ART
As an hors d'oeuvre to the FlemiSh exhibition at Burlington House, Londoners might well sample the several collections, 'arbitrary but rewarding, of European masters to be seen at some of the dealers' galleries. The emphasis is on the impressionists, but by no means exclusively. " Acquisitions VIII " at Tooth's ranges from Molenaer to Modigliani (with a portrait of Zborowski) and Braque. One of the most notable things here is perhaps the Gainsborough view of Cornard. Gimpel's are showing a number of smallish works, of which an upright view of the Boulevard de Clichy in 1876 by Goeuneutte, no bigger than a postcard, perhaps holds the greatest charm (it is inter- esting to note the changes the artist made in his subject when making the engraving alongside). There are some good Hichens here and a Welsh landscape from 1936 by Graham Sutherland.
The Marlborough Gallery exhibition in- cludes a delicate and charming Head of a Man by Memling ; a late and very mannerist Tintoretto of Christ carrying the Cross ; and a not unimposing Canaletto. Among the later French painters Renoir is particularly well represented, but it is a pastel by Degas which steals the show. This is one of his most remarkable syntheses of muscular composition, anatomical accuracy and oddity even 'perversity, of viewpoint. It is the natural forerunner of a Lautrec grisaille, of a Bal Masque, which is its nearest rival—an odd work that is well-observed, ingeniously composed on a circular plan, and of an exceptional compactness and authority. There are several delicious Bonnards (his large landscape is a fine example of his manipulation of colour) and expressionism is represented by a flamboyant yet acutely felt Soutine portrait of an old actress and—a novelty this—two paintings by Munch.
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