ART.
SIR EDWARD BURNE-JONES'S DRAWINGS.—THE NEW ENGLISH ART CLUB.
THE collection of Sir Edward Borne-Jones's drawings at the Fine - Art Society's Galleries forcibly demonstrates the limitations as well as the excellences of this great artist. In numberless instances 'an exquisite use of the pencil is shown in the delicately worked drawings. Many of the studies of drapery are as fine as cobwebs, yet precise and defined. For instances of these qualities look at Nos. 2 and 3. Nothing could be more lovely than the fresh delicacy of these ; they show that feeling of spontaneous pro- duction too often absent from this artist's finished pictures. There are a great many drawings of single heads in the collection, and it is impossible not to be struck by the fact that, as a rule, the artist has cared nothing for individual expression in a face. What seems to be sought after is a type. The human face is treated as a beautiful mask. Sir Edward Borne-Jones seems to look upon the human face and figure with very little sympathy for their life. His people have the beauty to be found in inanimate things. Man for him is hardly a living soul. Though this is the tendency, exceptions are to be met with. A notable one is the study of the head of the mermaid (No. 11) for the picture, The Depths of the Sea. There is no lack of expression here ; this drawing is alive with a wild joy which shines in the eyes and lights up the whole face. This study also possesses the great quality of unity of impression. The different features and parts of the face all play together in harmony. No part con- tradicts another, hence the wonderful power this face has of laying bold on the spectator. Unfortunately this quality of making all the parts belong to one another is not Sir Edward Borne-Jones's strong point. His figures often fail in construction ; that logical coherence which marks the highest achievements of draughtmanship is seldom to be found in his work. The beautiful little drawing of the figure of the man on the lVheel if Fortune (No. 104) shows this fault. Somehow, in spite of the exquisite modelling and elaborately worked out pose, with its scholarly reminiscence of Michel- angelo, the figure yet fails to produce an entirely satisfactory effect. The upper part of the torso outweighs the lower; to redress the balance it seems as if greater weight was wanted in the thighs. But in spite of these criticisms the drawing remains a thing of great beauty. The study of a head (No. 32) is one of the good things at this exhibition. The outline of the profile combines perfectly with the modelling, expres- sing the grave beauty of the head. The lower of the two faces in the frame No. 10 shows the contrary effect. An outline arbitrarily encloses a collection of features which do not apparently belong to one another, and the expressions of which seem contradictory. The upper drawing in the same frame, although rather insipid, is not open to the same charge. Here the features seem made for one another. The Studies of Children for Bronze Figures in a Picture (No. 46) are quite charming ; they are natural and alive, and make one regret that an artist possessing a style so simple and so attractive does not employ it oftener. The study for the helmet of Perseus is a water-colour of great power ; not only is the iron head-piece painted with much vigour, but the face as well is remarkably fine. The colour is most satisfactory. On a dull slate ground the dark steel-blue of the helmet with its flashing lights stands out, forming a moat harmonious contrast to the olive colour of the face beneath the uplifted visor. If in considering the art of Sir Edward Borne-Jones we have to admit that his imagination is not of the loftiest kind, and that too often the poetic element is marred by mystic conceits, still all honour must be given to the artist, not only for having attainments of so high an order, but also for having kept true to his ideal in an age when imaginative painting has much to binder its development.
The present exhibition of the New English Art Club might be described as a gallery of reminiscences. Mr. Briscoe's Evening (No. 51) has the outward look of Mr. Edward Stott. Mr. Buxton Knight has managed to suggest. "Mousehold Heath " in his Bohemia (No. 61). And Miss Malcolm in a portrait (No. 23) seems to have absorbed that dreary type of early eighteenth century lady's portrait which makes the walls of so many country houses entertaining. Who is not familiar with the lady—probably a Miss Jones-- attired in loose drapery, whose amorphous sleeves end abruptly at the elbow, from which emerge arms always made on one pattern P They begin rather wide and flat and slope evenly to. the wrist. Whether this is a style of art worth reviving may be strongly doubted. At any rate Miss Malcolm has caught the manner with cleverness. In this Gallery it is with surprise that one comes upon Mr. Bates's picture (No. 77). To find a pattern to imitate he has crossed Piccadilly and gone to the Academy. The reminiscences here are of Mr. Marcus Stone or Mr. Story. The influence of the latter on the drawing is to be seen in the child's legs, which mimic the wooden palings in front of which it stands. The imita- tion of Holbein in the portrait by Mr. Cooke (No. 79) shows a very shallow appreciation of the master. Flatness seems to• have been the only characteristic observed. Mr. Furze is as vigorous as ever ; the dash and restless character of his por- trait (No. 53) in no way mars the solidity of the painting_ The expression of the eyes—or rather of the spectacles—is remarkable. This is the most masterly painting here. Although Mr. Gascoyne's small picture, Field Labour (No. 66), shows the influence of J. F. Millet, there is real origin- ality in it too. Quite admirable is the arrangement of the composition. All the lines are interwoven with great skill, and all have their origin in the action of the figure. The colour is harmonious, though so sombre as to be hardly colour at all. Mr. Steer has a portrait of a lady (No. 46), whose staring eyes and screaming pink blouse make the picture far from pleasant. The two landscapes by him (Nos. 58 and 92) are both discordant. The sky in the Easby Abbey is of a blue so hard and so bright as to be unendurable. The Flight of Henry VI. from Towton, by Mr. Windus, is a water-colour of rare delicacy and strength. Dim figures of the King and his knights are seen flying over the open moorland with its edge of deep purple hills against the sky. In the front are a herd of pigs and a swineherd. Most skilful is the arrangement of colour, of which the pink skin of the pigs, their keeper's orange cloak, and the purple hills form the chief elements.
One work remains to be noticed, Mr. Anning Bell's panels. for a mantelpiece (No. 21). It is a low relief, coloured in that style of which Mr. Bell is an acknowledged master. The right-hand panel is the bests. The design of the girl's head and uplifted hand, together with the sweep of the hair, make a pattern of great beauty. The two panels are connected by the incident of the figures winding wool, though a more subtle connection of colour and feeling binds them together. Though not so good a collection as some former ones have been, this exhibition has claims on the visitor's gratitude as of old. Here at least an attempt is made to avoid the purely everyday and commonplace pictures which flood more
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