4 ‘ ART.—WANTED, A WATER-COLOUR EXHIBITION." (THE OLD SOCIETY.)
[To VIE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:']
Sin,—Under the above heading, an article appeared in the Spectator of the 7th inst., containing statements injurious to the Society under review, which I trust you will allow me to -correct. Before doing so, let me say that I and my brethren of the 4' old " Society recognise most fully the freedom which is justly claimed by critics, and that entire credit should be given them for conscientiousness in the performance of their duties to the Press and the public ; and they are, of course, free to advocate any other means than those existing, which they think may secure a bettor representation of Art, even if such means should, in their consequences, be destructive of private interests, but we think the critic's position cannot be held to excuse him in promoting his views by misstatements of facts. The first misstatement the writer of the article alluded to makes disparaging to " the Old Society " is :—" The average attend- ance during the season, at the fullest time of the day, is about fifteen," the fact being that it is about sixty. Does the critic know that 30,000 visitors have attended the summer exhibition of the " Old " Society in one season ?
With respect to the critic's imaginary " colloquy" between buyer and Keeper (not " Secretary "), which, he says, " may frequently be heard," it is, no doubt, graphic and amusing ; but so far as it is meant to apply to the " Old Society," I have the assurance of our keeper that the jobbing therein described has no existence. And as to the "petty higgling " charged, allow me to state that the list of prices of all the works for sale is open on the table for reference, and is unalterably fixed before the private view, on which day by far the greater number of sales is made ; and the Gallery is so thronged, as to render it impossible for the keeper to listen to any attempts on the part of purchasers to "bargain." The number of works then sold is nearly double that disposed of during the remainder of the season ; in some few instances, no doubt, purchasers arrange privately with the artists for their works, but the Society has no cognisance of such sales.
The statement that " the Gallery takes its ton per cent." appears to me to be one scarcely within the province of the critic to make, as it applies to the purely private arrangements of the Societies named, and does not concern the public. As regards " the Old Society," it is quite incorrect. Until after the death of the late keeper, Mr. Thomas, no charge of any kind has ever been made upon sales, the Society not concerning itself with the business of collecting payments and distributing the works at the close of each exhibition; it has since, for greater convenience, made this a part of the regular duties of the keeper ; and to meet the attendant expenses, a charge of three per cent. is made upon the works sold in the Gallery by members, and one per cent, upon those sold by Associates.
I now come to a charge which directly impugns the honesty and fair-dealing of every member of the Societies named. The words are :—" The artists not unnaturally despise their patrons, and paint them big, bad pictures, for which they ask four times what they are worth, and thrice what they intend to take ;" this, taken with the context, is an imputation which should not have been made without proper evidence shown,—and having regard to the character of the Spectator, is most injurious. It is only due to all the artists comprehended in it, that it should be either substantiated or withdrawn.
The writer's assertions that after the private view," as a rule, nobody goes," and "the Gallery is nearly empty," are so mani- festly incorrect as to need no further ref utation.—I am, Sir, [Our critic's statement as to the average number of visitors to the Water-Colour Galleries was based on an experience of many years, though, as far as the "Old Water-Colours" are concerned, we have no doubt that he underrated the attendance at the " fullest " time of the day. The colloquy that the Secre- tary objects to so much was, in fact, heard by our critic at a water-colour gallery, and was not specially attributed to any given Society. The per-tentage taken by the Gallery was a rough statement, intended to include the varying rates of the three Societies ; we regret it should have teen inaccurate in the amount named. The last charge which the Secretary mentions was simply a statement of the result which follows when buyers ignorant of the merits of pictures endeavour to pur- chase them at abnormally cheap prices ; and may be put more clearly, perhaps, in the following form,—" When artists find out that buyers expect them to reduce the price of their works, they naturally ask for them, in the first place, more than they are worth."—En. Spectator.]
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