Art Exhibitions
[The Goupil Salon.—The Royal Water Colour Society.-- Mr. Ethelbert White's Water-Colcurs at the St. George's Gallery.] Tarn Goupil Salon is filled by works by the familiars of the house, with a sprinkling of foreign visitors, and arather long tail of less known artists. A great deal of its interest lies in the opportunity afforded for discovering young artists who have not yet established themselves in the usual exhibitions. It cannot be said that the youngest generation seen here suffers from an over display of audacity ; the best works give an impression of sobriety.
A portrait of a young man by Mr. John llanSbridge suggests that he has. looked towards the male portraiture of Ingres. It is large and simple. in 'design, satisfying in colour and the forms are solid and' ull ; it has an arresting and vital quality, trio. Mr. Barnett Freedman is as yet less sure of himself, but his rotidWay scene in the Chilterns 'has a convincing g,can• ineness in tackling difficulties, and a talent for rich, vaned colour in low tones. A portrait by him is rather, thin and watery, but it is worth while to penetrate to the topmost and farthest room to see a capital drawing, Linda, which sir ports the idea that here is a serious talent.
Among the already well-known exhibitors Mr. Gilbert Spencer and Mr. John Nash seem typical of their generations, the former marked by a peculiar intensity of vision and acuteness of rendering, and the latter by the fine planning of his lines and masses. Mr. Charles Ginner's certainty in command of his material allows him to translate a direct vision of nature with both objective truth and exceedingly
rich colour in a Hampstead subject. Mr. Cundall's descriptive landscapes are in a very English tradition ; his view of Chartres leas affinities with Bonington and a good deal of freshness of its own. Chaiacteristic paintings by Mr. Menin.sky, Mr. Gertler, Mr. Porter (whose Mon treed' is one of the most painter-like and spontaneous pieces here), and Mr. Walter Bayes give weight to the Exhibition, and water-colours by Mr. Wilson Steer and Mr. D. S. MacColl are as luminous and as exquisite in choice as ever. Indeed, though the collection as a whole seems lacking in dynainic qualities it contains a great deal of work which is individually interesting.
Mr. Eric Gill's cartoon for an altar-piece at Rossall School stands apart in its scope and sustained effort. The groups are admirable in interest and distribution, and are composed into a noble unity. His two pieces of sculptUre are less satisfactory. The detached blocks of stone are apparently designed in relief, cut round the contours of the groups, and partially carved at the back, they are neither true reliefs nor sculpture in the round. As linear designs seen from the front they are most attractive, the shapes are quite beautiful, but the convention seems more suitable for small decorative bibelots. They should be compared with Mr. Zadkine's two heads, which are so potent in their sense of the sculptural block.
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