Studio: international art (57.1913)

Studio-Talk

STUDIO-TALK.

(From. Our Own Correspondents.)

IONDON.—A rumour was current during the
late summer that the Council of the Royal
Academy was thinking of making a new
—J departure this year by holding an autumn
exhibition consecrated to one of those departments
of art which at present are very inadequately dis-
played at the annual summer exhibition—that is,
to what is commonly classed as “ black and
white ” work, but as up to the time of going to
press we have heard no more of this alleged
intention we presume the idea, if it really exists, is
not to take shape this year. We hope, however,
that it will be persevered in, and we feel pretty
certain that provided the scope of such an exhibition
were made sufficiently comprehensive, it would
prove to be popular among connoisseurs, collectors,
and art-lovers generally. In the Black and White
Room at the summer exhibition of the Academy
as at present organised are to be found a number
of etchings, drawings, and engravings—on the last
occasion there were close on two hundred works
falling within these categories, including a few
colour prints ; but the exhibits are so crowded that
it is practically impossible to appreciate them at
their proper worth. That fault, as we all know, is one
which mars the entire exhibition; but while the
accommodation remains as at present it is difficult
to see how it can very well be remedied except
by the holding of another exhibition in the autumn.

If the scheme of an autumn exhibition of “ black
and white ” at the Academy is ever realised we
would suggest that it should be organised on as
broad a basis as possible. Original colour prints
should certainly be included, and as there is a great
deal of good work now being done in this field,
there would be no difficulty in arranging an attrac-
tive display and one which would pleasantly relieve
the monotony of purely black and white work.
Original lithographs, too, should be represented,
and here again there is no dearth of available
material. “ Black and White ” would, of course, be
a misnomer for an exhibition organised on these
lines, as it is even now for the room at the Academy
which bears this name, inasmuch as besides a few
colour prints it usually contains drawings in other
than a black medium. The term generally em-
ployed on the Continent—“ Graphic Art ”—seems
to us a more appropriate one.

The Royal Institute of Oil Painters’ Exhibition

gives a better impression this season than it has for
a long time. Although there are fewer works, this
is only to be discovered by a reference to the
catalogue. If there are fewer pictures than usual
there is more art. We are very glad to see this ©Id
society recovering a more influential position among
exhibiting bodies. Works which should be referred
to in a notice of the exhibition, which will remain
open until Christmas, are The Drawing-room, by
Mr. I.. Cambell Taylor; Paddington Station, by
Mr. Henry Bishcp; The Fountain oj Bacchus,
Versailles, by Mr. Marius Forestier; A Critic, by
Mr. W. Douglas Almond; The Valley, Corfu,
Greece, by Mr. H. Hugh es-Stan ton; The Forest Pool,
by Mr. A. Brantingham Simpson; The Gipsy Camp
and Silver Morning by Mr. Algernon Talmage;
Midnight, by Mr. Louis Sargent; Batkers—Lido, by
Mr. John Lavery, A.R.A.; Near Portel, Pas-de-
Calais, by Miss Evelyn Hicks; A Bunch of Flowers,
by Miss M. I. Gloag; Arundel Park, by Mr. C.
Ross Burnett; A Swarm in fune, by Mr. Harry
Fidler; Afternoon, by Mr. G. D. Davison; Early
Morning, by Mr. W. Lee Hankey; Purple Anemones,
by Mr. W. B. E. Ranken; May Day, by Mr. A,
Streeton ; Brewing Storm, by Mr. Julius Olsson;
Seaweed Gatherers, by Mr. Terrick Williams;
Spring, by Mr. F. W. Le Maistre; Emsworth,
Sussex, by Mr. James S. Hill; Isle of Mull, by Mr.
Leslie Thomson; and Girl at the Piano, by Miss
Hilda Fearon.

There have been autumns which have witnessed
to more interesting exhibitions by the Royal
Society of British Artists than the one now open.
It is, perhaps, the smaller pictures that on this
occasion claim most attention, such paintings for
instance as the fantastic A Marked Passage, by
Mr. R. J. E. Mooney; In a Calm and Quiet
Bay, by Mr. A. Carruthers Gould ; The Shallow
River, by Mr. Hely Smith; The Little Valley, by
Mr. Fred Milner; In Home Waters, by Mr.
A. H. Elphinstone ; Crossing the Etany, by Miss
Dorothea Sharp; At Low Tide, by Mr. Alfred
Hartley ; The Flooded Valley of the Ouse, by Mr.
J. Muirhead ; The Miss Sahib, by Mr. Frederic
Whiting; and A Threatenuig Shy, by Mr. Walter
Burroughs-Fowler. The President, Sir Alfred East,
makes the most distinguished contribution to the
oil paintings in his Autumn in Gloucestershire.
And in the water-colour room the honours are
his again with Sturry Mill, Kent, though here he
is closely seconded by Mr. J. Muirhead, in A
Corner of the Mill; here also Mr. F. Whiting has
an interesting drawing, Youth and Age, and the

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