A RT.
THE WATER-COLOUR SOCIETIES.
'TnE Water-Colour Society and the Institute have both lately opened their annual exhibitions, and, notwithstanding the unusually low number of pictures exhibited by the latter, both are of great interest. To begin with the elder society, Mr. George Fripp still maintains his supremacy as the most vigorous and accomplished of English landscape-painters, and in his "Loch Etichan " (113) gives one more sign how firmly he has laid hold of the scenery of the Scotch Highlands. It might be put the other way,—that the mountains had taken a firm hold of the artist, since no man who was not deeply impressed by them could so forcibly present their solitary grandeur and awful silence. And observe the apparently simple means used ; not cloud, rain, or whirlwind (perfectly legiti- mate means in themselves), but only plain sunshine, falling on bare rock and sparsely-growing herbage, yet too weak to melt the snow that lies upon the rounded summit or is drifted into the cold- shadowed hollows of Ben na Muich Dhui. The late Mr. Leslie used to ask why battle-pieces were always painted with thunder, lightning, and cloud ; were all battles fought in a thunderstorm ? or was there no way of suggesting the terrors of mortal combat but by the introduction of a sympathetic strife of the elements ? The common treatment of mountain scenery (more excusable because more frequently true) suggests the kindred question,—is there no 'way to represent the mystery and grandeur of the mountains but by -wreathing them with mists and involving them in gloom ? Mr. G. Fripp's answer is a clearly affirmative one. The thing can be done,— by him. This picture, then, is possessed of what is the very soul of landscape,—character. And looking round at others by the same artist, it will be found that they are all distinguished by that inestimable quality. If in one we see the solemn repose that reigns in the heart of the mountains, we find in "The Pass of Awe" (107) depicted with equal force the impetuous hurry of the mountain stream as it rushes out of its reservoir amid the hills and whirls now darkly in the shade, now sparkling in the sunshine that momentarily breaks through the flying clouds. It is unnecessary to pursue the idea in detail through all the pictures contributed by
Fripp to this exhibition,—" Trebarwith Sands" (15), " Tin- tagel Castle" (37), "South Stoke, Barks" (21), and "The Thames in Autumn" (262). Each one speaks clearly enough for -itself; while few will fail to perceive, and be delighted with, the breadth of treatment, the fine gradation, and pure transparent -colour that exist in all. To a reasonable man, interested in art, but unacquainted with the politics (or, as Fielding has it, -" politrics ") of the art-world, the thought may occur, why, in the distribution among artists of the honours of their profession is so consummate a master as Mr. George Fripp completely overlooked? Why is not he, why are not Burton, Dodgson, A. Hunt, T. Danby, Hine, and others that might be named, as well entitled to be members of the Royal Academy as (Heaven save the mark !) Mr. Vicat Cole ? The answer of the Academy would, no doubt, be that those persons do not send pictures to the Academy exhibitions ; that the Academy is a pri- wate (though royally patronized) association, and (it should, but will not, be added) is more concerned to attract shillings to its -own coffers than to superintend the general interests of British Art. Passing by the curious agility of a body which, when any- thing is to be got from the public, pretends to a national posi- tion, but when any duty is claimed from it pleads its private character, and admitting for a moment the soundness of the an- -8 viers anticipated above, it is time to ask in the interest of Art, is the Academy to continue the sole fountain of honour to artists, or are all honours that flow towards artists from a higher source
to be monopolized by that body? After all that can be said in disparagement of titular distinctions, the fact remains that they bring with them position and fortune, and that the acquisition of these ought not to depend on whether an artist paints with one vehicle or another, or whether he exhibits his works in Pall Mall or in Burlington House.
One of the most delightful landscapes in the room, nay, the very best of its class, is Mr. Dodgson's "Summer Morning on the Lyn" (240). He has given us a veritable fragment of nature in this leafy dell, with golden sunshine scarcely intercepted by young ash trees, that yet throw a refreshing shade over the stream as it winds gently over its rocky bed. Here are to be found some of the highest qualities of the landscape-painter,--the silver shadow that veils but not obscures the underlying warmth of colour; leafiness perfectly expressed ; the tender grey and delicate curves of the water-worn rocks where they peer above the stream ; the glowing nut-brown of the river-bed as seen through the water itself ; general fullness of tone ; and last, not least, the modesty of nature that governs the whole. No artist makes better use than Mr. Dodgson of broken tones and broken colours ; thereby he secures a richness and variety otherwise unattainable. The gal- lery contains other examples of his most delightful art, among which may be specially noted a small rocky coast scene, looking out seawards, called the " Morning after the Wreck" (253), and another view on the Lyn (230), with the sun, towards which the eye is turned, sparkling on every leaf and stone.
The very desirable but rare quality of shadow which casts a transparent veil of silver over underlying colour is also to be found in Mr. T. Danby's " Gwynant Lake" (24), a beautiful picture, in which once again he has invested the mountains of his well-beloved Wales with a mysterious glory, such as it happens only to a few to appreciate (even if it comes before their eyes) in
nature. "The Cloud" (76) is such another. But though he most frequently, as in these, sets forth a world of bright and peaceful beauty such as poets dream in their happiest moments, he is not insensible to the beauty of another sort that comes with mountain gloom and brazen-tinged cloud. In "The Rainbow" (83) the mountains are pale and ghostly in the watery gleam that by contrast makes the background of inky cloud yet more pitchy and threatening. Soon, it seems, all will be swept out of sight by a general down-pour of rain. Meantime, the bow glistens against the advancing cloud, not (as sometimes painted) hard and im- movable like the segment of a gigantic wheel, but fitful and evanescent, stronger here and fainter there, and with iride- scent light skilfully rendered. This picture is not conveniently placed, but will repay careful inspection. The art which has given such largeness to the mountains is of the first order. Turn from this picture of storm and terror to one of smiling May. " Thun in Spring" (214), by Mr. A. Hunt, is in every way a masterly little drawing. It is inspired with the fresh air of the season, and both in general and in detail abounds with beauties. Down a sunny hill adorned with fruit trees in full blossom the eye travels to the picturesque castle and town of Thun, perched on its mound in mid-plain, and wanders on over flats and slopes tinted with the varied colours of early growths, to the mighty barrier of the Alps, that towerover all and mingle their highest crags and snows with the brilliant clouds. Observe the combined tenderness and decision in the painting of the mountains, the art with which cliff- edge and gentler slope are distinguished, the receding space of the distant plain, the dainty colour of the fruit-blossom, repeating as it does the misty mountain grey, and giving breadth to the pic- ture, and, above all, the soft yet brilliant daylight that over- spreads the whole. The force and refinement of this little drawing mark it out as one of the notable pictures of the year. Of Mr. Hunt's other pictures the most remarkable is " A Land of Smouldering Fire" (70), detailed notice of which is for the present reserved.
Mr. Pinwell's picture "Away from Town" (130) represents a group composed of a lady and children standing and sitting in the home-field that adjoins a picturesque old country mansion, now apparently fallen into the condition of a dilapidated farm-house, with a numerous tenantry of pigeons fluttering about roof, turret, and gables, and in the foreground a turkey-cock and hen confronting the above-mentioned group. It is not easy to read a meaning in this picture without the aid of the catalogue ; and it would almost seem as if, having posed and painted a group of persons with countenances nearly discharged of all meaning, or at least indi- cating no lively interest in anything around them, the artist had cast about for a title which should explain this vacuity, and had finally chosen that which the picture now bears, not only as supplying a reason for this emptiness of expression in the mental
lassitude that may be supposed to follow the high-pitched excite- meat of a season in "Town ;" but also as reconciling the incon- gruity between the place and the persons by suggesting a tempo- rary hiring of country quarters by a town-bred family. Probably the picture is only a portrait-piece, and its title an artifice to conceal the fact. However, there are grace and refinement in the principal figure, and the background (which may be the hill-country of North Somerset) is painted with much feeling. But figures and background are not in keeping, the former betray- ing by the blackness of their shadows and total absence of open- air effect the faulty method of an artist who, perhaps, studied his landscape on the spot, but certainly painted his figures in the studio. Mr. Pinwell would do well to take a lesson from De Hooghe ; or (to go no further than this very gallery) from Mr. Alfred Fripp, whose picture, "The End of the Day" (121), is remarkable for the very quality which is so notably wanting in Mr. Pinwell's. The golden evening sunshine here pervades the whole drawing, and affects every object in it. The figures stand or move in space, and do not, as in "Away from Town," adhere to the background. It is no discredit to Mr. Pinwell that Mr. A. Fripp is the riper artist ; but it is not amiss to remember that it is one thing to make careful studies of divers objects on the same piece of paper, and another and more difficult thing to bind them together into a coherent whole such as alone deserves the name of " picture."
Mr. Walker sends nothing. Rumour says he has been wholly pre-occupied by preparations for the Academy exhibition. Yet members of a society ought to retain some sense of brotherhood, and not leave to their fellows the entire burden (however well supported in fact) of maintaining its credit,—
" Ferro jug-am pariter dolosi."
There still remain many excellent pictures unnoticed ; for some remarks on which, as well as on the exhibition at the Institute,
another occasion must be sought. V.
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