ART.
THE ACADEMY.
Ir is of course much too soon to expect to see any radical change in English art yet. Nevertheless there are signs that even at the Academy the sleeper is disturbed by dreams. To take one example— there is a visible change taking place in methods of representation. The tyranny of over-modelled forms, realistic retirement of planes, and photographic light and shade no longer has complete control. Evidence is seen that a different convention, learnt from primitive art, is asserting itself alongside of the materialistic art of the immediate past. Two pictures which bring these different styles into violent contrast may be seen in the same room, Mr. D. W. Hawksley's Johanna (No. 339) and Mr. Llewellyn's presentation portrait (No. 171). The former is as flat as Japanese print, the latter as rounded as a touched-up photograph. By its clearly stated design, from which the superfluous has been eliminated, the one makes the lasting impression of a work of art, the other is but the transient image in a looking-glass. A very fine example of a portrait touched with an austerity of style is Mr. Sims's The Embroideress (No. 67). It is a picture which will repel many people from the rather unnecessary stiffness-of the pose, the profile bead with the full-face body. But once get over the effect of this and the work will be felt to be one of the most impressive pictures in the Exhibition : impressive not only for its subtle drawing and design, but for its beautiful colour, and above all for the mastery )f the execution, which is so complete that there is no trace of cleverness or virtuosity. Three portraits by Mr. Charles Shannon sre also notable for their restraint, and consequent power of asserting themselves with the quiet dignity unfamiliar in the ordinary Academy portrait. Dr. John Westlake (No. 36), Mr. Charles Ricketts (No. 62), and Mr. F. II. Neville (No. 66) are works which show how it is possible to attain a high degree of characterization without that violence of style to which we have become accustomed in late years. Of the brilliant and arresting type of painting are the portraits by Mr. Orpen. There is no concealing the art here. It shouts at us as loud as possible, and a very fine strong voice it is too, and of its kind it is difficult to imagine the thing better done. Mr. Winston Churehill (No. 160) is exactly as we should expect to see him look, energetic, overflowing, and a little disappointed; Lord Bryce (No. 286) is intensely alive, and it is impossible to pass the frame from which he looks, so compelling is the power of the artist. For Lady Bonham Carter (No. 29) a peculiar effect of lighting has been chosen which we somehow feel to be strangely appropriate to the characterization of the portrait, while Colonel Elkingfon (No. 238) radiates Vitality from his chair. The series is an extraordinary tour de force of self-assertive strength. There is only one complaint to make, the complaint which Queen Victoria made of Mr. Gladstone—that he treated her like a public meeting. We feel the same grievance, so anxiously do Mr. Orpen, and his sitters, strive in making their eppeal for our notice.
Mr. Lavery has a lot to learn when he enters the region of ideal art. Indeed, his very large Madonna of the Lakes (No. 84) must be pronounced a monumental failure. The painter has yet to discover that to dress up a model and then make a realistic portrait of the result is not all that is needed. In the present instance the shepherd in the left division of the triptych only results in being an exact likeness of a secondary figure in a modern Performance of a mystery play, bare legs and all. In a portrait in another room (No. 122) Mr. Lavery has used the same drapery as in the Madonna's dress, and in this second picture it comes to its own. Mr. Lavery is more at home when he paints elaborately clothed ladies than he is with Madonnas.
Besides the numbers of portraits of soldiers, there are of course many pictures dealing with the war. It is natural that it should be so. At the same time, it is doubtful whether any result worth having has yet been attained. These pictures divide themselves into three classes. First, there is the realistic, such as scenes in trenches and dug-outs, and also of attacks. These pictures com- pete with the cinema and fail ignominiously. In another class are the allegorical representations of ideas, as in No. 180. None of these rises to the level demanded by the greatness of the occasion. Then there are the pictures with a religious sentiment, in which a vision is usually the theme. Examples of this are to be found in Nos. 141, 708, and 741. The difficulty here is that the artist tries to imagine a supernatural appearance in a real place and to represent the scene realistically. If distinctly religion() ideas are to be represented, perhaps Mr, Sims in No. 57 has chosen the best way when he makes his Crucifixion purely symbolic. It is the soldier in hospital uniform who is crucified, while his family are grouped round the symbolic cross.
There has been no space left to speak of the many good
landscapes here, but it would be unjust to pass in silence Mr.' Hughes-Stanton's snow picture (No. 369) and also Mr. Bertram Priestman's works, all of which are really fine, but No. 183
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