ART.
MR. JOHN AND MR. EPSTEIN.
Ma. Jogs is showing at the Alpine Club Gallery a collection of his portraits, and the variety seen in the sitters is found in the artistic and technical treatment. Mr. John is' so sensitive to the qualities of those he paints that they often betray him into commonplace, and indeed into something perilously near the Academy presentation portrait. Of course when so accomplished an artist as Mr. John has descended to a level very much below the one which it is his right to occupy when he is at his best, he still remains a painter of great power, but such works as the portraits of Sir W. Goode (No. 6), Lord Sumner (No. 16), Dr. Campbell McClure (No. 22), and Mr. F. H. Critlall (No. 28) all indicate how dependent the artist is on his sitters for the stimulus to produce that something which is beyond mere power or cleverness. From those inevitable everyday things of the portrait-painter's practice we turn with delight to such a brilliant performance as the Lady Ottoline Morrell (No. 4). The decorative intention, colour, and ani- mation are all of the highest order. This is just one of those pictures which we recognize at once as a new thing, with a dis- tinct life of its own, come into the world. Here art is seen which is creative. Another instance of this happy result is the Monsieur Hymans (No. 23), in which, though only the head is Faulted, there is no feeling of incompleteness ; and the Portrait of a Boy (No. 27) is a most beautifully modelled and coloured head quite unlike in execution to the other pictures. =ere are two portraits of the same lady, one of which is called La Marchesa Casati (No. 13) and is the better of the two. It is of course purely a piece of bravura, and done to startle, and as such of lesser interest ; but all the same the beauty of the mountain background and the lovely iridescent colour of the dress, together with the wonderful drawing of the arms and hands, are so great that we forgive the exaggeration of effect in the red hair and black eyes. But a pi3ture in which serious qualities and those of caricature comp3to has the effect of an unresolved discord. Mr. John has painted Colonel Lawrence three times ; No. 29 is a work of much beauty, for its delicate colour and subtle characterization. The Emir Feisul (No. 37) is not so interesting as a portrait, and in the Maharajah of Bikanir (No. 21) Mr. John achieves the commonplace. A number of studies of heads of Canadian soldiers are shown, presumably made for the artist's great decorative work. These are most of them of high quality, and especially so are Nos. 15 and 24. Mr. John has found in his grey-blue back- grounds a colour which goes well with khaki. In some of these heads, notably in the two just mentioned, there is a monumental quality which attains grandeur without effort or apparent strain, making them works of art of the highest order.
If we had had no catalogue, we should have thought Mr. Epstein's statue of Christ to have been intended for some little- known Spanish mediaeval saint receiving the Stigmata, so entirely have traditional characteristics been set aside. The statue from the front is distinctly impressive, and we wish to see it placed in a thirteenth-century Gothic niche where its particular proportions would be best set off. Such a position, too, would make it impossible to see the unsatisfactory side and back views. The proportions and style of the work are of course unusual, but the sculptor wished to. produce an unusual effect, and, having done so, is justified. A distinct impression is made on the mind, and one of power. In the portrait busts Mr. Epstein turns towards the Florentines. The Lillian Shelley (No. 5) is a noble composition, alike subtle and strong ; so too is the He7ene (No. 10). In all the work here there is the evidence of that passion for form both in mass and in detail which is the
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