Studio: international art (40.1907)

Studio-Talk

largely lay in the promise of what this virtuosity
may mean when it learns obligations to an increased
delicacy of vision. In his nocturne, In the Castle
Gardens, Dunoon — Evening,, Mr. Fergusson at-
tempted a Whistler subject in the Whistler manner.
His other manner is scarcely a preparation for
rivalry with those infinite subtleties whereby in the
Whistler harmonies a sweetness was contrived which
did not cloy. The Passing of Springs a canvas of im-
portant size by
Mr. F. F. Foot-
tet, showed his
skill in conceiv-
ing a conjunc-
tion between
the mystic and
the natural
world which
does not seem
outrageous, but
on the contrary
appears quite
logical, and in-
evitably beauti-
ful. A fine
landscape was
contributed by
Mr. Giffard
Lenfestey, en-
titled Solemn
Stillness, in
which, as it
were, a window
is opened to
reality with the
humility of a
nature lover
whose mind is
not obsessed
with the me-
mory of paint.

Close to this
canvas we re-
member a little work by Mr. B. Haughton, called
Summer Shade. Dinner-hour at the Farm, by Mr.
Frank H. Swinstead, was a noticeable landscape, and
Mr. Walter Fowler’s Chill October Evening and the
work of Mr. J. Muirhead, claimed much attention.
Very interesting exhibits were made by Messrs. T.
F. M. Sheard and Tom Robertson ; and other works
promoting the success of the Exhibition were con-
tributed by Messrs. A. Carruthers Gould, Lewis
Fry, George C. Haite, W. E. Schofield, A. Romilly
Fedden, Harry Clifford, Hans Trier, G. Hillyard
312

Swinstead, F. A. Swinstead, A. J. Collister, Edwin
Noble, Burleigh Bruhl and Shirley Fox. A bronze
bust of the President, by Mr. George Frampton, R. A.
(an honorary member), and one of the late Sir Henry
Irving, by Mr. Courtenay Pollock, were additional
features of interest.

It was pleasant to note at the exhibition of
the Royal Institute of Painters in Water-colours a

predominance

of works
m itting

PORTRAIT OF MRS. HUBERT VON HERKOMER BY HUBERT VON HERKO.MER, R.A.

innumerable

ad-
the

“ unwr it ten
law,” which in
the water -
colour art pre-
scribes for the
purity of its
quality. Mr.
Moffat Lind-
ner’s art always
in this respect
sets its good
example, and
though such a
painting as was
Mr. Borough
Johnson’s He
and She was
quite a different
kindofthing, its
success arose;
from a not less
scrupulous re-
gard for the pure
principles ofthe
art. Although
Mr. Borough
Johnson finish-
es elaborately,
the finish is not
an after pro-
cess, but a state
s pontaneous

reached Ihrough
touches, the last touches being infin tely small.
Mr. Hassall has carried out a larg,e subject from
“Pilgrim’s Progress,” calling for ornamentation
and finish and for shrewd character drawing,
without once lapsing into the mechanical touch.
Mr. W. B. E. Rankin contributed in Blackleading
Ja?ie an interior picture of great charm. Here
a subject which could be commonplace has been
treated in any but a commonplace way—turned,
in fact, into a little masterpiece by the refinement