ART.
THE INSTErtn.e; OF PAINTERS IN WATERCOLOURS. [SECOND AND LAST NOTICE.] THOSE of our readers who have seen our first notice of this Gallery will doubtless have been somewhat surprised that wementioned therein so few of the better-known artists and the most important pictures of the exhibition, and will, perhaps, have felt some wonder upon what grounds our high opinion of the Gallery was based. In this article, therefore, we propose to do little more than give a list, with a few words of description, of those compositions and artists which form the chief attraction of this year's Institute, with the endeavour to show, if possible, that there was some good reason for passing a favourable verdict upon the exhibition. A talented though anonymous critic has asserted that the pictures here shown, are, as a whole, a collection of rubbish, and even gone so far as to suggest that the
talent of the amateur is equivalent to their production. In justice to a body of hardworking and talented artists—artists who at the present time are suffering greatly from the widespread commercial depression—let as see whether this criticism will bear the light of examination.
To begin with, what shall we say to the fact that there are no less than eight Academicians and Associates exhibiting here ?— Boughton, Gregory, Gow, Herk-omer, Colin Hunter, Macbeth, MacWhirter, and Woolner. Whatever may be the shortcomings -of these artists' works, of which we have often spoken quite plainly, five out of the seven are, at least, favourable specimens, —far above the average of the Academic body. Here, too, are Keeley Halswelle and David Murray, both of the Scotch Academy, the latter of whom we mentioned in our first article, and who is, despite a certain over-fondness for strange effects of light, one of our most rising landscape-artists. And here —though somewhat cut of place, perhaps—is Albert Moore, of whose non-election to the Academy we have written so often. He is not at his best this year, and his contribution here, called -" Companions," is, like those at the Grosvenor and the Old Water-Colour Society, considerably beneath his average ; still, it is good work. But leaving all these,—who are, as it were, episodes in the exhibition, though several of the number do actually belong to the "Institute,"—let us see what is the range of the members' work.
And first of landscape, let us speak of what may be called the genuine old water-colour school. First in the gallery of this school are three men who are probably the best survivals of the art which Cox and Be Wint expounded,—Thomas Collier, H. G. Hine, and Edwin Hayes. Of these, the first is great in expanses of moorland, shadowed by rolling clouds and swept by -strong, fresh winds. His secret is, in a lesser manner, as was the secret of Cox ; it is Nature itself that we see here,—nature -occasionally sombre, rough, and even dirty, but always fresh and strong. This painter has for years been a great pillar of the Institute; but the outside public scarcely know him. For, above all things, he is a painter's painter; he surrenders absolutely nothing to sentiment or artifice. His picture, "Near Burley," is, as usual, awide stretch of rough country, with gorse-bushes and some fallen trees in the foreground, and beyond sweep after sweep of rolling downs, and a sunny, rainy sky, with great -cumulus-clouds dashed in hurriedly. And of H. G. Hine, what is necessary to be said? He has been painting the Sussex Downs and seas for a generation and a half, and painting them in a way which no one else has ever equalled. Even George Fripp, with all his magnificent draughtsmanship, and cool, fresh atmosphere, fails in comparison with Hine to give the essential characteristics -of the chalk downs. The present picture of line's is of Cuckmere Haven, with a blue sea lying still and bright under the chalk cliffs, and a long vista of downs stretching away for miles.
Gentle" is the word which always comes to our mind in connection with this painter ; his work is as quiet as " Gray's Elegy." He loves peace, declining day, and solitude, and extracts from them all the material of his art. For the rest, he is, technically speaking, the most skilful of manipulators, and in this respect resembles no one so much as the late Copley Fielding, with whose painting, indeed, line's work has much in common. And Edwin Hayes's seascapes are also almost too well known to bear description; their splendid draughtmanship of boats and shipping, their studied composition, the somewhat conventional forms of his waves, and the grey freshness of his atmosphere. An old-fashioned painter this, no doubt ; lacking much of snodern scientific accuracy ; working, too, to a great extent -on recipe, and after long practice seeing all scenes too much through the same spectacles, but with 'much to be said for his work. It is manly and strong, and—best merit of all in a picture—it is pictorial. This was the secret of many of our -early landscape-painters' pleasantness and power. They not only painted well, but they painted easily ; and they produced works which, despite innumerable errors, were nevertheless pictures, not bits of pictures. Tarn, for examples of utterly different feeling in landscape works, which are nevertheless good of their kind, to the reapers and harvest-fields of George Clausen and T. W. Wetherbee. These are of the modern semirealistic, semi-idyllic school, with comparatively large figures and strong effects of light. Wetherbee is the most poetical, and his figures have much of the solid strength of Jules Breton's peasants ; but Clausen is an older and more skilful artist, and if he will only leave off imitating Bastien Lepage, should do very fine work. It was a picture of this painter's, entitled, " Mass at a Fishing Village on the Zuyder Zee," which we praised so highly nearly ten years ago at the Royal Academy, and since then Mr. Clausen, who was unknown at the time, has become very popular ; his early promise, however, has, in our opinion, not yet been altogether fulfilled. Let us take two more landscape-men who are members here, whose work is of great excellence in different ways,—Arthur Severn, the pupil and friend of Ruskin, and Alfred Parsons, without exception the most exquisite draughtsman of flower and foliage which the English school possesses. Severn would have been both a better and a worse artist had it not been for Ruskin. The prophet has found him in enthusiasm, patience, and humility, but has shown him so many difficulties that his pictures seem always too much like "advanced exercises." We see they are done with fear, trembling, and difficulty. "Take him away, poor fellow, and let him have a 'good time' somewhere in recompense of all this labour." Such is our unuttered feeling about the artist who did them. Parsons's work is of another temper ; it is the delicate work of a strong man, of one who does not feel very much about his art save from its technical side. But he has learnt his business ; rare thing to be able to say of an English painter. He knows the limits of art—at all events the limits of his own art—and does not seek to transcend them. Within these bounds his pencil works happily, dexterously, and exquisitely. It is literally true that wayside wood and flower have never been drawn, even by the pre-Raphaelites, with the mingled truth, grace, and artistic feeling which Mr. Parsons habitually gives us. The collection of pictures lately exhibited by this artist of scenery on the Avon, proved this beyond a doubt. Of Aumonier and Napier Hemy we spoke in our last notice. Of Henry Johnson, most delicate of sketchers, the favourite pupil of William Muller, we can only stay to mention with extreme regret the fact of his sudden and comparatively early death ; and of Mr. W. L. Wyllie's river-scenes on the Lower Thames, there is little that is new to be said. He is the first artist who has thoroughly understood and brought into the region of art those complex characters, the waterman and bargee ; and few of us, we think, realised bow much beauty and interest there was in " down-river " life till that painter made it manifest. Honour to him, as to all other artists who have touched everyday matters to finer issues. A great deal more might be said about the landscapes, especially of Cotman, and Caffieri, and Carrick ; of Holloway, the rival of Wyllie; and of Joseph Knight, whose twilight fields are more solemn than ever. This painter has only done landscape of one kind, for—well, very many years, but he certainly has brought that special phase of evening light and character of scene, as near perfection as can well be imagined. We must leave out, too, Hamilton Macallum, John Mogford, and Mole (the Vice-President of the Society), and James Orrock, of whom a certain section of the critics speak so highly. All of these, however, have here work good of its kind.
Of the figure-painters, who is there that is admirable ? Well, Walter Crane is a good designer, and hae a good design here, John Tenniel, of Punch, and William Simpson, of the Illustrated, are not wholly unknown artists, and both send good contributions, though Simpson's subject and treatment is a moat extraordinary one, being none other than the Tower of Babel, "restored according to the latest authorities." There is a touch of unconscious satire about that "latest authorities" very delicious. Here, also, among the illustrators, are Oaldecott's hunting-scenes, and Charles Green's elaborate work of "Little Nell and her Grandfather at the Races," a picture which the artist has elaborated too highly. Green is a painter who is too little known by the public, for no one since Hablot K. Brown has done so much good work for book illustration. He has the humour of Barnard without his vulgarity, and a fertility of invention which is really marvellous. With him should be mentioned the two men whose work on the Graphic has been so long continued, William Small and George Thomas ; and perhaps a look might be given to Caton Woodville, who first made his name on the same paper, and who is now facile princely) amongst our battle-painters. All of these won their spurs on illustrated periodicals, and all, with perhaps one exception, have become skilful artists. But there are literally dozens of figure-painters-exhibiting in this Gallery whose names are even more familiar to the public than these, for, omitting all the Academic body, here are Seymour Lucas, whose-large picture was purchased by the Academy last year, and who will be, in all probability, the next Associate, and James Linton, the President of the Institute, who we hear is to be knighted for his picture
of the "Royal Marriage." Spencer Stanhope, pre-Raphaelite of the pre-Raphaelites; and Lionel Smythe, most audacious of the modern schools ; Waterhouse, whose picture of "Saint Eulalia " is probably the most popular one of the year at Burlington House ; and Walter Wilson, who sends a composition of the Guards embarking for Egypt, which is very notable as a successful attempt to render a moderdscene with truth and picturesqueness ; and Mary Gow, sister of the Academician, who sends one of her best pictures, called "Sisters." Albert Moore and Walter Langley have already been alluded to ; and the elaborate Eastern composition by Mr. G. Montbard deserves careful attention, if only for its fine composition and elaborate drawing. Arthur Stocks sends a good child-study, and Caffieri a graceful but meretricious composition of two girls leaning against the lock gates; and for those who prefer humorous pictures there is Joseph Nash's "Tithe Pig," the treatment of which may be guessed, and John Scott's fairy princesses, surrounded by storks, and J. C. Dollman's "No Buyers," an old farmer trudging home, leading two calves, a purchaser for which he has vainly sought.
Mr. Losses Dickinson's portrait of the late General Gordon is now being exhibited at 57 Pall Mall, and is sufficiently good to repay a visit. The likeness is, we are informed, considered remarkably good by the relatives of the General, and the drawing and painting are careful. It suffers, however, in our opinion, from being rather artificial in its treatment. This carefullydressed soldier, with his martial cloak around him, and one hand in a half-opened Prayer-book, gazing (into futurity, as it were) with widely-opened eyes, is rather the Gordon of fancy than that of fact. We cannot believe that the defender of Khartoum, as he visited the sentries, looked either so devotional or so well cared for. But Mr. Dickinson's work was a difficult one. It had, we presume, to be done chiefly, if not entirely, from photographs, and a certain amount of idealisation seemed necessary. To tell the truth, the task was all but an impossible one to any but a" very" great artist, and the present portrait does not succeed in giving us more than the superficial likeness of the great soldier. Indeed, in slightly beautifying his subject Mr. Dickenson has lost much of his character, and this is especially evident in the drawing of the eyebrows and forehead. The portrait is a half-length, and there is a background of the ramparts of Khartoum, and a primrose sky, of which part of the picture we can say little in praise. The best part of the work is the drawing and expression of the eyes. On the whole, the portrait is sincere and moderately successful.
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