Art: Sterile Modernism

(See front cover)

Art, like most other human enterprises, has its makers, sellers, buyers and commentators. Prominent living makers of art—Matisse, Picasso, Zuloaga, Augustus John, Rockwell Kent—are known at least by name to multitudes of laymen. And almost every literate person has heard of Sir Joseph Duveen. He is, however, neither an artist nor a critic, as laymen have been known to wager. He is, of course, the supersalesman and the most famed name in contemporary art. Extensive buyers of art—Andrew Mellon, Jules Semon Bache, John Ringling—are widely recognized as such.

Who can...