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ENGLISH PAINTING By 'Charles Johnson
To survey the whole course of our native art from the Lindis- farne Gospels to Mr. Stanley Spencer's ." Resurrection " in some three hundred pages, as Mr. Charles Johnson has done in English Painting (Bell, 15s.) and to make the book inter- esting, is a considerable feat. Mr. Johnson shows himself well acquainted with the Work of all periods and describes the mediaeval technique, in the Chichester roundel, for example, no less clearly than the methods of Wilson, Turner, Blake or-Whistler. His history is well proportioned. He does not waste space on the lesser men, and thus has room for in- structive comment on the painters who really count. It is curious and perhaps significant that Mr. Johnson devotes two appreciative chapters to G. F. Watts and Holman Hunt, is very respectful in his references to Ruskin, and does not fail to note the limitations of Whistler. Ile is catholic enough to delight in Reynolds and Turner and at the same time to note good contemporary painting such as the War pieces by C. It. W. Nevinson, Paul Nash, Francis Dodd and Henry Lamb. Fifty or sixty pictures are reproduced as illustrations, and the author is careful to note where the many works men- tioned by him may be found. Moreover, there is a very good index to round off an excellent book.
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