ART.
IN THE DUDLEY GALLERY.—II.
IN our first article on this Gallery, in last week's Spectator, we confined ourselves almost exclusively to general remarks upon the lack of high aim which is noticeable in the mass of the work here exhibited ; we propose this week to select for notice some of the most notable exceptions to this rule, as well as one or two which tend to exemplify it. No. 287 is a picture of the Thames near Battersea, evidently taken during the last frost, and conveying in a pleasant manner more of the poetry of grey skies and snowy landscapes than many a more ambitious draw- ing of winter scenery. Mr. Arthur Severn, whose work this is, is one of those artists whose love of what he sees to be beautiful is so intense, and whose attempts to reproduce this beauty are so earnest, that his pictures possess an interest to which their mechanical skill would not perhaps always entitle them. The doubtful success which frequently attends his works arises more from the intensely difficult and varied nature of his subjects than from any lack of care. There is something almost pathetic in the spectacle of an artist for ever struggling with pictorial pro- blems which he is incapable of elucidating, and Mr. Severn, perhaps, errs in the opposite extreme to that of many artists, his works giving us pleasure, more from the evident perception with which they have been conceived, than from the completeness with which they have been executed. No. 52, "Twilight, Coast of New England," by W. T. Richards,—a good draw- ing of a narrow inlet of sea, between rough walls of rock, the water half in the shadow of the cliff, half-reflecting the "wild waste light" of the sky. The dreary character of a rocky coast under still evening light is powerfully rendered, and what little colour there is in the picture is excessively harmonious. The work might well have stood as a representation of soli- tude. No. 63, "Carnations," by David Carr, is a melancholy example of a species of painting which shuts its eyes, and ab- solutely refuses to see natural beauty. Mr. Carr is, we believe, a figure-painter; but why he should thus libel our flower-beds we cannot conceive, unless he wishes to do for flowers, what Mr. Whistler has done for the human form.
Nos. 80 and 107 are views of Rievaubr Abbey, very similar in style and colour to the two decorative landscapes by the same artist in the Winter Exhibition of the Grosvenor Gallery. These works of Walter Crane deserve attention, if only for their sin- gularity, their chief merit being a clear simplicity of statement, and a harmonious use of the darker greens and greys. They are doubtless inspired to no small degree by the landscape work of the early Italian Masters, the somewhat conventional stiffness of these slender trees and accurate disposal of their foliage, being evidently taken from this source. We doubt, however, whether there is much good to be gained by an artist imitating the landscapes of earlier times ; even if he could gain all their harmonious simplicity, it would be dearly purchased by the loss of all later knowledge, and at best, he would be but an artistic anachronism, a
"Dreamer of dreams, Born out of his due time." We seldom speak in disparagement of a lady's work, but Miss Elizabeth Walker almost challenges criticisms for No. 95, "Vanity Fair;" a title, by the way, which would be better for the transposition of its words, "Fair Vanity" being con- siderably more appropriate. The subject is a maiden looking at herself with a somewhat lackadaisical expression, in a fireside mirror which reflects her face, and takes up nearly the whole background of the composition. Beneath the looking-glass is a vase, vividly decorated, which is also re- flected. A great deal of the work in this picture is good, especially the painting of the vase and the reflections ; but the whole composition is surrounded as with a halo with a aseaclful aimlessness and lack of meaning, which go very far to neutralise any pleasure which we might otherwise feel. Granted a pretty girl and a pretty vase, and we can hardly imagine any combina- tion in which they would have inspired us with less interest than this. No meaning of any kind can be extracted from the picture, for the girl's face neither expresses "vanity," nor any other feeling; and we can only say to Miss Walker, that we hope she will in the future not waste such painstaking work on such unmeaning themes.
No. 108 is one of Mr. Poynter's small landscapes, as faithful, but rather less interesting, than usual, and full of the somewhat hard ability which occasionally renders this very clever artist's works more akin to photographs than pictures. "It is human to err," the Latins said; but Mr. Poynter's landscapes sometimes seem to say to the beholder, "You must believe me to be per- fect; whatever else is faulty and inaccurate, this is not,"—a somewhat fanciful objection to make, perhaps, but still one which will express many people's feelings when looking at the works in question.
No 136, a little girl in a red cloak, sitting on a chair, with her hands crossed, and a look of demure propriety in her face, is a decidedly pleasant little picture,—and the scarlet cloak Is thoroughly well rendered. Miss Greenaway must be congratu- lated upon a work which is a distinct advance upon anything we have previously seen from her easel; we hope that the long reign of those large-eyed, very indifferently drawn, and very brightly clothed children, who used to form her invariable subject, is nearly over. George Leslie, R.A., sends a little single figure of a girl, graceful, pure, simple, and old-fashioned„ as usual ; she is standing on tip-toe, poking her fingers into a half-opened box ; a fresh little country girl in white muslin frock, short sleeves, and a general air of being a hundred years behind the age in feeling. No. 206, "A Southerly Breeze," by Henry Moore, is very beautiful in the general effect of the flying clouds and bright, restless sea; a very little more care in the drawing of the sky would have made this a very noble water-colour, as it is, it is the freshest, brightest work in the Gallery. No. 212, " Asphalters at Work in the Strand," by Herbert Mar- shall, just misses being a very interesting picture. The subject is, curious as it may seem to our readers, pictures- Nue in the highest degree, one not without elements of pathos, and certainly giving much food for thought and reflection. We remember passing down the Strand one Sunday morning last year, when the big asphalte cauldrons, with all their accompanying lumber, were standing empty and cold by the side of St. Clement Danes Church. The sun was striking down upon the road, but leaving the church half iii shadow, and the whole scene was no inapt type of the nine- teenth century. No. 260 is a clever study of "Peasant Girls, Varengeville," by Alice Havers, though rather too pink for nature, and indeed suffering throughout from that effort after mere prettiness which is so destructive to the young lady artists. Miss Havers is one of the most clever of our female painters ; we hope she will not fall habitually into the above error. No. 297, "Three Merry Men are We !" by Frank Dodd, is a good speci- men of the rollicking, drinking, and chuckling style of picture more common twenty years since than now, and which was probably a lineal descendant of Dutch Tavern Art. No. 387 is a picture of " Trevalga Rocks, near Tintagel," by Walter Severne, very like Brett in treatment, and very bright and sunny —a charming little bright water-colour to hang up in one's study, to bring back recollections of summer days by the sea. No. 422, " Herodias's Daughter," by A. Sacheverel Coke. This is a difficult work to write about, if only because it is work of a style hardly ever seen in water colours. It resembles more a study for a large oil picture or fresco, than a picture itself. The work seems hardly carried far enough for a finished drawing. It represents a large,
half-naked young woman, of a somewhat elephantine type of. beauty, standing against a background of dark trees and white marble. The dish which she is carrying, in which is the head of St. John, is half covered by the position of her arm. On the whole, this is a powerful picture, and one which shows that the artist possesses more ability than is actually shown in the work itself. No one could have done this who could not have done much better. Our readers will probably agree with us that the picture is somewhat misnamed. We picture a daughter of Herodias as an incarnation of graceful, seductive suppleness and beauty, whereas this lady is of the majestic proportions of a Juno.
Previous page
