Studio: international art (49.1910)

H. S. Hopwood, R. IV. S.

‘MOORISH BATHS” (WATER-COLOUR)

him as one not entering for a tilt in the lists with
rivals, but fully equipped to wrest from the mystery
of nature some secrets for himself.

The feature of Mr.

Hop wood’s painting
which must first impress
all its students is its
spontaneity. His silvery
sketches seem lightly and
easily done. But he has
said that this is not the
case, though perhaps one
ought not to give away
the confidence, for the
method of a work of art
should be a mystery; and
the art that conceals art
is a sign of perfection.

Mr. Hopwood’s art is
lyrical, and all lyrical art
seeks the sunlight. Light-
ness of touch and light-
ness of key in paint are
twins of a parent tem-
perament.

We have suggested that
one of the proofs of
finished art in this
painter’s work is the char-
acteristic view taken of
28

any subject, little altered
by the medium in hand,
whether oils, water-
colours, or charcoal. His
charcoal sketches are, as
it were, a continuation
of other pictures, a change
to a slighter medium;
they are less preliminary
studies than pictures in
themselves. In water-
colours, as in so many of
his out-of-door pictures,
he tries again the problem
of white, the final one for
eyes accustomed to the
nicest refinements of tone
relation. The problem of
white with the sunlight
upon it drives the brush
almost to the end of the
palette’s possibilities, and
painting is carried on at
a delicate pitch at which
mediocrity cannot survive. Mr. Hopwood’s facility
seems tense with the endeavour to surpass itself ;
it disdains easy triumphs. It is not the kind of

BY H. S. HOPWOOD, R.W.S.

GRYCE AFTER MEAT” (WATER-COLOUR)

BY H. S. HOPWOOD, R.W.S.