ART.
THE ACADEMY.—IL
IN this year's Exhibition there are a large number of pictures in which a heraldic spirit in colour and design is observable. But in most of these works it must be confessed that it is the misunderstanding of the decora- tive effect of heraldic qualities which is chiefly forced upon us. In a missal painting objects are coloured on purely decorative lines, and the modification of hue caused by light, shade, and atmosphere is ignored. Red remains red and blue blue in the convention of the illuminator; perspective of colour as brought about by atmosphere and variations of lighting has little or no place in such art. When art became more realistic it was found that to produce natural effects colours had to be represented, not as they were, but as they appeared. To produce the effect of projection on the flat surface of a picture, shadows which obscured colours became necessary for the modelling of forms, and by degrees the colour of the light, rather than the colour of objects on which it fell, became the pre- occupation of the re:Jitter. The earlier method is quite reasonable when carried out logically. The outline of the objects represented depends on Nature. The filling in of this outline is arbitrary, and depends on decorative effect alone. But at the present time many painters seem to think it possible to combine the two methods, and paint a picture in which heraldic and naturalistic procedure are combined. The result is not happy, because the naturalistic portions make the decora- tive look flat, hard, and unreal, and the latter, with their pure unclouded colour, make meaningless the portions in which tone and modelling play their part. An extreme instance of these considerations may be seen in Mr. Denis Eden's The Luxury of Vain Imagination (No. 76). The style of this picture might almost be described as Tibetan, for the attitude and headdress of the child and crudity of the colour are alike suggestive of primitive Asia. This headdress is like enamel work, and has no suggestion of depth. It is painted solely with regard to two dimen- sions. But the child's face is modelled with a keen sense of rounded form. The violent and conventional colour of the dress only serves to make the hand, in which shadows obscure the colour to express the modelling, look dull and unmeaning. The harshness of the reds and blues in this picture, the edges of which dazzle and " gibber " where they meet, render it impossible to do justice to the very real imaginative power which lies underneath an unpleasant method of presentment. Mr. Eden has shown by the realisation of the child's face that he has penetrated deeply the imagination of childhood when glorying in the realms of make-believe. This little girl with her toy sceptre by the light in her eyes lets us into her ideal world. It is sincerely to be hoped that an artist possessed of such true insight will not think it necessary in future to put forth his imaginings in a way which robs them of their merit. It requires a good deal of patience to look at a picture which makes so brutal an assault on the colour sense.
It is understood that the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest have this year bought a picture by Mr. Craig, The Heretic (No. 280). This work is one which has strong reminiscences of Mr. Abbey's picture of the penance of the Duchess of Gloucester, exhibited four or five years ago. In spite of the unoriginality of outlook shown, the picture gives evidence of considerable power. Let us hope that, as is sometimes the case, originality may be present, though undeveloped. Another purchase of the Chantrey Trustees can excite nothing but astonishment, for it is said that they have bought Mr. G. Leslie's mustard-coloured landscape, The Deserted Mill (No. 179). Why this work—one by an Academician—has been selected assuredly demands explanation. How is it possible for the Trustees—that is, the President and Council of the Academy—to reconcile to their consciences the purchase of this picture ? The directions of Chantrey's will that only works of "the highest merit obtainable" should be bought have on this as on so many other occasions been flouted openly and without shame.
Mr. Sargent's landscape, The Mountains of Moab (No. 383), is a picture which one can go back to with pleasure as an oasis of pure and beautiful colour amid the howling
wilderness of jarring tones and hues which shriek from nearly every wall. We are all familiar with the Oriental landscape in which the attempt to paint brilliant sunshine has resulted in hard and lifeless colour. This is not the case in this luminous picture, which seems to be painted with light.
The glowing hills melt into the blue of the sky, and with the warm colours of the middle distance create a perfect harmony. But the form of the landscape is as finely felt as is the colour.
The modelling of the ground as it slopes away from the front, and also of the lower rolling hills, is splendidly given. Indeed, the structure of the ground is painted in a way that few living landscape painters could approach. But so subtle and so hidden is the art that probably the majority of the visitors to the Exhibition will pass by the work with the comment that it is unfinished. The last stage of artistic education to be reached seems to be the knowledge that finish is not the accumulation of unessential facts, but the completion of the idea with which the artist started upon his work.
Mr. George Henry has been of late making many experi- ments in full-length portrait pictures of women, but he has surpassed his former efforts in The Blue Gown (No. 186), and this year has achieved real success. Beauty of com- position, expressive painting, and distinction of colour unite to make this portrait a work of great beauty. The picture shows real harmony and the absence of display, together with true feeling for characteristic form. With such accomplished powers Mr. Henry should be sought after by people who desire decorative portraits. It is a relief to turn to such a work after the vulgarities of painting evident in Mr. Shannon's two pictures, Nos. 138 and 201. Mr. Wetherbee's picture, The Wings of Morning (No. 697), has a beautiful sunrise sky, reticent in colour and finely composed. We expect the rider of the middle one of the three white horses coming out of the sea against the sunrise to be Apollo, but find he is a young countryman. The whole picture is so classical in its feeling that this circumstance comes with a shock. Otherwise the work is a pleasure to look at with its rhythmical lines and quiet luminous colour. Another picture which is attractive for its sobriety and competence is M. Thaulow's Entree du Chateau Royal a Copenhague (No. 89). A little picture hung in Room 9 deserves attention, for the artist shows true sympathy with his material. The painting of light as it falls on the dress in The Shadow (No. 602), by Mr. W. West, is beautiful in quality. Near by is a painting of still life, Opals (No. 618), by Mrs. Wood, which is a pleasant piece of work, and Miss Stuart Wood's Spring in Worcestershire (No. 62) deserves study, for in it there is the true feeling for light and colour. The method of this picture may be said to be founded on that of Mr. Mark Fisher, whose Ponds at Bexley (No. 255) is a characteristic example of the painter's work.
The sculpture galleries show their usual array of portrait busts and of careful life studies with names suggestive of poetical intention. Works with imaginative power are hard to discover. The desired quality is certainly to be found in Mr. Gilbert's fascinating little model, St. George and the Dragon (No. 1,773). The pedestal of the group is the castle over whch the dragon has spread himself, and upon him from the sky descends the Saint. The suggestions of movement and colour in the model are beautiful. Its fantastic beauty, how- ever, suggests the carrying out on a small rather than a large scale.
A bronze group of the Madonna and Child Christ (No. 1,792), by Mr. MacKennal, is deserving of close attention. In this work there is not only to be found fine workmanship, but a sense of real and appropriate beauty. The design is broad in its lines, and though highly finished, it is never small in treat- ment, and dominating all is the sense of the beautiful. Such a work would be an ornament to the sculpture of the Chantrey
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