International studio (17.1902)

Studio-Talk

moralising instruction as ancient as sin itself—and
as commonplace ! But this kind of criticism is
also ancient and somewhat trite. Genius goes her
own way in spite of it, and in the long run is
justified of her children. There were some who
shook their heads when it first became known that
Mr. Byam Shaw, greatly daring, intended to illus-
trate the Book of Ecclesiastes, and to find in its
splendid roueism—its jaded yet masterful com-
monsense — material enough for thirty small
cabinet pictures. That there was no need for any
head-shaking, save that of approval, is now made
clear by a visit to the Dowdeswell galleries in
Bond Street, where the results of Mr. Byam Shaw’s
new venture may be seen and admired. The
artist has been bold in a very thoughtful manner,
interpreting his chosen texts in a generous and
manly spirit, and exhibiting the drama of the
moral sense in many of its manifestations, as dis-
played in the ironies of life at various periods.
The subjects connect the present day in London
with the Puritans of old, and also with the
medireval Italians. One picture, too, representing
a scene of primitive jealousy and love, invites us
to study a courtship at the seaside in a very far-off

time, when clothes played no part at all in any
one’s life. In this wide range of subject Mr.
Byam Shaw has plenty of scope for humour;
and humour, light and playful, is a quality which
Mr. Shaw possesses in abundance, though it does
not always find its way from his sketches into his
pictures. The present works are rather in the
nature of free, bold sketches, more attention
having been bestowed on their dramatic con-
ception than upon their technical execution; and
this fact suggests a question that is well worth
asking. Is it really wise that a man of original
thought should be thus prodigal in his display of
good ideas in fine sketches ? Does it not seem
rather like a squandering of creative energy, a slow
bleeding away of power ? Might it not be better
to spend more time on matters of technical in-
terest and value, remembering that even the most
fertile minds begin to repeat themselves if they use
up their first freshness of ideas too rapidly ?

The collection of more than five hundred pictures,
drawings and engravings by prominent French
artists, which is one of the chief features of the
“ Paris in London ” exhibition at Earl’s Court,

“ Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, .... and walk in the by byam SHAW

ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes ; but know
thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment ”

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