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Tins week I have seen exhibitions by a Sinhalese monk, a Parisian, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century water-colourists and a group of unknown youngsters. In such circumstances the problem which is always dogging the critic—that of maintaining some sort of con- stancy of standards—becomes acute if not insuperable. Criticism, dependent at the best of times upon personal prejudice, cannot judge such disparate work save by equally disparate standards. The copies by the Bhuddist monk, Manjusri Thero, of Sinhalese frescoes, which have been on view at the Imperial Institute, seemed to me more important, most of them, as historical records than as aesthetic experiences. With one exception, a third-century a.c. fragment from Karambagale, all the paintings are relatively recent, dating from the departure of the Portuguese from Ceylon. They are nevertheless disappearing rapidly through neglect and decay. Some, the work of untutored primitives, are clumsy and child-like ; some reveal a splendour of rhythm and decoration. • * * * At the Anglo-French are paintings by Aujame. These are pleasant enough—gay and happy pictures on the whole. They pose no new problems, and suggest no new solutions. The contemporary manner- isms of colour and design sit a little uneasily upon an essentially realistic and illusionistic vision, but a relaxation of Parisian ferocity is not in itself unwelcome. * * * * Agnew's winter exhibition of water-colours contains some covet- able items, from the prim, pale documents of Devis to the more romantic visions of Girtin, Cozens and de Wint. A series of Constable sketches and one or two little pencil notes by Bonington are as interesting as many of the larger pictures. If, however, instead of discussing the Turners, I move on to the " Under Thirties " being shown by the Artists International Association at their centre at 15 Lisle Street, it will be appreciated that my standards have shifted again on the way. As a matter of fact genius and precocity are not in evidence here ; rather has the A.I.A. revealed a group of serious, sensible and sensitive young painters who are far too much in earnest to waste time pirating editions of other people's work. As a result there is an absence of stress and strain and an
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