International studio (25.1905)

77/<? 7i/r7/7/^s' ///* ^7 7/7^// 77/.s7


"THE WH]TE M[[.[."

FROXt THE ETCHIXCHYAt.FRH]) EAST

exhibition of the Royal Society of Painter-
Etchers and to the St. Louis Exhibition saw
it also ; and their preconceived ideas of etchings,
as impressions of delicate tracery on copper for
collection in portfolios, were somewhat rudeiy
shaken. The picture was shown with another,
called Ea//<?y A^zf,' and in London, in 1903,
a third was added, ^4 LcAK'zz/z/ Azz7*77z. AM these
caused considerable discussion in Pail Mali, and
prepared the way for the series of 1904 — Lz/Zzz
zT^r/g (* Azw/z)), TVhTivzzMzfy, ^4 CAa/- ^'<777777^* (aqua-
tint), A/. and 7%z; ^4t7g7z7zz;. A further
development is shown by those notv on view at
the same Exhibition—^4 (7^7*77^7* a/a Czz^Azz,
Az^gzz z^ a fLaazf, TXzz fF%7/zz rlTz'//, M ^7^7*777
777 z/%a LaAzaa/zA, and dTaazz/z^/. These prints, all
done in three years by a busy and successful painter,
mark an epoch, as they are not only unlike the
etched work of other masters—except, perhaps, of
Mr. Frank Brangwyn—but they are quite different
from the other plates of this one. Mr. East was

an original member ot the Society, but for some
time had ceased to exhibit, when, fired by a new
inspiration, he again took up the needle to express
his enthusiasm and appreciation of nature in this
particular way. It is as if a well-known novelist
had produced delightful lyrics, which challenged
the laurels of professional poets. There is, indeed,
something in an etching that is rather like a sonnet
—if it is not very good, it is not good at all. The
moderate etching, like the poetry of those who are
not great poets, is a weariness.
In looking over the small series here enumerated
we are chiefly struck by two things—first by the
progress which etching has made as an art in the
last few years; and, secondly, by the evidence that
Mr. East is a great student of nature, and particu-
larly of trees. Nature never did betray the heart
that loved her, but to few does she teach the inner
mysteries, and for a prophet to be learned is not
enough. In these etchings, as in countless sketch-
books which no one but the owner ever sees,
125