ART.
CABINET OILS AT THE DUDLEY GALLERY.
THERE is no exhibition of the year which shows more strikingly than does this winter one at the Dudley Gallery the kind of work which is being produced by the average young English painter, and for that reason the collection is always of consider- able interest to those who are studying the development of national art. If we discard at once, as both foolish and futile, the unmeaning complimentary phrases which only serve to con- ceal the writer's ignorance, and to swell the paragraphs of the paper wherein they appear, if we refuse to consider as the main attractions of the Gallery the few, well-considered, but trivial examples of painters whose reputation is already made, if, in fact, we boldly face the crucial question which this year's collection of cabinet oil-paintings presents to us, and ask our- selves what proof it offers of our young artists' increased talent or heightened aim, what answer must be given ?
With all reluctance and hesitation to give an adverse criticism on a body of men who are doing their best in hard times, we must confess that the work is, taken as a mass, of almost in- credible dullness; that the poverty of imagination and want of genuine feeling displayed throughout is such as it is difficult to overlook, and impossible to excuse. It is both difficult and dangerous to tell the exact truth in this matter, for it is the fashion now-a-days to call all but complimentary criticism "in- vidious," and the terrors of a Court of law overhang the unhappy scribe who gives to the general public unclothed and nuperfnmed truth. We will venture, however, to set down some plain words as to a few of the contributions here- present.
There are three imaginative pictures (out of 453 exampled,- all showing some technical deficiencies, but all showing also distinct artistic feeling, and each in its own way being a genuine conception, worked out to the best -of its author's power. Two of these are figure-paintings, one is a landscape. The landscape is No. 76, is called "Westminster at Sunset,"
-and is by Mr. Arthur Severn. It represents a rapidly waning -sunset, the ruddy clouds half obscured by the thick London smoke, the buildings grey and indistinct, save where the Abbey tower rises dark above the smoke, against the brighter portion of the sky, the water in the river shining here and there with reflected light, and broken up with passing boats and a penny steamer. To the truth of the general effect any of us Londoners could swear securely ; to its imaginative truth,—well, perhaps a dweller in the country would be more likely to be a good witness. We never like to attach a definite imaginative meaning to a work of art, for in proportion to its true imaginativeness are the various ideas which it brings to differ- ent minds ; it is like a skeleton-key, in that it may have been made for a special purpose, and will yet unlock many doors. However, Mr. Severn seems to have been at some pains to suggest to those who look at his picture a special meaning, and it is difficult to avoid thinking that the dusky smoke, the mist-enshrouded buildings, the careless, tutabled passing life, of the steamboat and the river, are intended some- how to help us to the comprehension of the meaning of the great dark tower which rises, strong and steadfast, above it all,— rises into a clearer heaven, where the evening clouds are crowned with a crimson glory. We have said there are technical defects in Mr. Severn's work, and these are mainly to be found in a -certain uncertainty and muzziness of execution, and, perhaps, in the foreground, in a rather painful elaboration of the details of the sunlit water. The whole work is a trifle over-laboured; its conscientiousness is too clearly evident.
The smaller and less important of the figure-paintings which we call imaginative, is entitled " Scarlet Ibis," and is by Mr. Matthew Hale. This is best described as a decorative panel in harmonies of red. It represents a woman clothed in red and white drapery, leaning back against a stone balustrade, upon which stands a scarlet ibis ; the woman's body is thrown sharply backwards, her feet stretched towards the spectator, one arm upheld towards the bird. The whole composition glows with Ted of different shades, and the colour-harmony is most care- fully and thoroughly worked out. Exception might easily be taken to the drawing of the figure, and we can hardly believe in the cold tones of the flesh-painting ; but the picture is pleasant in its composition, is full of fancy, and its faults are such as may be readily excused in so unpre- tentious and so original a work. The third composition which, we think, shows the presence of the imaginative faculty is No. 370, by Mr. T. M. Rooke, and is called "The Ended Tune."* The subject is a simple one enough,—a girl in a deep purple dress, shutting up an old-fashioned piano, at the close of her song. In the front of the piano stands a large pot of lilies, behind is a glimpse of the sea and shore, softly lighted by the last glow of the sunset. The picture is tender, quiet, and perhaps a little sad in the general impression it leaves ; the painting of the face very delicate, the expression full of feeling, and a subdued, patient melancholy. Its faults are the shadows of its virtues, as might have been expected. The whole com- position is overworked, and slightly lacking in spirit. There is no trace of the master about the execution, but rather of the patient and unwearied pupil. And if the truth must be told, the effect is a trifle morbid, in that the feeling is in excess of the motive. Nevertheless, the picture is a, genuine example of good work, directed in the main rightly ; and both as a piece of colour and as a subject-figure, it aims higher than anything in the exhibition. By the way, it should be noticed that this work is carefully hung where there is no light to see it.
Let us now say a few words about the good landscapes of the exhibition. One of the best of these, we think, is No. 62, On the Kennet,—Morning," by Mr. Alfred Parsons, a careful and elaborate study of an interesting scene. Both this and No 163, by the same artist, are worthy of examination, though neither is an ambitious work, nor such as to strike the eye at first sight. "A Haven of Rest," by Mr. J. S. Hodgson, A.R.A., shows the " Associate " at his best, though it is only a cluster of old, red-brick houses. As far as it goes, this picture seems to us to have an amount of feeling for quiet beauty, for which we hardly gave Mr. Hodgson credit, and which he would do well to cultivate. As we are in the neighbourhood now of Mr. MacWhirter, A.R.A., let us look at his two terrific (we use • We mention this picture with some diffidence, because having Been it in the studio, and liked it there, it passed into our possession before the Gallery opened. It would, however, be grossly unfair to Mr. Hooke to omit noticing his work on that account. the word deliberately) pictures of " Thunderstorm on the Grand Prairie " (No.107), and "A Summer Storm, Venice" (No. 255). We have seen a good many mock-Turners, but certainly never expected to have two such examples as these from the hand of an Academy " Associate." It is not only that the colours employed are of the most garish hue, combiued most inharmoniously, but that the whole effect is one of such utter discordance that it seems to set the teeth upon edge, like a slate-pencil pressed hard, and drawn quickly across a slate. It is worth while to point out the demerits of such work, as from its very audacity it is likely to lead young artists astray, especially when it is seen upon the line at the Academy and elsewhere. There is nothing in Nature of the thin, brilliance here depicted, and there is no judgment of art possible to such people as once get to accept a travesty like this, in lieu of real truth. To take a land- scape which errs in a contrary direction, look at No. 94, by Mr. James Hurley,—a river scene upon the Thames. In this there is a great deal of atmospheric truth, and considerable feeling for the quiet beauty of the river, but colour has been almost wholly ignored, and the whole landscape, river, and sky are of an ashen hue which is hardly possible, and which is, in this instance, the result of sacrificing all truth of local colour to general truth of tone. The parts are entirely right, • the whole picture is actually wrong. Perhaps the best river scene here is one, by Mr. C. E. Holloway, a young painter whose work we have before noted for its frequent attempts at painting difficult aspects of sea and sky. This work is called " The Mouth of the Yare " (No. 234), and is especially good in the middle-distance and the sky portions. The boats are especially well put in the water, and have that look of going so dear to a, yachtsman. The foreground water is a little heavy, and almost insolent, in treatment ; but the picture, on the whole, is decidedly clever, and marks an advance in the artist's powers. Close to this, rather low down upon the wall, is a brilliant study of rough sea, called " Over the Bar," by Mr. Napier Hemy, in which the brilliant transparency and flow of the near waves should be especially noticed, as should the brini- ness of the whole composition. Mr. F. Cox sends two pictures, which are, as usual with his work, nice in feeling and fresh in colour; but no such merits can excuse the very careless drawing of the figure in the picture of " When Jack's at Sea,"—a maiden leaning upon a capstan, thinking of her absent lover. The girl's arm is like a log of wood more than anything else, and the length of her lower limbs quite disproportionate. Amongst the figure pictures, Mr. G. D. Leslie, R.A., must come first, if it were only for surprise that an artist, generally so grace- ful in his backgrounds and accessories, should send two pictures in which the main features are pewter dish-covers and kitchen- dressers. These two works by Mr. Leslie, which are companions, represent " Apple-dumplings " and " Cherry-pie," and one shows a fair girl peeling an apple in a kitchen, the other a. dark girl holding up (also in a kitchen) a newly-made pie. The execution is of the level quality usual in Mr. Leslie's work, but as pictures the compositions are quite unworthy of him, and if they were done by any one else we should be tempted to call them hopelessly vulgar. For be it noted that the dumpling- maker and the pie-maker are not servant-girls, but masquerading ladies ; and that there is over the pictures that false air of mock simplicity which is, beyond all others, the most irritating. Mr. H. S. Marks sends two examples, both of which show him, if not in his happiest vein, at all events in his best style of painting. In actual brush-work, there is nothing in the exhibition which can rank with his picture of the "Miller of Dee" (228), who leans unconcernedly over the half-door of his mill. The shrewd humour of the face is, in its way, a master-stroke. In colour, both this, and the larger picture of a jester, sitting under a tree "studying impromptus," are unattractive, and both remind us of the famous saying that there is no place for humour in fine art. Very interesting, as all good craftsmanship must be, we should feel that these works were worthy of almost any other word of praise that can be given to pictures, except artistic. Mr. G. F. Munn's composition, called, "Amusing his Lordship "—a; girl striking an attitude to amuse a baby,—is the most striking re- production of the manner of M. Munkacay (who painted " The Two Families," in the last year's Academy) that can be well conceived. It is a brilliantly clever picture in a forced and mere- tricious style, full of character and spirit, but the product of a debased school of Art, which seeks to make up by extravagance and bizarrerie, what is lacking in feeling.
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