Sir Alfred Easts IVater-Colours

"WESTMINSTER" BY SIR ALFRED EAST

what I feel about that," whether it be the coming
up of white walls in grey weather at Algeciras, the
lash of rain and stoop of trees on A Stormy
Evening, or the opal of Evening Glow, Venice.
Each of these drawings is a summary of essentials
expressed with force and brevity.

This immediate response to the impression of
the moment, this effect of improvisation, is cha-
racteristic of all Sir Alfred's work in painting and
etching, but it is most evident in his water-colours.
Whether he finds the medium more immediately
responsive than oil paint to his temperament I
cannot say; but, though he does not exhibit with
either of the societies, he has made a special
reputation by his water-colours both here and on
the Continent. He is an Hon. Member of the
Royal Society of Water-Colour Painters of Belgium,
and a Member of the Society of Water-Colour
Painters of France. His drawing of The Storm
hangs in the Luxembourg Museum in Paris, and
he is also represented in water-colour in the
Belgian National Gallery. His New Neighbourhood,
exhibited here in the Royal Institute, received a
gold medal in Paris in 1889, and special exhibi-
tions of his water-colours have been held at
260

Vienna, Dresden, and The Hague. His place in
the general history of the art being thus assured,
what are the particular qualities that make his work
in water-colour noteworthy ?

First, his intense appreciation of the character
and possibilities of the medium. He never uses
it as a mere alternative or strains it beyond its
proper function. In this he is as idiomatic as Cox.
or Cotman or De Wint. Like them he recognises-
that k is by its nature adapted to broad and swift
statements rather than minute insistence on topo-
graphical details. But he does not, therefore,
condemn it to slightness. Indeed, as drawings
like Lee Manor Lane and St. Jacques, Dieppe,.
indicate, he resembles Cotman and De Wint in
being able to achieve weight and depth by the
logical placing of a few tones. He has the
courage of sympathy and understanding. He
brings to the medium the same attitude, respectful
but at the same time confident, that he brings to-
nature ; respecting its temperament, but confident
in his power over its resources. In his hands it is
less a servant than a familiar spirit. When force
is his aim he will make a drawing that will
"carry" among oil paintings—and this without