Studio: international art (56.1912)

Studio-Talk

“ LE LAC DES CYGNES : RUSSIAN BALLET ” (WATER-COLOUR)

BY MISS C. L. ALLPORT

STUDIO-TALK.

(From Our Own Correspondents.)

LONDON.—The International Society’s twelfth
exhibition (we refer, of course, to the first
part, which came to a close last month)
showed that this society is still true to
its own tradition: that of the profounder sort of
realism, in which inspiration is sought direct from
nature. Manet, Renoir, Sisley, Monet were repre-
sented, also Millet. Gauguin and van Gogh were
in curious contrast to the Belgian Stevens. The
society has always been singularly free of the
“ studio-made ” product in art; the work exhibited
there breathes of immediate contact with nature, or
it speaks of genuine imaginative experience. Both
Mr. Ricketts and Mr. Charles Shannon do really
succeed in bringing to life on canvas the things
they imagine, and with Mr. Strang they were almost
alone in supporting the imaginative side of art in
the exhibition. There was, of course, the La Plage of
M. Maurice Denis, the colour of it a matter of taste,
the humour of it not to be disputed. In portraiture
Mr. William Nicholson was to the front with his
large painting of John and Arthur Fitzgerald,, in
which all the problems of military uniform which
can break the heart of a portrait-painter were
entered into with zest. Mr. William Strang’s
H. Fes ting Jones, Esq., was one of the features of
the exhibition. Mr. G. F. Kelly revived memories
of Manet’s qualities in Ma-ta-nV. Mr. Francis
Newbery’s Blue ScarJ was a notable exhibit, and a
delightful contribution was made by Mr. Alfred

Withers—Le Moulin de Nazareth. Landscapes un-
doubtedly formed the strongest part of the exhibition,
and among examples to be noted are Near Rochester,
by Mr. A. D. Peppercorn; Pai Harbour, by Miss
Mary Pasea ; A Bath, by Miss Betty Fagan; Scotch
Fishing Village, by M. Eugene Dekkert; The Hill-
top, by Mr. John Lavery, A.R.A.; Looe, by Mr.
W. W. Russell; and Jeunes Filles Bretonnes,
by M. Charles Cottet. Mr. C. H. Shannon
brought to greater perfection than ever in his
Wood-nymph that difficult union of atmospheric
luminous colour with elaborately decorative form
which he is always attempting. Other interesting
pictures which should be noted were A Canadian
Lady, by Mr. H. Halhed; The Chinese Fan, by
Mr. Howard Somerville; The Spanish House, by
Mr. Sydney Lee; AJter Vespers, by Mr. Walter
Donne; and By the Sea, by Mr. Ian Strang. In
the black-and-white room most noticeable were
Mr. Joseph Pennell’s lithographs; the pastels of
Aman Jean; the portrait in charcoal of Lady Lewis,
by Mr. J. S. Sargent; Childls Head, by Mr. Hugh
Blaker ; water-colours by Mr. H. Livens and Mr. St.
John Partridge ; Ln Malines, a drawing, and French
Fishermen, an etching, by Mr. F. L. Emanuel; and
Le Lac des Cygnes : Russian Ballet, a water-colour
by Miss C. L. Allport. The sculpture section
showed no sign of falling off.

The Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours
have never held a more happily arranged exhibition
than the one that closes on the 28 th inst. It is
singularly well hung. Mr. Sargent sends his usual

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