ARTS
An overdue acknowledgment
John McEwen
A1782 was the year of Cotman's birth and 1881 was the year of Palmer's death, in centennial recognition of these two events and thanks to their rare conjunc- tion, London at present offers the once-in- a-lifetime opportunity of seeing important exhibitions of the work of both these intrin- sically English masters. The Cotman is a touring exhibition organised by the Arts Council, currently at the Victoria and Albert Museum (till 24 October) and then travelling to the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (6 November — 11 December) and the City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery (18 December — 29 January). The
`abstract' we most admire today are the
abstract' ones, those harmonious ar- rangements of shapes and tones, simultaneously stark and gentle, that are Memorable for their formal qualities more than for what they depict. But this style, alas, represents only a fraction of his out- Put; and the suppression of it at the request of patrons and in the interests of earning a living is the tragedy of this sad — in his own time, relatively neglected — artist's life. Two-thirds of mankind, you know, mind more about what is represented than how it is done,' he was once told by an unap- preciative contemporary, and the 'what' of it — architectural etchings, portraits, pat- tern drawings for well-to-do ladies to copy ,fr°rn — got the better of the 'how' for all Out the years 1806-1808. The masterpieces of that inspired time (most famous in the form of clean cut bridges and aqueducts and their duplicating water reflections) only began to find widespread favour at the turn of the present century, a symptom Of the overall lack of public recognition Cotman suffered in his lifetime. Farington does not mention him in his 'Diaries', nor' Constable in his correspondence, nor Ruskin in his writings; and when he died he was not honoured with a single obituary. The. Arts Council's selection takes note of every phase of his career, but rightly Styes most consideration to the period of greatest originality. The paper of his Masterpieces is rougher, the technique less watery, the colours more faded than can be deduced from illustration. Cotman, with Lerome, is the glory of the Norwich School, but his finest works are almost all of Yorkshire. He was happiest then too: no Marriage as yet, no money problems and some nice country houses to stay in (in- cluding Castle Howard for a week). It was a Cholmeley of Brandsby Park who made the remark about people liking 'what' better than `how'; and it remains the factor that divides those who do not like art from those who do, though to estimate the dislikers in
1982 at two-thirds of mankind would be op- timistic.
Round the corner from the Cotman is a memorial exhibition (till 31 October) in honour of the engraver, Reynolds $tone (1909-1979). Stone (appropriate name) was crucially influenced by Eric Gill, and Ruari McLean is surely right to single out his engraving of letter forms on wood, par- ticularly some whole-page displays of roman alphabets, as his finest achievement. They are for those who like the formalist `how' of it. As a representer Stone is best at his most miniature. Some messy water- colours underline his lack of artistic vision, but he is a good craftsman. You need a sweet tooth to stomach so much nostalgia and there are a wearisome number of tasteful bookplates, but his professional span takes the edge off the preciousness. The Dolcis' sign, Hamish Hamilton's logo, the bookplate of the London Library, the Royal Arms on the Court Circular page, Churchill's Westminster Abbey memorial stone, even our undistinguished f5 and £10 notes are all by him.
`There are many mediums in the means — none, 0! not a jot, not a shadow of a jot, in the end of great art! . .. one must not begin with medium, but think always on excess, and only use medium to make ex- cess more abundantly excessive,' wrote Samuel Palmer. If Cotman exemplifies classical, or at least neo-classical, restraint, then Palmer is the essence of romantic emo- tionalism. The present exhibition (Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, 38 Bury Street, SW1 till 17 September; The National Gallery of Scot- land 1 October — 12 December) all derives from the collection of the Ash molean Mus- eum and will be familiar to many visitors to Oxford. Three years ago there was also a large Palmer exhition at the V & A, memory of which may further take the edge off novelty, but none from pleasure.
Palmer may be the obverse in spirit of Cotman, but their careers are oddly similar. Both were touched with genius in their twenties, and then jobbed on for the rest of their lives as honest journeymen. Both have been modern 'discoveries'. The V & A ex- hibition made high claims for Palmer's late work and these are confirmed, but for the excess that makes his vision mystical there is nothing in the later work to compare with the paintings he did in Shoreham as a young man. Several of the most famous of these are included, none more joyful than the bright watercolour of a chestnut tree that has been chosen for the cover of the well- designed catalogue. Yeats was an admirer, and this tree must surely be the 'great- rooted blossomer' of his poem. With disrespect to Palmer — who can tell the dancer from the dance, the means from the end?
Vivian Pitchforth died recently. Many students will remember him as a brilliant teacher, many -visitors to Summer Exhibi- tions at the Royal Academy as our finest and purest modern technician in water- colours. He loved boats and his most characteristic paintings have a low foreground of shore and sea, leaving most of the paper free :or high and light irradiating skies. Like that other modern watercolour master, Russell Flint, he lacked the artistic vision fully to capitalise on his technical strength; still, in 1938 Wyndham Lewis nominated him as one of the few `pros' in English art, and that is an appella- tion nut to be sniffed at. Pitchforth may be the most watery of watercolourists, but his death does not mark the end of a line. For confirmation of that you need only visit the summer show at Fischer Fine Art, 30 King Street, SW I (till 17 September), and see two recent paintings by Michael Sandie. He too has mastered watercolour technique (there is more than a hint of Cotman in his clear- cut edges) and, unlike Pitchforth, he does have vision; nor is he afraid of large sub- jects, as witness here his interpretation of Mount St Helens exploding.
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