Studio: international art (2.1894)

Pictures and Studies of Cats at the Dutch Gallery

silhouettes of cats, by arthur tomson

and he very kindly offered to put me up, so I left _

the Queen Hatasoo to go down stream, whilst I A l\ p' TOM SON'S

returned to lovely Phike for three days, did as |\ /I PICTURES AND STUDIES

much work as the hot weather would let me, and J \l ®^ CATS AT THE DUTCH

took the next post-boat down to Luxor, arriving -1. Y JL GALLERY.

there in twenty-four hours. m_ „ . - . . , ,

. The collection of paintings and drawings of

I he Luxor Hotel, very large, was quite empty „o1.c . »^.i,,„ , ■ . , ,

, T , ' : % ' ., V cats' by Mr- Arthur Tomson, which has been

when I got there, and but lor Dr. Zeida, who art.an„aA „^ n„f„u n n t, , ^

u * i i i • ananged at the Dutch Gallery, 14 Brook Street,

took his meals m the hotel, I was the only visitor. Hanoyer ig the wQrk Qf an ^

Being late in the season the manager, M. George, need be nQ fear ^ thg toy ^

who was very obliging, made special terms for me „„j i <• ., , , „. .

„ , _ j , „, ^ . . , j the models for the animals, or that the Christmas

at 8s. a day. I stayed here three weeks, and found „„_j „„f„ fk_ „f„, , , . , • , t,

' ' . . . carQ ^ets the standard by which the pictures are to

plenty of boats and riverside work, to say nothing be juciged

of the well-known wondrous temples of Karnack, A/r ^ , . .

, _ , .„ , T, Mr- -lomson has previously shown, at different

Luxor, and Thebes. My guide, Abdo Hassan, p,nov:0, i ■ i ,

' , • i • Galleries, pictures which have at once arrested the

was a most faithful and attentive boy, quite con- „«.-_,.:_„ „f • ^ . ... . . , . , ,

, j r™ attention of judges, bv the insight shown of the

tent with a little more than is. a day. The ri,,r.rtor u„k;fc. „„j f ■

... . character, habits, and movements of the animal.

weather was very much against work, being often Tt uoc i „„ __• j . , ,

, . , 3. , , * , , f j a. , At has been recognised that he has, amongst con-
hot and windy, with a fearful amount of dust and fAmr,™„, „ • f f . . , , , .

v- , temporary painters of cats, eminently succeeded in

sand in the air. Earlier in the year it is cooler, Pvnrmc;„„fu^„ i CA. . ...

. , , , . , ' exPressing the suppleness of their action, their grace,

with less troublesome wind. „nj focr.:„ot:„„ ,„„, , TT. .„

. , . ,,, T1 , T , and lascinating waywardness. His illustrations to

At the end of May I left Luxor, by the post-boat, „ .u1rm;n„ , . f _

- _ . , 3, charming book of poems " Concerning Cats,"

for Cairo, the only other passenger being a Captain tt '

T., on leave from Wady Haifa. With a swift

current we made nearly twelve miles an hour, too

fast for even rapid sketching. However, we

stopped often at bye-places for a few minutes, and

sometimes for several hours, and eventually, after

going aground on sandbanks once or twice,

reached Cairo in five days.

I shall not dwell on the passage. We had
pleasant but windy weather, and much enjoyed
the changes of scenery and effects of light on sails,
water, and surrounding hills. Some of the after-
glows were wonderfully brilliant—strong yellow at
the horizon, toned quickly off into violet towards
the zenith. The sunrises, too, were fine, but the
air at this time of day, as we passed quickly along,
was cold, and the effects changed most rapidly.

I fear I have given you but a feeble outline of ^* -

my doings, but to write fully would mean more fr0m a sketch by arthur tomson

than you would either desire or deserve to be contributed to and selected by Graham R Tomson

troubled with—Yours sincerely at once placed ^ b ^ ranks Qf ^ ^

Wilfrid Ball. this particular branch of animal painting. Those

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