DOI Heft:
No. 61 (March, 1902)
DOI Artikel:The Royal Academy and its students' competitions
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22773#0055
Royal Academy Students
“ CUMULUS CLOUDS OVER A FEN COUNTRY ” BY F. PALMER
lr> the open air with the landscape painters.
The subject chosen for the Turner gold medal
and scholarship was One of the Bridges over
the Thames in London, and this excellent choice
°f a theme brought forth some attractive
studies from Mr. Pittman, Miss Page, Mr.
Lobley, and from Miss Robinson, whose
Picture is illustrated. Photographic in accuracy
°f impression, it has also the defects of a
Photograph; the men on the barges are not
feally at work, they seem to be posing for the
admiration of the world. The prize-winner, Mr.
Pittman, is far from fortunate in his selection of a
bridge, and one may wish that his handling were less
Precocious in its gentle and settled charm; but his
Picture is good in colour and is well-observed,
hhis applies also to Mr. Pittman’s Creswick Prize,
Cumulus Clouds over a Fen Country, though this
Picture, to be sure, is neither remarkable for
Curnulus clouds nor characteristic as a typical
reach of fen country • still, it has a set kind of
Sraceful accomplishment that cannot but win
admiration, even from those who regret to see it
111 the work of so young a student.
Among Mr. Pittman’s rivals the^e are several
"'ho deserve warm praise, like M . Palmer, whose
!'tudyj so unpretentious in its appeal, is as refresh-
ing in quiet truth of colour as it is free in the
assurance of its exploring brush work. Miss Jay,
too, in a fen scene treated in a studious manner,
shows knowledge and spirit in the horses which
she has introduced; while Mr. Davis, Mr. Symons,
Mr. George Murray, and No. 31, whose name we
know not, solve various difficulties in landscape
painting. * T
As regards the competition for Historical Paint-
ing, it cannot be said that the subject chosen—
Saul and the Witch of Endor—is a fortunate one,
because, as Saul visits the Witch by night, it is a
subject that brings into the difficulties of composi-
tion an artificial lighting ; and historical pictures
are more than difficult erough for most students
when the problems of lig- t to be solved belong
to the light of day. Apart from this, too,
the story in the Bible \Y imuel xxviii. 7—14) is
told with such masterly art, with such graphic
brevity, that a painter’s realisation of its literary
realism is apt to seem like a travesty charged with
superfluous detail and theatrical emotion. Alto-
gether, it is not surprising that the results in this
competition should leave much to be desired.
The students, overburdened by the difficulties of
their subject, do not rise above a very moderate
level of attainment. Even Mr. George Murray,
39
“ CUMULUS CLOUDS OVER A FEN COUNTRY ” BY F. PALMER
lr> the open air with the landscape painters.
The subject chosen for the Turner gold medal
and scholarship was One of the Bridges over
the Thames in London, and this excellent choice
°f a theme brought forth some attractive
studies from Mr. Pittman, Miss Page, Mr.
Lobley, and from Miss Robinson, whose
Picture is illustrated. Photographic in accuracy
°f impression, it has also the defects of a
Photograph; the men on the barges are not
feally at work, they seem to be posing for the
admiration of the world. The prize-winner, Mr.
Pittman, is far from fortunate in his selection of a
bridge, and one may wish that his handling were less
Precocious in its gentle and settled charm; but his
Picture is good in colour and is well-observed,
hhis applies also to Mr. Pittman’s Creswick Prize,
Cumulus Clouds over a Fen Country, though this
Picture, to be sure, is neither remarkable for
Curnulus clouds nor characteristic as a typical
reach of fen country • still, it has a set kind of
Sraceful accomplishment that cannot but win
admiration, even from those who regret to see it
111 the work of so young a student.
Among Mr. Pittman’s rivals the^e are several
"'ho deserve warm praise, like M . Palmer, whose
!'tudyj so unpretentious in its appeal, is as refresh-
ing in quiet truth of colour as it is free in the
assurance of its exploring brush work. Miss Jay,
too, in a fen scene treated in a studious manner,
shows knowledge and spirit in the horses which
she has introduced; while Mr. Davis, Mr. Symons,
Mr. George Murray, and No. 31, whose name we
know not, solve various difficulties in landscape
painting. * T
As regards the competition for Historical Paint-
ing, it cannot be said that the subject chosen—
Saul and the Witch of Endor—is a fortunate one,
because, as Saul visits the Witch by night, it is a
subject that brings into the difficulties of composi-
tion an artificial lighting ; and historical pictures
are more than difficult erough for most students
when the problems of lig- t to be solved belong
to the light of day. Apart from this, too,
the story in the Bible \Y imuel xxviii. 7—14) is
told with such masterly art, with such graphic
brevity, that a painter’s realisation of its literary
realism is apt to seem like a travesty charged with
superfluous detail and theatrical emotion. Alto-
gether, it is not surprising that the results in this
competition should leave much to be desired.
The students, overburdened by the difficulties of
their subject, do not rise above a very moderate
level of attainment. Even Mr. George Murray,
39