Mar. 23. shall be curious to see whether Mr. Mencarini's appeal for the revival of the Photographic Society of Shanghai more successful-than that made not long ago by Dr. Bolton. We! believe Dr. Bolton found a few adherents, but most-of the old members of the former society seemed to have lost interest in it.
If we are doing them injustice, we hasten to apologize ere they flood us with indignant letters. If our surmise is correct, however, then obviously the thing to do is to leave the old members to themselves and look for new blood. There will be enough of the former to give the institution.a good foundation. Mr. Mencarini has been known for many years as an expert pictorial photographer, and there must be more than_ enough lovers of photography in Shanghai to make a society the'. financial success and lively influence that it should be. "That there is both useful and delightful work for it-to do, is beyond question, and we hope Mr. Mencarini's letter will lead to a photographic society being formed.
For photography is a very beautiful thing, all the more so now that it seems to have lived through the brief madness in which it insisted on calling itself an art and strove to justify its claims to equality with the brush by all kinds of fearsome inventions and manipulations. The world has argued for centuries over the meaning of the word art and'might argue for as many more over its applicability to pictorial production by photography. It would surely be the height of injustice to deny the term artistic, in the best sense, to the exquisite pictures that some photographers produce. But the artistry of such work lies partly in the faithfulness of its adherence to the real functions of the camera, not in its imitation of the painted canvas. In their revived realization of this truth photographers have given a dignity and appeal to their work which the "'fuzzy-wuzzy'' scheat deliberately threw away. At the photographic exhibitions in JLondon last autumn' it was remarked that the best workers not only eschewed the fuzzy effects but kept down all hand manipulation by brush and pencil to the minimum of "'spotting'' and retouching which almost any negative requires. The best pictures were "straight'' prints, for which the only essentials were © mastery of technical processes and the faculty for seeing beautiful things. and compelling the camera to record them beautifully. Enlargement has of course put enormous power in the photographer's hands. He can
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