This collection investigates the evolution of modern art theory and practice through the extensive critical writings of Walter Sickert. The author, a prominent European painter and critic active from the 1880s to the 1930s, provides a primary source record of the shifting aesthetic values of his era. By compiling over 400 entries, the text serves as a comprehensive archive of Sickert's personal philosophy and his observations on the broader British art scene.

Scholars and art historians frequently cite this collection as a foundational resource for understanding the intellectual climate of British modernism. Readers often note the density of the prose, which reflects the specific stylistic and critical conventions of the early twentieth century.