Studio: international art (9.1897)

Studio-Talk

to be his last drawing. By the courtesy of the
Fine Art Society (Limited) we are enabled to present
to our readers a copy of this interesting work, the
original of which is drawn in black and white
chalk upon common brown wrapping paper. It
was intended as a study for one of a series of
frescoes which Mrs. Rylands had commissioned
him to design for the Ryland library at Manchester.

NEWLYN.—The summer of 1896 must
be marked in Mr. T. C Gotch's
memory evermore with white, or
rather that it should be embroidered
with gold would seem the more
befitting distinction for a season in which medals
and honours have fallen upon him both from at
home and abroad, with a unanimity of discernment
that must be as gratifying as it is rare. In his own
country the trustees of the Chantrey bequest have
acquired for the national collection his picture,
Alleluia. At the Salon in Paris his painting of
The Child Enthroned, was awarded a second medal,
the highest prize given to foreigners ; and in Berlin
My Crown and Sceptre received also a gold medal.

Here then at last we have a European concert at
which both France and Germany sing harmoniously
Mr. Gotch's praises, nor has the Chantrey left him
without honour in his own land. This is very
pleasant, the vision of one's own handiwork cata-
logued amongst the choice properties of one's own
country, guarded by policemen, the object of
criticism and interest to generations of students,
dilettanti and country cousins must tickle the self-
satisfaction of even the most unconscious of artists ;
and when to this is added the almost unexampled
duet of praise from two such widely divergent
nations as France and Germany, and all while the
leaves of one summer were green—then, indeed, it
seemed that things were ripe for Newlyn to do
something.

And so Newlyn asked Mr. and Mrs. Gotch to
dinner. After an international apotheosis this may
seem an impotent conclusion, but what more does
the Lord Mayor do to those he most desires to
honour save that he calls his dinner a banquet ? And
so the Newlyners feasted together in a studio that
was heretofore a fish cellar, and toasted Mr. Gotch
and each other and made merry; and later adjourned
to another converted fish cellar, where a piano and a
Mus: Doc : discoursed deliciously together, and
those who had no medals forgot that they hadn't or

believed that they were going to get them, and
those who had, rested content.

N. G.

BIRMINGHAM.—The members of the
Art Circle have just opened an exhibi-
tion of oil and water-colour paintings
at Messrs. Graves' Gallery in Cherry
Street. Although this is the twenty-
seventh exhibition they have held, it is some years
now since they gave a show to the public. This
reticence is to be admired; the work exhibited
seems better in many ways than one's recollection
of the pictures of three years past. The members
are all young Birmingham artists, and among them
will be found a number of men whose work is well
known outside our city ; some of them are also
members of our Royal Society of Artists. Collec-
tively they represent the best painting that is now
being accomplished in the Midlands. Most of the
works shown are small, but a number of them are
of fine quality. The Poet, by Mr. W. J. Wainwright,
A.R.W.S., is wonderful in technique, while Old
Age is Lonely, by Mr. Walter Langley, R.I., is a
good example of the delicate yet searching water-
colour work which this artist so constantly gives
us. The landscapes of Mr. E. Gabriel Mitchell, of
which there are some half-dozen, are filled with
beautiful colour, and the poetic feeling which dis-
tinguishes this young painter from most of his
fellow-members. " Poetical" is a much over-used
word with regard to painting, but it is impos-
sible to speak of Mr. Mitchell's work without
bringing it in. Mr. Moffat Lindner's daring little
water-colour splashes, the very hastiest impressions
of places, from Norway to Spain, delight some
people and astonish others. Mr. J. V. Jelley's
small landscapes, and his "renderings of flowers or
fruits, become finer in quality each year; he is
now distinctly one of the best of the Birmingham
brigade. Mr. Fred Mercer still paints his gnarled
and shattered oak trees with insight and delicacy of
touch, and other good work is shown by Mr. E. S.
Harper, Mr. F. W. Davis, Mr. John Fullwood,
Mr. Foster Newey, Mr. G. O. Owen, Mr. C. C.
Read, and Mr. C. H. Whitworth.

Some interesting additions have recently been
made to the permanent collections in our Corpora-
tion Art Gallery. Mr. Whitworth Wallis was in
Berlin in the autumn, and brought back with him
some very fine specimens of wrought and chiselled
ironwork, chiefly South German of the late 16th
and early 17th centuries. Among them is a

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