ART
THE ROYAL ACADEMY In any discussion upon Art, there arises, sooner or later, an allusion to the relation of art to life. There is no doubt that in some way art is related to the life of the community ; yet, to judge from the pictures on the walls of the Academy, one would be bound to admit that practically no age has produced an Art which is so alienated from things as they are. The so-called Industrial Revolution which has radically altered the whole mechanism of society and, it might be argued, even our attitude to life itself, seems to have left art quite untouched. We leave the bustle of Piccadilly, where the only thing that seems to be precious is time, to enter an atmosphere, remote, unreal, and permeated with preciosity. The portraits, which form a large proportion of the pictures give the impression not of the intensely real human beings with whom we have hurriedly rubbed shoulders in the streets but of some alien tribe, far removed from our experience, which spends its time attitudinizing amidst pleasantly arranged garments and draperies. The other works also denote a desire to escape from rather than to embrace reality ; the artists seem to find no stimulus in their own definite surroundings but must fly to strange and romantic parts of the world for inspiration.
It has always been difficult for me to understand why no habitation is a fit subject for a picture until it has become dilapidated and unsanitary. For some reason our industrial life does not seem to have affected the paintings of the Academy to any extent either in subject, technique or design. But even if we concede that art follows quite a separate line of evolution we must again admit that the Academy is out of touch with the growth and development of art itself. It is only a few months since the Tate Gallery acquired, for its permanent collection, works which, although executed about so years ago and (to judge only from the prices paid for them), universally coveted by connoisseurs, would have been rejected by the hanging Committee without hesitation because of their modernity had they been submitted in this year's exhibition. I refer to the works of painters like Cezanne Degas, Seurat, Van Gogh, and Gaugain. Perhaps one may go so far as to say that the Committee might have found some difficulty in accepting works by Crome, Turner, Whistler, or Sargent, on the same grounds had they been sent to this Exhibition anonymously.
What can be said definitely, however, is that there is a certain even quality of homogeneity pervading this year's Academy—a homogeneity producing the impression of a harmony that is of a destructively dull and enervating kind— the harmony of a death song. If only for the sake of pre- serving its own life, the Academy would do well to introduce just that degree of discord which is almost a necessary stimulation for the functional vitality and conscious awareness of any organism. There would be no partisans were we all of one party. The majority of the pictures at Burlington House show an extraordinary high standard of technical achievement ; most of them, indeed, look like the work of artists who have acquired fool-proof formulas which can be applied without fear of failure.
Amongst the older painters the conspicuous exception to this attitude is that of Sir John Lavery whose work mostly shows that he has tackled some problem which is new to him, as in his portrait of " Miss Julia McGuire " (163) where his mastery of the balance and spacing of the colour scheme of yellow, green, red, and violet has followed the dictates of his conception rather than the tyranny of some well worn technical convention. Sir William Orpen's portraits, on the other hand, are still so uncannily efficient and soulless that he remains the most trustworthy portrait painter in England and tends to become a mere portrait-painting machine. Mr. Grieffenhagen's vigorous decorative sense reaches its height in his portrait of "Sir Clare Cameron" (141) where the uncompromising angularity of the draped robes emphasizes the successful and dynamic pattern of a subject which is usually treated in a very insipid and lethargic fashion. Instead of making his paint a medium for the naturalistic representation of flesh and cloth Mr. Connard, in his portrait of " Miss Hardman" (39) has interpreted his sitter in terms of pigment and so retained a quality and beauty of paint which is seldom seen in Academic portraits.
But the picture which exhibits the greatest originality of conception and construction is Mrs. Dod Proctors " The Back Bedroom " (594) : it is not only complete as a decorative pattern but is an almost perfectly balanced arrangement of spatial forms—a fine demonstration of the modern con- ception of three-dimensional design. The next best picture, perhaps, is " The Blacksmith " (44.o) by Mr. George Clausen. The artist has resisted the temptation of breaking up the unity and simplicity of his design by the introduction of the usual dramatic sparks from the anvil, and has even cooled the red-hot iron to co-ordinate with his colour scheme. If Mr. Harold Harvey is a follower of Mr. Epstein his rather jumbled and idolatrous copy of " Rima " (408) shows that, like most blind followers, he has sadly misconstrued the chief qualities of the powerful design in Hyde Park. His other picture " The Flight " (550) suggests that he has a certain talent of his own.
Other pictures of interest are (30 by Mr. AMBROSE McEvoy, (49) by Mr. Join A. PARK, (52) by Mr. ALFRED MUNNINGS, (73) by Mr. P. H. PADWICK, (I16) by Mr. J. MOPPETT- PERKINS, (I2I) by Mr. W. G. DE GLENN, (178) by Mr. J. BLAIR LEIGHTON, (236) by Mr. HENRY LAMB, (288) by Mr. A. Nawrox, (349) by Mr. WALTER R. SICKERT, (362) by Mr. A. R. THOMSON, (416) by Miss LAURA KNIGHT, (6II) by Mr. THOMAS HUNT and (648) by Miss PAULINE KONODY.
W. MCCANCE.
Villino Sant' Antonio, Sorengo, Lugano.
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