Ephemera (Buck)/Introduction
INTRODUCTION
Twenty-five of these pastels, under the title of "Syrinx," were published in the spring of 1914. The others, which make up the present volume, have never before appeared in print.
In contrast to the simpler forms and vistas of Syrinx, a new series has been drawn from the more complex, more voluptuous, life of Æolia and the Archipelago.
On the isles beyond the shores of Hellas, many races lived and mingled, rising and falling, migrating, building and destroying. Perhaps the one direct ideal shining through this exotic kaleidoscope was the reflection of that idealism of Beauty which transfigured all lands and peoples where the influence of the Hellenes was felt.
Decadent and distorted though this may, at times, have been, in its true form the influence was not without admirable results—an outflow of literature and art which is handed down to the modern world as a precious heritage—flowers of that clean sensual delight which has been, in all ages, the companion of Genius and the liberator of the Soul.