DOI issue:
No. 130 (December, 1907)
DOI article:The third exhibition of the Society of twenty-five painters
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28253#0150
The Society of Twenty-Five Painters
“ SPRING ”
find only artists with that dignified conception of
their business which has come to seem a rare
thing. The public whom we address are very
familiar with the stand which such painters as
Mr. R. Anning Bell and Prof. Gerald Moira have
made for art which has troubled to learn certain
old recondite rules for which the vulgarity of much
modern brushwork makes a declaration of distaste.
The splitting up of the art world into communi-
ties is a much discussed
question. Modem art in
the various recognised
forms of its heresy has
assumed almost as many
diverse shapes as religion
has in the United States,
and a narrow view of
truth has accounted for
such segregation in nearly
every case; hence there
is something attractive in
a society which allows to
each of its twenty-five
members a point of view
entirely his own. In this
exhibition we have the
prototype of that unity
of aim with difference of
inspiration which it may
be hoped will some day
reconcile the factions in
London who at present “st. ives”
turn each other’s work out
of doors. All the pain-
ters have in their turn in-
terested different sections
of the public in the
chief London exhibitions.
Each one enjoys a unique
place, somewhat away
from the beaten track that
is trodden, say, to the
Royal Academy Exhibi-
tion ; though there, as
elsewhere, their work is
always largely represented.
The public will know how
to find their own favourites
in the exhibition without
any leading from us, and
they have this guarantee
from the nature of the
society’s formation, that no
work which has not already
established its reputation can find its entry therein.
At the Barcelona Exhibition eight of the awards
for painting which have just been made fell to
members of the society, and seven of the works
bought by the Barcelona Art Museum were also
painted by its members. In indicating how tho-
roughly this group of artists is representative of
important work of the day, our task has perhaps
been unnecessary in the case of the majority of
BY GEORGE HOUSTON
BY SYDNEY LEE
134
“ SPRING ”
find only artists with that dignified conception of
their business which has come to seem a rare
thing. The public whom we address are very
familiar with the stand which such painters as
Mr. R. Anning Bell and Prof. Gerald Moira have
made for art which has troubled to learn certain
old recondite rules for which the vulgarity of much
modern brushwork makes a declaration of distaste.
The splitting up of the art world into communi-
ties is a much discussed
question. Modem art in
the various recognised
forms of its heresy has
assumed almost as many
diverse shapes as religion
has in the United States,
and a narrow view of
truth has accounted for
such segregation in nearly
every case; hence there
is something attractive in
a society which allows to
each of its twenty-five
members a point of view
entirely his own. In this
exhibition we have the
prototype of that unity
of aim with difference of
inspiration which it may
be hoped will some day
reconcile the factions in
London who at present “st. ives”
turn each other’s work out
of doors. All the pain-
ters have in their turn in-
terested different sections
of the public in the
chief London exhibitions.
Each one enjoys a unique
place, somewhat away
from the beaten track that
is trodden, say, to the
Royal Academy Exhibi-
tion ; though there, as
elsewhere, their work is
always largely represented.
The public will know how
to find their own favourites
in the exhibition without
any leading from us, and
they have this guarantee
from the nature of the
society’s formation, that no
work which has not already
established its reputation can find its entry therein.
At the Barcelona Exhibition eight of the awards
for painting which have just been made fell to
members of the society, and seven of the works
bought by the Barcelona Art Museum were also
painted by its members. In indicating how tho-
roughly this group of artists is representative of
important work of the day, our task has perhaps
been unnecessary in the case of the majority of
BY GEORGE HOUSTON
BY SYDNEY LEE
134