Studio: international art (62.1914)

Studio- Talk

1

1 COSY CORNER." FROM A WATER-COLOUR DRAWING BY H. WII.LEBEEK I E MAIR
(Copyright Augener Ltd.)

and the grotesqueness
which are often permitted to
invade children's books.
She would have nothing
but what is of simple beauty
in her work as in her sur-
roundings, and while her
deep and sympathetic com-
prehension of children
makes her very keenly alive
also to their humour, which
is amply apparent through-
out her work, she introduces
nothing ugly or terrifying
to mar her drawings.

Finally, to sum up and
reiterate what it is that
pleases one most in this
delicate and graceful art;
it is the skill with which
these decorative composi-
tions are treated, the ac-
curacy of draughtsmanship,
the perfection of technique
evinced in the exceedingly
delicate and expressive line
and the simple and beauti-
ful application of the

qualities ot draughtsmanship, her fertility in the harmonious colouring, and lastly—and this is
introduction of pattern and borders into her work, possibly the most outstanding feature of Miss Le
her comprehension of draperies and materials which Mair's art—the rare grace with which she captures
she depicts so simply and yet so convincingly ; the beauty and fragrance of that tender blossom we
while from the supplemental plate in facsimile one call childhood. Arthur Reddie.

can appreciate her delicate and very harmonious

colouring. STUDIO-TALK.

In Miss Le Mair's work a certain affinity can
, ,. j . , . c „ i (from Our Own Correspondents.)

be discerned with the art of Maurice Boutet de '

Monvel, under whom, indeed, it was her earnest T ON DON.—Few artists in our day have

desire to study. With much wisdom, however, I realised so fully as Mr. Morton Nance

this great French artist urged her most strongly to I the picturesque charm of the wooden

work alone, to study direct from nature and to ■*—J battleships which guarded our native

develop her own talent and personality untrammelled shores in the days of old, and fewer still are entitled

by any outside teaching. She is therefore entirely to speak about their characteristic features with

self-taught, and while unquestionably she must owe the authority he has acquired by close study of the

an enormous debt to her fortuitous circumstances, material now available. In numerous pictures and

to the cultured and artistic milieu in which her lot drawings of his, t hese forerunners of the men-o'-war

is cast, she is to be praised highly for the ability of later days figure as the central motive, and his

she has evinced and sedulously cultivated to absorb rare knowledge of constructional details has ensured

the beauty of her surroundings and to infuse it a veracious rendering. That knowledge has, how-

with her own individuality in weaving these ever, been most effectually displayed in the various

delicate fancies of line and colour, about which one models he has from time to time constructed. Three

cannot but write with enthusiasm. of these are in the Science Museum at South Kensing-

()ne point in particular is with the artist of ton, and are often consulted by artists and designers

paramount importance; she deplores the ugliness in search of reliable guidance for their work. The

228