ART.
THE NEW ENGLISH ART CLUB.
IT is a melancholy fact that the commonplace mind is to be found quite as often among painters as among other people. The word " artist " ought to denote those only who are possessed of . the higher qualities of taste and originality; but we have to put the qualification " true " before it, when we find the real thing, to make the distinction. It is a common fallacy that to paint in the fashion of the moment, to affect singularity of execution and strangeness of statement, is to show yourself a true artist. But the commonplace mind reveals itself in all schools, even in the newest. Take, for instance, the first group of pictures, those numbered from 2 to 9, at the New English Art Club, now holding its Exhibition at the old Water-Colour Society's Gallery in Pall Mall. These- pictures range from a, carefully drawn and neatly executed interior, The Fireside (No. 2), by Mr. Underwood, to the hideows Post-Impressionist vegetables -of Mr. Paul Nash's Wood Interior (No. 3) and the mapped-out dough-like hills of Mr. Wellington's Pinfarthings (No. 4). Miss Ethel Walker has conceived her Portrait of Mr. Wood (No. 5) in a completely commonplace way, and seems to be conscious of the fact, for she has made desperate efforts to persuade us that she is most modern and decorative. But the leaving of bare canvas untidy gaps all over the picture, the putting of spots of red, yellow, and blue in unexpected places, such as in her sitter's hair, and the wilful onflnish of incompetence persuade us that we are not looking at an artistic creation, but rather at a piece of disguised commonplace. Mr. Milne no doubt aimed at great effects of decorative line, and expressions of movement and force, in his Prometheus (No. 6), but carefully constructed dullness and oddity seem the chief result. M. Leon de Smet in his La Table Rouge (Xo. 7) gets no further in spite of his attempts to be original. And here at the end of this list comes Miss Clare Atwood with a cleverly painted group of people, At Small Hythe (No. 9), of the old-fashioned Impressionist kind, which when this Club began its vigorous career thirty years ago was then a new form of realism. Plus ga cl&ange, plus east la mem chose. You may be as new and revolutionary as you like, as traditional, or as free, in your style as you will, but no assump- tion, not even of the newest fashions, will save you from the commonplace if that is the bent of your, mind.
Mr. Holmes's landscape of the Fells above Seclbergh (No. 14) is a refreshing work full of the movement of light over hilltops and of the colour of the-wind. But the best landscapes here are to be found among the water-colours. A work of very great beauty is Mr. F. H. S. Shepherd's Snowdon from the Glyders (No. 91), for the artist has evolved an extraordinarily fine and unusual harmony of colour, which contrasts black of many shades in the mountains with pale vitreous green in the sky. This picture is an instance of the creation of a rhythmic work of art with natural material, without obsequious realism or wilful distortion. Mr. Shepherd understands how to make his mountains look impressive maize, and this he has done largely by leaving out the foreground. The realist can make Mount Everest look insignificant by drawing the boulders near at hand, because they of necessity occupy as much space on the paper as the distant summit. But a mountain which is unimpressive has lost its soul.
A pleasant feature of the Exhibition are the slighter works which are drawings with just a suggestion of colour, or even only a-wash here and there of monochrome. Among these is an exquisitely drawn view of Bath by Mr. C. S. Chasten (No. 126), and Mr. Wil- son Steer's three distinguished sketches (Nos. 128, 140, and-147). Among the more fully realized landscapes may be noted Mr. Dodd's Verona (No. 175), Mr. Shackleton's Aurora Borealis (No. 181), Mr. Unwires Stirling (No. 18,3), Mr. Stephen Bone's Wells (No. 98), and Mr. Gere's Malog Lake (No. 188), which has a charming group of children in it that compensates for the sky, which is not quite satisfactory either in colour or texture. Mr. Gilbert Spencer and Mr. Stanley -Spencer show pictures which we think should be regarded as examples of youth feeling the way. There is undeniably power in their work, but at present it is difficult to find much artistic quality.
Mr. Southall is at his best when painting sailing-ships in land- locked bays, and his picture The Old Seaport (No. 84) is a fine piece of decorative realism, inspired by the more prosaic Floren- tines such as Ghirlandaio. A charming little work- is Miss Darwin's The Young Nurserymaid (No. 50). It is good in composition, for the child just emerged from its bath and the kneeling girl are very skilfully grouped, and the colours are harmonious in their strong, pale hues. The painter is so obviously -aiming at beauty that it is a great pity that she has not shown more appreciation of form. The child's feet and the nurse's arm and hand, had they been well and delicately drawn, would have added greatly to the effect of the picture.
On the end wall of the Exhibitionroom hang three pictures of young women which are typical of three styles, and which it is interesting to compare. On the left is Mr. Wheatley's Edith (No. 34), strongly painted, realistically drawn and modelled, and with concessions to recent fashions in the way of bits of the raw canvas-ground left showing—a fashion of little meaning, except, perhaps, to show that the painter has' studied C4zanne. On the right is Mr. Shepherd's La Poveretta (No. 42), a beautiful half-length, subtle in colour and modelling, and touched with an Umbrian softness and gentle melancholy. Between • these two is Mr. John's /rie (No. 37). Here we have a piece of brilliant bravura. To begin with, the pattern of the dress is such that it ought to distract attention from the face, but it does nothing of the kind. The painter seems to say "I will take off your attention as much as possible and still show that I can paint the face in such a way that you are forced to look at it "—and we do so, hating it at the same time for its low type, in which the painter has revelled. Those whose pleasure in the arts comes from being astonished either by a shout, or a leer, or the oombination of both, will here get the sensation they crave for, but those who have gone through many artistic experiences will signfor less flaunting joys and more lasting impressions.
H. S.
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