DOI Heft:
Nr 76 (July 1899)
DOI Artikel:Little, J. Stanley: The art of 1899, [3]: the international exhibition at Knightsbridge
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19232#0133
The Art
representative exhibition of our more distinguished
outsiders, and if we except three or four of the older
R.A.s and half-a-dozen recent recruits to the
Academy, what do we expect to find worth seeing
at the Academy save the work of outsiders ? There
are, it is true, far too many omissions from the ranks
of our most brilliant painters at Knightsbridge;
but we are thankful for those included. In brief,
the exhibition is refreshingly pleasant; only a
benighted monopolist could stigmatise it as un-
pleasant.
Having said so much to refute an uncalled-for
reproach, it behoves me to add that neither the
constitution of the Society (as to its Council and
its honorary membership) nor its exhibition justifies
the present use of the title “International.” Again,
from all one sees and all one learns it would be rash
to assume that the men who dominate this show are
really desirous of creating
an effective rival to the so-
called national exhibition at
Burlington House. It may
be so : I hope it is, because
if it is not, the Society has
no raison d’etre. At the
present moment it has about
as much right to style itself
“ international ” as the
Academy has to dub itself
“ national.” It cannot be
held that its raison d’etre is
to provide a home of refuge
for the refuses of the Royal
Academy, for, as I have
said, many of the most
notable men who are sys-
tematically ignored or
snubbed by that institution
are looked for in vain at the
International.
To come to the pictures.
The superiority of the show
is evinced by the fact that
there is scarcely one which
does not merit particular
attention. The cool chas-
tity of Mr. W. M. Chase’s
Dieudonnee will, of course,
put an arbitrary limit on the
number of its admirers;
nevertheless, its admirable
technical qualities will be
generally recognised by
painters. Mr. Da Costa
110
of i8gg
obviously set himself to paint drapery effectively
in La Robe Blanche; his performance justifies
his aim. Mr. Alfred Withers’ A Breton Road
sustains the promise his work has shown for some
little time past. The brushing is so loose and
spontaneous in James Maris’ A Dutch Harbour, that
we absolutely feel the place this highly accomplished
painter depicts. This picture is scarcely paint.
Even finer, both from the painterlike and aesthetic
point of view, the same artist’s The Sisters is pro-
bably the most beautiful and in every sense valu-
able picture in the exhibition. It possesses that
extraordinary quality, that strength of technique
which may be said to excuse the compilers of the
catalogue for describing it as an oil. Not lacking
in tenderness, nor in many of the essentials of finely-
wrought work, Mr. G. Sauter’s Maternity owes
something, remotely no doubt, to the influence of
JEWEL-CASE (CLOSED) (International) BY ALEXANDER FISHER
representative exhibition of our more distinguished
outsiders, and if we except three or four of the older
R.A.s and half-a-dozen recent recruits to the
Academy, what do we expect to find worth seeing
at the Academy save the work of outsiders ? There
are, it is true, far too many omissions from the ranks
of our most brilliant painters at Knightsbridge;
but we are thankful for those included. In brief,
the exhibition is refreshingly pleasant; only a
benighted monopolist could stigmatise it as un-
pleasant.
Having said so much to refute an uncalled-for
reproach, it behoves me to add that neither the
constitution of the Society (as to its Council and
its honorary membership) nor its exhibition justifies
the present use of the title “International.” Again,
from all one sees and all one learns it would be rash
to assume that the men who dominate this show are
really desirous of creating
an effective rival to the so-
called national exhibition at
Burlington House. It may
be so : I hope it is, because
if it is not, the Society has
no raison d’etre. At the
present moment it has about
as much right to style itself
“ international ” as the
Academy has to dub itself
“ national.” It cannot be
held that its raison d’etre is
to provide a home of refuge
for the refuses of the Royal
Academy, for, as I have
said, many of the most
notable men who are sys-
tematically ignored or
snubbed by that institution
are looked for in vain at the
International.
To come to the pictures.
The superiority of the show
is evinced by the fact that
there is scarcely one which
does not merit particular
attention. The cool chas-
tity of Mr. W. M. Chase’s
Dieudonnee will, of course,
put an arbitrary limit on the
number of its admirers;
nevertheless, its admirable
technical qualities will be
generally recognised by
painters. Mr. Da Costa
110
of i8gg
obviously set himself to paint drapery effectively
in La Robe Blanche; his performance justifies
his aim. Mr. Alfred Withers’ A Breton Road
sustains the promise his work has shown for some
little time past. The brushing is so loose and
spontaneous in James Maris’ A Dutch Harbour, that
we absolutely feel the place this highly accomplished
painter depicts. This picture is scarcely paint.
Even finer, both from the painterlike and aesthetic
point of view, the same artist’s The Sisters is pro-
bably the most beautiful and in every sense valu-
able picture in the exhibition. It possesses that
extraordinary quality, that strength of technique
which may be said to excuse the compilers of the
catalogue for describing it as an oil. Not lacking
in tenderness, nor in many of the essentials of finely-
wrought work, Mr. G. Sauter’s Maternity owes
something, remotely no doubt, to the influence of
JEWEL-CASE (CLOSED) (International) BY ALEXANDER FISHER