ART.
SKETC HE'S AND STUDIES OF THE WATER-COLOUR SOCIETY.
Tim question asked in these columns last May—whether all favours derived to Artists from the highest fountain of honour must necessarily flow in a channel dictated by one narrow clique —was auswered with unexpected promptitude by the announce- ment which was made in the course of the summer that the Presi- dent of the Water-Colour Society was to receive the honour of knighthood. The State thus at length publicly recognizes the fact, long since patent to all lovers of true art, that Water-Colour painting has achieved for itself an independent position not inferior to that held by any other branch of the fine arts. The fact was long ago proved, and is now (in true Dogberreiau sequence) acknowledged, that Water-Colour painters count among themselves many of the best artists of the time, men of the highest aim, the purest motives, and the most far-reaching power ; and though the simple justice now dealt to them has been long delayed, and they might perhaps have been content to work on without claiming it aloud, yet it is not the less welcome to all who desire the right sort of art to prevail and the professors of such art to prosper. For it is undeniable that in this Water-Colour gallery there is, and nlways has been, to be found a larger propor- tion of pictures wrought with a single eye to the truth and beauty and modesty of nature than in any other British gallery of pictures, and while the knowledge has certainly not been less, the motives have been purer than elsewhere. The Minister who is responsible for the step will doubtless congratulate himself that it was reser ved for him to advise it, while among artists it is scarcely possible to conceive any so green-eyed as to feel dissatis- fied with him for doing so. It may be added that the President for the time being of the Water-Colour Society, and who thus be- comes the recipient of the new honour as representative of all Water-Colour artists, of whatever society and wherever exhibiting, is Mr. John Gilbert. Many motives of mixed kinds go to the choice of a President, but Mr. Gilbert is an artist of sufficient merit to enable him to wear the new dignity with ease. To be sure, he does not shine very brightly at this present Exhibition ; but occasional mediocrity, even of a lower kind, might well be permitted to the author of "Joan of Arc," still fresh in the memory, and of "William HI. crossing the Boyne," lately exhi- bited at the Water-Colour Institute.
The greatest novelties to the frequenters of the Gallery are Mr. A. Goodwin's skOolses. Young as he still is, this artist has for some years been kiown in Loudon as a colourist of great power and originality. Hitherto hie work has not been equally remarkable for a happy choice or for skilful expression of forms. Both in drawing and in modelling he has left much to be desired ; but such is the charm of colour that it has often gained him unmixed com- mendation, and his imperfections in other respects have been ignored, till his well-wishers have sometimes feared that he would be tempted to rest on his laurels and remain as he began, a half- trained artist. This has been the fate of many a promising be- ginner ; and it is, therefore, a real satisfaction to find from his latest work that Mr. Goodwin has not been caught in the snare; that he has seen his defects, and has addressed himself vigorously to the task of making thorn good. " April " (62), " Feeding- time " (139), and "The Derbyshire Hills" (195), especially the last, all show careful drawing and preference for beauty over eccentricity or strangeness in form. This latter quality deserves particular recognition when so many clever young artists, with a queer obliquity of taste, seek obtrusive awkwardness rather than simple beauty. It is to be feared indeed that it is not always an limiest taste, but a craving for notoriety, that actuates them,—a prize easily won, but. if by such means, not more legitimate than the success of the preacher who filled his church by standing on his head in the pulpit. No artist. can be in the first rank who is insensible to beauty of form, or seriously deficient in the power of expressing it, and Mr. Goodwin, shows that he is now fully alive to this truth. He has also grown, stronger in his strongest point. his colour, without losing a jot. of its brilliance, has gained in delicacy and transparence. He has, for the present at least, abandoned the pernicious practice of loading the paper with minute patches of dry pigment, and la, allowing the paper to shine through transparent washes has. entered on the right road to eminence in water-colour painting. The general effect of the three sketches above-mentioned is as of the blandest sunshine playing over and beautifying every object. The flowery slopes in " April " are brightened with an atmosphere. that seems, as it were, to laugh ; while (to strike a different note). the fodderer surrounded by his hilarious and expectant troop of pigs that flock to him from every part of the straw-yard in "Feeding-time" is an irresistible touch of rustic life. "Morn- ing Sunlight" (258) is a slighter, but hardly less beautiful. sketch by the same hand. Ibis a less easy task to speak of Mr. North. That there is good stuff in him is beyond question but he seems yet to suffer the throes of undigested material and of half-trained powers of expression. To paint the large study "Beechen Hollow "(104) has, no doubt, been a profitable lesson to himself ; but the production is unequal in execution and fragmentary in composition. There is a certain grandeur in the lines, but a great want of air ; and the general impression produced is that the work ought, after exhibition, to- have returned to the artist's portfolio. Pleasanter in generals effect and of fine tone throughout is a smaller drawing called "An Uhlan " (328) ; and another, "Poplar Trees" (79). The- figures he introduces arc apt to have a set look,—what the French, call pose; indeed, the standing girl in "The Tay" ($74) looks. as if she had seen Medusa's head. Preferable in this respect are the two damsels listening to the nightingale (361), though the recumbent figure is a rather confused heap of clothes. Mr. North's daylight is of the saddest hue, and all his landscape is of the brownest. Is it possible that he has caught this from Mr. F.. Walker ? The lust-narned gentleman contributes nothing of note ; while Mr. Pinwell is on this occasion more remarkable for- his peculiar faults of colour than for the higher qualities which sometimes, as in his "Pied Piper," more than compensate for the coppery tints by which they are accompanied. Mr. Watson haeo. a good study of colour, green, grey, and dull gold (211), and a clever sketch of "Fish-wives at Cullercoats " (257). Every one will be glad to renew acquaintance with the grand old woman, (10) who was the principal figure in a picture painted a few
years since by Mr. H. S. Marks, and with the non-ascetic monk. of his later work, "Thoughts on Christmas " (324) ; and wilh admire the unaffected manly style of his "Studies of Reads,-- Man and Wife" (29$), aud the distinctness of character portrayed. therein.
There is nothing from the hand of either of the Fripps or of Alfred Hunt, and Mr. Carl Haag sends only some old academic-, studies. That an artist should not be perpetually skimming off his ideas before they are well set (au operation, however, which, in these times we all in our several ways too often perform) is', hardly to be regretted. But with such gaps the Exhibition must needs suffer. On the other hand, many of the main pillars of the- Society have contributed good work. Mr. Dodgem sends finished, studies of Yorkshire moorland flushed with warm sunshine (37,, 191), and leafy shades surprisingly full, yet temperate in colour,., among which ibis hard to choose a favourite, if it be not the little, view " In Larpool Woods" (347), Mr. J. Denby is here, with, scones of Elysian repose and sunshine (119, 187) ; and Mr. David- son, with a sky of remarkable beauty and truth (158), and good studies of home landscape under morning, (69) and evening, (118> light. Since G. Chambers no man has painted the sea so well as Mr. F._ Powell. Their treatment of their subject is very different, and they are comparable chiefly on this account, viz., that as Chambers lived, much on the water and studied it for himself, so also does Powell. Not- yielding to his predecessor in his knowledge and grasp of leading. characteristics, he has accumulated a wealth and variety of detaib not included within Chambers's view, who like most of our earlier- artists, was content with the main features of his subject and a. pleasing general effect, whereas our best modern painters of land and sea are ever striving to enrich these qualities (which, of course, must never be disregarded) with every detail that has in it. a grain of meaning or serves to express a distinct fact. Mr.. Powell exhibits a fine study of open sea driven by strong windss
and looking mischievous enough in the cold gray light of early morning (38) ; and another, where herring-boats dance easily over gently-heaving water, with a beautiful effect of half-veiled sun- :shine (271). His "Waterfall, Loch Scavaig " (127), is a powerful study, giving full effect to the rich deep colour of the Western Highlands under cloud. There is a singular grace about Mr. S. Palmer's drawing of a " Cascade in Shadow " (317), in which the rare accident of broken water telling dark against a leafy background is handled so as to produce am effect not so much singular as singularly beautiful. The names -of Andrews (19), Hale (342 and others), Newton (160), W. W. Deane (101), and E. Goodall (145) are appended to several sketches of great merit ; and Mr. Boyce, who is never careless or feeble, sends some forcible sketches from Wales (135) and Northern Italy (29, 155), besides a beautiful study of autumnal sunshine 'breaking through the thinned foliage of the stately elms that .surround the picturesque church of Wargrave (380). V.
Previous page
