International studio (18.1902/1903)

^THE BRIDGE AT GR&S" BY JOHN LAVERY
(7/3 y Z72j/3*/3^, y///y<^23;^

valuable as evidence of the artistic emancipation of
its painter—and let it be added that what was
satisfying to John Lavery in 1884 was satisfying to
that small band of critics who were working
in the cause of the emancipation of art—hang
two iittle pictures, which may be taken as
representative of the painter's transition period
and of his mature style respectively. The littie
picture representing a yacht race on the Ciyde
was painted some twelve years since. Grey it is ;
but the vessels rnove ; we feel the wind driving


"A HDY tN BLACK, NO. n" BY JOHN LAVERY
IO

their saiis, and the greyness has a certain sparMe
about it; it is in fact a living, in contradistinction
to a dead-greyness, and is entireiy in the sentiment
of the subject. It is of course wholly a mistake to
imagine that when a painter or critic speaks of
coiour, he necessariiy has in mind bright or vivid
coiouring; there is as much beauty and distinct.on
in a subdued and neutral harmony as there is in
a canvas agiow with vivid and briiiiant pigment.
As a pendant to this comparativeiy eariy study
hangs a joyous bit of coiour: a rapid impression
of a scene in Hyde Park, painted with great
breadth of treatment—the horses move and
the trces are aiive, and the whole thing
is an aliuring chromatic effect. The 1884
picture of a bridge shows how far Lavery has
traveiied from those early days, when he was
under the infiuence of a painter, great and
nobie as he was, for above all Bastien Lepage
expressed his own temperament, until the time
when he found himseif; and in finding himseif
was not ahraid to recognise and give fuii piay
to his own strength and individuaiity. It is
distinctly as a colourist Lavery estabiishes his
claim to a high place among the artists of his
day and generation. Perhaps to say this is
mereiy an indirect way of saying that John
Lavery is a great artist, since, assurediy, the
practitioner, whose principal stock-in-trade is
paint, cannot be considered to have established
any sound claim to pre-eminence, uniess he
can use that medium attractively.
It was not forlong, however, that the young
Giasgow painter permitted himseif to be domi-
nated by any particuiar master, ancient or modern