International studio (34.1908)

Art School Notes


Elm Tree Road, St. John’s Wood, is in a neigh-
bourhood that for three generations at least has been
favoured by artists. In the thirties Landseer settled
there, and the site of his spacious garden, now occu-
pied by blocks of workmen’s dwellings, is within three
or four hundred yards of Elm Tree Road and the
St. John’s Wood Art Schools, and little, if any, farther
off is the spot where C. R. Leslie lived and was
frequently visited by Constable, who gave his host a
round mirror in order that he might hang it opposite
the window to reflect the charming Middlesex land-
scape. The fields and hedgerows admired so much
by Constable have gone the way of Landseer’s
garden, but the seclusion of Elm Tree Road has been
unaffected by the march of time, and the students
in the big life studios of the St. John’s Wood Art
Schools work practically in country quiet, undisturbed
by the noises of the outer world.

GOLD LACE PIN AND PENDANT BY ETHEL P. AGNEW
(Sir John Cass Technical Inst.)

At one time the St. John’s Wood Art Schools were
notable chiefly for their success in preparing students
for the entrance examination of the Royal Academy,
and that this reputation is maintained may be judged
from the fact that at the Academy prize distribution
in December past students from St. John’s Wood
carried off seven awards, and among them the gold

practice has been condemned by many artists who
think that continuous teaching by one professor would
be better for the students, but on the other hand it
has been, and still is, supported by some of the ablest
of the academicians. The following list of the visitors
for the present year shows that the Academy student
has, at all events, an ample field of choice in the
matter of professors. The painter visitors for 1908
are :—Sir Luke Fildes, Mr. Frank Dicksee, Mr. J. S.
Sargent, Mr. Henry Woods, Mr. J. H. F. Bacon, Mr.
Seymour Lucas, Mr. J. J. Shannon, Mr. George
Henry, Mr. S. J. Solomon, Mr. E. J. Gregory, Mr.
A. S. Cope, Mr. George Clausen, and Mr. J. W.
Waterhouse. The sculptor visitors are Mr. G. J.
Frampton, Mr. W. R. Colton, Mr. T. Brock, Mr.
Goscombe John, and Mr. H. Pegram ; and those in
the architectural school, Mr. T. G. Jackson, Mr.
Reginald Blomfield, Mr. J. Belcher, and Sir Aston
Webb. It speaks well for the loyalty to the Academy
of these artists that they should thus sacrifice some of
their working hours for the benefit of the students.
There is, for example, Mr. Sargent, whose time from
the monetary point of view is far more valuable than
that of any other living artist. Yet his name is down
to visit for a whole month, and in the painting school,
too, which he must attend by daylight.


PENDANT AND BROOCH BY ETHEL P. AGNEW
(Sir John Cass Technical Inst.)
165