DOI issue:
Nr. 159 (May 1910)
DOI article:Studio-talk
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19866#0300
Studio- Talk
Institution itself had a brief and rather inglorious
career, the building which it founded remained,
and has constituted one of the architectural features
of the metropolis. Now it is in the hands of the
Government builders for reconstruction within, and
by the spring of next year it will be a spacious
and fitting home for the annual exhibitions of the
Royal Scottish Academy, whose last effort in its
present rooms is worthy of its long and honour-
able traditions. A wisely conservative policy has
resulted in a most gratifying tout ensemble, a low
sky-line and wall margins help to give dignity and
repose, and as the total number of exhibits—474—
is probably the lowest ever admitted, the general
level of excellence is correspondingly high.
The President, Sir James Guthrie, is represented
by two portraits. That of the Duke of Buccleuch
as Captain-General of the Royal Company of
Archers, the ancient bodyguard of the king in
Scotland, is too fresh from the easel to have its
colour values subside into their proper proportions,
that will come through time. His portrait of
Sir James Coats is a great achievement; so suave
and distinguished, yet lacking nothing in virile
handling. Near it is Mr. E. A. Walton's portrait
of Lord Adam, one of the senators of the Scottish
College of Justice, and one cannot but observe the
remarkable similitude of style in Mr. Walton's
work and that of the President. In another
portrait, that of Prof. Crum Brown, Mr. Walton's
tints are brighter and purer, and accord well with
the smiling benevolence so characteristic of the
subject. Mr. Lavery has made amends for last
year's lapse by sending a highly individualistic
work in his full length of Mrs. Vulliamy. Other
leading portraits are those of Bishop Chisholm,
Aberdeen, and Mr. Hope Johnstone of Annandale,
by Mr. J. H. Lorimer, Mr. Robert Gibb's portrait
of Dr. Lowe, two excellent examples of virile male
portraiture by Mr. Fiddes Watt, Mr. Henry W.
Kerr's portrait of Mrs. Strang Steel, so pure and
well balanced in colour, and Mr. R. Duddingstone
Herdman's portrait of Mrs. W. B. Hardie.
"THE FISHERMAN'S HEARTH '
226
BY MARSHALL BROWN, A.R.S.A.
Institution itself had a brief and rather inglorious
career, the building which it founded remained,
and has constituted one of the architectural features
of the metropolis. Now it is in the hands of the
Government builders for reconstruction within, and
by the spring of next year it will be a spacious
and fitting home for the annual exhibitions of the
Royal Scottish Academy, whose last effort in its
present rooms is worthy of its long and honour-
able traditions. A wisely conservative policy has
resulted in a most gratifying tout ensemble, a low
sky-line and wall margins help to give dignity and
repose, and as the total number of exhibits—474—
is probably the lowest ever admitted, the general
level of excellence is correspondingly high.
The President, Sir James Guthrie, is represented
by two portraits. That of the Duke of Buccleuch
as Captain-General of the Royal Company of
Archers, the ancient bodyguard of the king in
Scotland, is too fresh from the easel to have its
colour values subside into their proper proportions,
that will come through time. His portrait of
Sir James Coats is a great achievement; so suave
and distinguished, yet lacking nothing in virile
handling. Near it is Mr. E. A. Walton's portrait
of Lord Adam, one of the senators of the Scottish
College of Justice, and one cannot but observe the
remarkable similitude of style in Mr. Walton's
work and that of the President. In another
portrait, that of Prof. Crum Brown, Mr. Walton's
tints are brighter and purer, and accord well with
the smiling benevolence so characteristic of the
subject. Mr. Lavery has made amends for last
year's lapse by sending a highly individualistic
work in his full length of Mrs. Vulliamy. Other
leading portraits are those of Bishop Chisholm,
Aberdeen, and Mr. Hope Johnstone of Annandale,
by Mr. J. H. Lorimer, Mr. Robert Gibb's portrait
of Dr. Lowe, two excellent examples of virile male
portraiture by Mr. Fiddes Watt, Mr. Henry W.
Kerr's portrait of Mrs. Strang Steel, so pure and
well balanced in colour, and Mr. R. Duddingstone
Herdman's portrait of Mrs. W. B. Hardie.
"THE FISHERMAN'S HEARTH '
226
BY MARSHALL BROWN, A.R.S.A.