Art
THE one hundred and fourth exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy, opened to the public last month, gives Edinburgh her annual opportunity of admiring the productions of native genius and provides, in addition, an interesting collection of borrowings from extraneous sources.-
The loans from Millbank include the Orange Jacket and Rachel of Augustus John, the Dancer of Sir George Clausen, Meninsky's Portrait of a Boy, H. Gilmour's Leeds Market and W. Bayes' The Ford ; the Scottish Office, Whitehall, provides Sir James Guthrie's fine portrait of Sir John Gilmour, and the " advanced " are represented by the Beaudins lent by Mrs. R. A. Workman. La Femme aux Voiles and La Balk strike a bizarre note in the otherwise fairly orthodox colour symphony which this year's exhibition provides. There is little here, indeed, pour epater les bourgeois, although two symbolical pictures, My Pain Beneath your Sheltering Hand, by the late Charles Sims, and Mr. Glyn Philpot's Flight into Egypt, are provocative of speculation.
Among subject pictures, Mr. A. E. Borthwick's This Do in Remembrance of Me, a devout and mystical treatment of Communion at St. Paul's, and Mr. Frank Brangwyn's Crucifixion deserve most attention. Powerful and uncon- ventional in treatment, the latter is sure to provoke con- troversy. - In the large room portraiture is to the fore with Mr. Henry Lintott's three-quarter length of Lord Sands, a little drab but a good likeness. Mr. Robert Sivell's John-esque Miss Jean O'H. Morton and Mr. Somerville Shanks's The late Tom Hunt, A.R.S.A., attract attention.
Among the landscapes Mr. L. S. Lumsden's delicately beautiful Towards Swanston is among " local " subjects the most attractively treated. The capital and its environs are not well repreaented in the exhibition. Mr. Adam Brute Thomson's Edinburgh in Room IV is harsh in colour and crude in handling. While it arrests attention, it scarcely suggests its theme. Mention must be made of Mr. James Wood's charming Ben Lomond in Spring, Sir L. Y. Cameron's Ostia and Mr. James Paterson's The Old Mill.
Two portraits are prominent in Room III—Mr. Herbert Gunn's full length of Professor George M. Robertson and Mr. Maurice Greiffenhagen's striking and unconventional three- quarter length of Sir George Macdonald. Miss Anna Zin- keisen's A. K. Z. and Joe is deftly handled, and Mr. William -Nicholson's Listeners must not be overlooked with its brilliant craftsmanship and powerful observation.
Some attractive still life paintings by Messrs. Peploe, Somerville Shanks, Drummond Young and Leslie Hunter are found in Room IV, with Mr. Lintott's Dryads as centre piece. Here, too, is Mr. de Laszlo's gorgeous full-length of Lord Elphinstone, painted for the Bank of Scotland. Especially worthy of note also are Sir George Clausen's Dancer, Mr. R. Sickert's Nude and 'Mr. John Duncan's Masque of Love.
Room V provides several interiors by the late P. W. Adam, two portraits by Sir John Lavery, and portraits by Mr. David Alison, Mr. J. S. Ewart, Mr. John H. Aitken and Mr. Henry W. Kerr.
The Sculpture Hall is especially attractive this year with some delightful borrowings from France, and the water colours also are worthy of study.- W.
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