ART.
THE GENERAL EXHIBITION OF WATER-COLOURS. THE year's collection of pictures at the Dudley Gallery is more
remarkable for its general average of excellence than for any works it contains of extraordinary excellence. Not that there is an actual want of attractiveness or originality ; but it is to be con- sidered (in comparing the Exhibition with others of similar works) that here are collected together about twice as many drawings as are ever hung by either of the Water-Colour Societies, and that
the greater the number exhibited the less in proportion will those
of the better sort inevitably be. Nor is this all ; association of the good with the indifferent has a positively prejudicial effect on the former. An eye fatigued by drawings which, however meritorious and promising. do not rise to the point of interesting the mind, has greater difficulty in appreciating and enjoying a first-class
work than it would if the latter stood alone. Indifferent work in an exhibition seldom acts as a foil to the good, but rather drags it down to its own level. Impressions formed under these influences are frequently much modified and corrected by second thoughts, or rather by a second sights of the pictures when the .attention is confined within selected limits. The few notes that follow have been put together with the view, if possible, of aiding the selection.
The flower-painters are those who, as a class, are best repre- sented. Miss Helen Coleman has from the first been distinguished by a style of her own. W. Hunt has been followed by a long tail of imitators, who with scarcely an exception have missed the greatest excellence of their original ; for while often displaying considerable skill in detailed imitation, they have for the most part been entirely innocent of the breadth of treatment which Hunt himself so passionately sought after. Thus it is that we have been inundated with strawberries lying on a dirty bank, apples backed by lumps of moss, &c., &c., and at last we have begun to wonder what it was that we so admired in Hunt, till we see perchance a work by Hunt himself, and are reminded that the charm of it consisted not only in his unsurpassed power of realization, but also, and in a greater degree, in the breadth of treatment which compelled every detail to form part of a whole, and secured the prime qualities of unity, sobriety, and repose. Now it is breadth of treatment that is the chief merit of Miss Coleman's drawings, and whereas Hunt aimed at brilliance and force of colour, she is all for tenderness. Her marigolds and white chrys anthemums (480) set in a golden-stained glass, with a bit of crimson geranium lying near, and her " Guelder Roses and Barberries " (502) are among the best drawings she has made. She has never given way to the vulgar trick of blackening her background to give force (which it does not do) to her flowers. Miss Eastlake is known by a more brilliant palette, a looser method of execution, and generally a more exclusive use of transparent pigments than Miss Coleman. Her flowers have a special charm of vigour and freshness, as in the "Study of Hollyhock" (446) ; but she also exhibits a drawing (493) in which she betrays some inclination to imitate and adopt Miss Coleman's favourite effects and mode of painting. She had better continue to see with her own eyes.
There is a certain stateliness about Rhododrendrous " (5) and " Gladiolus " (553), by H. Sterling, besides good drawing and pleasing colour. This is a new name, and so is that of Mr. Daniel Williamson, whose brilliant " Daffodils " (44), against a background of ochre, are as original as they are beautiful. Com- pared with ordinary flower -painting, breadth of treatment characterizes the work of all these four artiste.
The kind of picture which Mr. S. Solomon delights to paint is pretty well known. That he is a colourist of remarkable power few will be disposed to deny. His "Young Rabbi carrying the Scrolls of the Law" (51) is a rich assemblage of browns that few could surpass. But the sentiment is remote, not to say hazy, and there is little suggestion of life or reality in the head. Still the picture is free from that repulsive sentiment which too fre- quently marks Mr. Solomon's compositions, and which bolds full sway in his "Summer Twilight" (121). Here even the colour
is unattractive, and one rather shrinks from analysing too par- ticularly the natures of those degenerate creatures in noen's attire.
A momentary thought, suggested by their thick ankles and
shapeless shanks, that the artist had thus purposely aimed at making them unlovely and contemptible, and so of pointing a wholesome moral, vanishes when the general tenour of the picture
is considered. A certain strange beauty of colour in the same artist's "Three Holy Children in the Fiery Furnace" (45) does not compensate for its total want of expression. The lugubrious aspect and protruded chins of these figures are at least not bah- cative of any appropriate ideas. Think how William Blake would have treated the subject. Mr. Solomon only reminds us of the old school-trick of a big boy knocking together the heads of three little ones. The subject is apparently "beyond the reaches of his soul." Passing from Mr. Solomon's pictures to the manly and accomplished work of Mr. E. J. Poynter is like emerging from an atmosphere heavy with oppressive scents into the free air of heaven. At once accurate and refined in feeling, this artist's drawing has a scholarly finish that is equally rare and delightful. Nor is it in outline only that he shows a thorough appreciation of form ; in a still more remarkable degree he commands all those niceties of shadow and tone which go towards expressing not only roundness and relief, but also the endless variations of surface that distinguish all things (except a billiard-ball), and not least the human head and face. In his head of " Jessica " (586) these qualities are combined with a most delicate beauty of featuie and expression, and though the colour is somewhat poor, yet there is a relative harmony of tints that leaves a general impression of truth. There has been some haste or carelessness in the drawing of the hand: it is hardly worthy of the face. And as the only Jessica popularly known is Shylock's daughter, it may perhaps be objected (viithout imputation of hypercriticism) that this is not a Jewess at all, and certainly not the light-hearted damsel we know in our Shakespeares. But perhaps Mr. Poynter intended to show her in a moment of sadness induced by hearing sweet music, and has adopted a conclusion akin to Launcelot's "bastard hope," that after all she was not the Jew's daughter. A portrait of Mrs. E. Burne Jones (506), and an etching or pen-and- ink drawing of " Vashti" (669), are other noticeable works exhibited by the same artist. In "The Princess and the Pelicans" (169), Mr. H. S. Marks has caught and manifested to the eye the very spirit of a fairy tale. It has been justly remarked that the faint odour of archaism that breathes through the picture is in keeping with the subject. In fact, it helps us the more easily to lend our imaginations to the story of men changed by magic into pelicans, and cribbed within this narrow " stang." Just so, if pelicans understood language, would pelicans look and listen when read to by a kind and compassionate sister, who sought to wile away their pains. The picture is delightful in colour, and painted in a light key, encouraged probably by the artist's recent practice in mural decoration.
There is a good show of landscapes. Mr. T. Denby sends a beautiful drawing of a quiet bay on Llyn Gwynant, where summer heat is freshened by a light air that just shivers the surface of the lake (185). Mr. D'Egville, not long since known chiefly as a sketcher of spirit and refinement, but who to his now maturer work has added fullness of colour, fine gradation of tone, and numberless charms of aerial perspective, exhibits a Venetian scene (481) possessing these qualities in a high degree. The painting of Swiss Alpine scenery seldom falls to the lot of our better artists ; but here is a view on the Mer de Glace by Mr. W. Field (210) which proves that, however difficult it may be to give full effect to those "palaces of nature," and however frequent the failures that have happened in the attempt, there are yet scenes among the Alps which, in the bands of good men and true, are not beyond the reach of pictorial art. Mr. W. Field's picture is redolent of the Alps, and makes very obvious the insufficiency of what is ordinarily given forth as representing them. From still less accustomed sketching- ground is sent a vigorous and well-executed drawing of "'Fhe Rapids above Niagara" (62), by Madame Bodichon, a wild waste and hurry of waters, swirling and tumbling onward with irresistible fury. Mr. Ditchfield exhibits several well-considered street scenes in Algiers (91, 270, and others). Mr. Earle makes • steady progress, as evinced by greater breadth and repose of treat- - ment, especially in a Nuremburg drawing (305), while his " Rich- .mond Castle" (104) shows great skill in choosing a good point of view ; Mr. C. Richardson is sparkling and vigorous as usual, yet modest withal (195) ; and Mr. H. Macallum begins to reap the fruits of sedulous study in greater freedom of execution, a good quality of colour, and definite character in the places and things he paints. By keeping on this tack Mr. Macallum will certainly go much further yet. Mr. A. Severn has not sent any of his more serious work for exhibition, but there is a masterly study by him of sky and middle distance (434), which it is a pity to see marred by an ill-considered foreground. A forcible study is Mr. T. J. Watson's "Fishing Village" (280), but as low-toned as to suggest an eclipse of the sun. Lastly, Mr. Brennan makes a good begin- ning with the water-colour box in his two carefully-painted and pleasantly-coloured views of Rome (448, 461). V.
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