Once more the Royal Academy is being made to appear
in a reactionary light. But not perhaps wholly fairly. There is no doubt that legally the Council was entirely within its rights in refusing two out of the five canvases. submitted by Mr. Stanley Spencer, and that therefore Mr:. Spencer could not even claim to be allowed to remove the remaining three. And, even neglecting the legal aspect, the Academy cannot be wholly condemned. It is hard to see why Mr. Spencer should regard it as such a terrible indignity to have to be vetted by a hanging committee. Many others have survived such an ordeal. With his general aim of improving the Academy it is impossible not to sympathize, but it has always seemed to me unfortunate that these disputes about " modern" art should usually centre around slightly second- rate works—it was the same with Epstein's Rima—so that one is faced with the choice between defending for the sake of the principle involved works of which one only half approves, and condemning the works at the risk of seeming indifferent to the principle. My own view in this case is that the Council were perfectly entitled to reject all or any of Mr. Spencer's pictures,- and in the case of " The Lovers " quite justified in their decision. About " St. Francis and the Birds " I feel more doubtful.
* *
Previous page
