25 JUNE 1954, Page 12

CONTEMPORARY ARTS

ART

imprisoned by his own success, is struggling to extend the range of his vision and its expression, and the large number of botanical studies here show the care and deliberation with which he is making the attempt. The paintings, still for the most part of what Robert Melville calls his private 'Garden of Eden,' show new viewpoints, new tonal relationships, new compositional formulae (in which geometric elements are more evident) and new ways of handling his paint (which is largely dragged and altogether rougher). What matter that the magic has gone? Reynolds has a lifetime before him and three cheers for his courage to set off again into the unknown.

M.B. MIDDLETON