International studio (21.1903/1904(1904))

are free from opacity, and from that ponderous
blackness which in the work of other men too
offen conceais defects in drawing or handiing.
He needs no such evasions of the difhculties
of his craft, as he proves in his exercises
in pure line, which do not depend upon depth
of tone for their persuasiveness. His more sombre
piates are simpiy manifestations of his craving for
decision of Statement, for a dramatic presentation
of the idea that he wishes to convey. It is his
ciear conviction that a forcibie method, if only it is
rightiy directed, wiil gain wider credence than one
which is based soieiy upon a preference for subtle-
ties ; and that the artist who has something to say
will be more readiiy accepted if he shows that his
own beiiefs are confident and unhesitating. Even
in his line work there is no diminution of dramatic
signihcance. The same sureness of touch, the
same strength of biting, appear in piates like his
weii-known Z*7v/H.R77* Z^yw and the
as in his richer and more mys-
terious tone arrangements ; and when he chooses
to piay on the iower notes of his scale he oniy
amplifies his harmony. The modulation is fulier
and the effect is more impressive, but the charm
and refinement of his technical method are not
sacrihced to any faise beiief that people can be
persuaded by mere vehemence of assertion.
It is, perhaps, in the wide variety of his choice of
materiai that his large understanding of the possi-
bilities of etching is best
manifested. Anything
which lends itself to that
decorative mode of treat-
ment, which satishes most
completely his love of
beauty, is for him legiti-
mate subject-matter. He
modifies and adapts the
realities of Nature so as to
make them comform to
his artistic principles, but
he does so with discretion,
and does not employ an
unsympathetic or formal
Convention. The indi-
viduality of his subject is
always respected, and he
never tries to graft on
to his subject a larger
measure of classical Sug-
gestion than it will fairly
bear. He is far too tho-
rough in his practice, too

shrewd an observer, too careful a critic of himself,
to make the mistakes which are so often committed
by men with less adequate equipment. He thinks
out exhaustively every detail before he commits
himself to any open declaration of his intentions.
In the many piates—some two hundred altogether
—that he has so far produced, his Standard of accom-
plishment is unusually high and notably consistent ;
so much so, indeed, that it justifies unusual expecta-
tions with regard to his future work. Happily, his
ofhcial duties as Keeper of the Tate Gallery and
Vice-President of the Royal Society of Painter-
Etchers do not occupy too much of his time. A
tnan who has made at forty-two the position he
holds in the art world is capable of so much more
memorable achievement, that any serious limitation
of his opportunities for following his profession
would be a matter for real regret. A. L. B.
ECENT WORKS BY MR. W.
REYNOLDS - STEPHENS. BY
W. K. WEST.
IT is always worth while to keep touch with the
work that is being done year by year by Mr.
Reynolds-Stephens. He is an artist who repre-
sents so adequately all that is best in the modern
art movement that a periodical chronicle of his
achievements summarises many of the most salient
features of Contemporary effort. What gives him



2Q2