International studio (23.1904)

The Langham Sketching Club



' SHINE AND SHADE

he remarked, very dryly, that while he saw lots of
paint he could see no painting.
Fred. Walker will always remain one
of the darlings of the Langham. He
was a most enthusiastic sketcher, and
came to the Friday evening classes with
pronounced regularity. His influence
has been felt more than that of any
other member. Much of the work of
Gregory and Herkomer shows signs
of it.
Pinwell had a very tender leaning
towards the Langham, and what pro-
mised to be a new school in a far more
legitimate sense than we have been ac-
customed to of late, dawned in the
Langham Sketching Club with the too
brief careers of Walker and Pinwell.
Charles Keene and his eccentric
little ink-pot, fastened to his coat-lapel,
is well recalled by some of the older
members. He was always very quiet
and said little while at the Club, but
was a constant source of wonderment
and pride to the members. He used
to work in the Sketching Club with a
very squeaky pen, which got on the
nerves of the other men ; but whenever
he was requested to change it for a
quieter kind he pretended not to hear,
or, at any rate, ignored the request. One
evening after supper Keene was chal-

lenged by Stacy Marks
to a jumping match, and
a rod was laid from the
rail round which the artists
work to a box at a height
of 3J feet from the floor.
Marks cleared the rod
with ease at the first jump,
but Keene failed again
and again. Wingfield, one
of the wits of the Club,
dryly suggested that he
should take a pinch of
snuff, and then see if he
could do it. The room
was convulsed with sup
pres-ed laughter, to which
they dared not give vent,
as Keene was looking the
by hely smith blackest of thunder at the
speaker.
Keene seldom indulged
in jokes himself, but occasionally he would come

296

THE MARKET PLACE

BY T. F. M. SHEARD