs not mean a belittlement of the • present school. By no means. The art of today is the essence of its time in stone and picture and book, and i; wiU be accepted by posterity as such. Take the truly magnificent achievements of Epstein. for instance, undoubtedly the Rodin of today; casti- | eated and derided by old-time stand- : ards for his distortion, which actually ! is no more accentuated, in considera- i tion of his period, than Rodin’s and iVzanne’s or Maugun’s. in their day. or: Michael Angelo’s in his. Angelo* retleeted the '■low changes of his day in his slight distortions. Kpstein reflects' tin-* startling variety of moods and changes of today in his monsters. J

A banger-mender is splendid t u travelling or to hang in your wardrobe To -i hanger with upturned ends fix with loops of ribbon and matching drawing pins a small pair of scissors, a tiny bag containing a thimble, black and white cotton-reels and a mending plait.- Paint features and hair on a clothes peg-knob, dress the peg as nurse, making he. pi 11icoats of flannel to take needles,- and i fix her to the hanger hook. j

Vinegar improves gravy; added to the water, makes a boiling fowl more tender; rubbed into any meat before cooking, reduces toughness: sweetens meat that may be slightly high.

STEAM COOKERY ECONOMISING SPACE FOOD VALUES KEPT steamer was in very little demand compared with the constant every- : nowadays we have learned to cook conservatively, and with more common sense. Instead of drowning our j food in water, and throwing away its I most important constituents, we now cook by steam, and conserve the valuable properties, with great benefit to In consequence*, steamers have assumed great importance when the question of kitchen equipment is under discussion. Not only is food better cooked by this means, out when the two or three-tiered steamer is in use one gus burner suffices for two or three items cooked at a time, thus economising in gas consumed and space occupied on the stove. A .iew tiered steamer, of English make, in very heavy aluminium, is of an improved design, inasmuch as the base, which contains the water. is larger than the steamers above. The water capacity is increased, so that the possibility of the pan burning dry is practically nil. Thus lengthy steaming operations can be safely left while the housewife carries on with other tasks about the house. The base is. of course, usable as an ordinary extra large saucepan when required for that pn rpose. A portable steam cooker which may bo heated by gas or lire, or on a gas stove, is a useful and convenient innovation, for not only does it enable pno to cook by the best means, but poultry, meat, potatoes, and puddings may all be cooked in the one chamber at the same time without contamination of flavour. There are three shelves and pans in this ovenlike steam cooker, and a large water chamber at the base, which may be filled from the outside. It is provided. with side handles, so that it is easily portable. The steamer is made from tinned steel, with a copper bottom to the* water container. Admittedly, a stockpot is not a steamer proper, but this seems to be the opportunity for describing a new aluminium stockpot, which has novel and useful features to commend it. Tt is made in very heavy gauge aluminium. 'l2 inches in diameter and nine inches deep. A wire platform in the bottom supports a circular container, leaving the necessary space for the boiling water. Above this lower recentaele lit two semi-circular pans, and then the entire pan closes with a, large lid. This pan may be used for many extra purposes, such as sterilising, fruit bottling, and. without the inner parts, as a preserving pan.