Writ on water
The pattern of M. Sasek's books is now firmly established. It would be difficult for him to introduce innovations, and these would not be welcomed by his admirers, who delight in the fixed conventions of his unconventional portraits. It is the more remarkable that each book is pure Sasek and at the same time each catches the characteristic atmosphere of his subject...
This is Venice has many of the artist's gentle digs at tourists and at the vendors who feed on them. It shows, too, that M. Sasek is primarily an architectural draughtsman. His drawings of churches, palaces and odd corners are brilliant simplifications which never depart from the essential truths of building. That he draws buildings not in noble isolation but surrounded by the mess and muddle of a living city -- washing on the line, telly-aerials on the roof -- endears him more deeply to the reader.
Writ on Water, in The Times Literary Supplement, No. 3118, December 1, 1961, p. xvii.
