ART
Summer Exhibitions. At the Redfern and St. George's Galleries.— Primitive Art. At the Berkeley Galleries. —" The Age of Grace." At Messrs. Roland, Browse and Delbanco.
THE Summer shows begin about this time of year and the Redfern is first in the field with its usual bazaar. A vast multitude of pictures- from floor to ceiling with stacks of those unhung clustering in corners. No single work has a fair chance in the general free-for-all, in fact the exhibition closely resembles an election meeting : pictures booing at each other, a few squibs and no chance to expound policy. The pictorial candidates number six hundred or so and are of every con- ceivable shade of opinion. I would like to draw special attention to the new paintings by John Minton, which are a considerable de- velopment, in particular the large " Children by the Sea " (No. 520 which, if it were hung where it could be seen, would add con- siderably to his reputation. A large selection of paintings, drawings and lithographs by nineteenth and twentieth century masters is dis- played, among them a violent Soutine landscape and a Picasso called " Deux Oeufs." This latter is priced at 750 guineas, which seems a lot even for " shell eggs." The whole exhibition is punctuated with inferior Christopher Woods. Why this gallery must needs hang every failure that exquisite but uneven painter put on canvas I do not know.
The St. Georges Gallery has a quiet little show which, unlike the Redfern's six hundred, numbers thirty-eight. It is the difference between the " Charge of the Light Brigade " and " The Lake Isle of Innisfree," with the volleys and thunders stilled to the gentle contemplation of well-spaced pictures, a lovely David Jones water- colour, a Modigliani -wash drawing, an excellent Frances Hodgkins drawing and some pleasant if slight sketches by several of the great Frenchmen. The Redfern has many pictures to equal and surpass the best at this little gallery, could one but see them as well.
The Berkeley Galleries, like the Redfern, is guilty of the sin of overcrowding, in its exhibition of " Primitive Art." There are wonderful examples of Benin bronze and all too numerous are the splendid masks and totems from Africa and the Antipodes. I put forth a plea to all dealers. Let us have exhibitions, not jumble sales, no matter how splendid nor how slight the articles exposed to view. Let us see more wall space with fewer pictures, and let
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