Re-establishing the Tradition Sm,—May I briefly explain the point of
the Looking Forward exhibi- tion at the Whitechapel Gallery. It seems to me that Mr. Middleton missed it. He complains that I " released no new hares from the trap." Yet such a complaint is surely out of date. Obvious novelly and superficial originality have proved themselves short-lived, easy virtues. What is now needed is the re-establishment of a general tradition. A tradition, however, cannot be established on brilliant eccentricity, but only on " unaffected honest-to-goodness " work. Furthermore, the worthy dreariness and lack of initiative implied by Mr. Middleton's phrase " middle-of-the-roaders " is unjustifiably at ' variance with the facts.
There are now two academic dangers: on one side .Royal Academy naturalism, on the other fashionable over-formalisation and abstrac- tion. Only 'those who steer between them—along the middle of the road—will progress beyond either. New hares may be seasonal game, but it is the duty of the critic to look both backwards and forwards.
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