Studio: international art (65.1915)

The New English Art Club


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44 THE TOWN OF GRASSE”

PEN DRAWING BY ALBERT ROTHENSTEIN

the contentedness of their authors merely to follow
what is, unquestionably, a very able lead.

The Spring Exhibition at the Suffolk Street
Galleries contained many works of interest, though
there were, in fact, very few of really outstanding
importance. Mr. Orpen sent nothing, and the
absence of his work from the walls made one
realise how much his always arresting and vivacious
paintings have meant in these exhibitions.

Mr. Steer, however, was represented by several
works, the most important of which, Stormy
Weather, showed how wonderfully he had captured
the aspect of nature and flung it with apparent
carelessness, a trifle disdainfully even, but with
amazing sincerity, upon the canvas. Another work
of his, Sketching., a graceful study of a girl in a
landscape setting, acknowledging a debt to the
eighteenth century, and a delightful little water-
colour, A Deserted Quarry, evoking a memory of
Gainsborough, were among the best things the
exhibition contained. Good landscapes were also
contributed by Mr. Mark Fisher, in three luminous
works, rather haphazard, however, in composition ;
Mr. C. J. Holmes, whose Brick Cupolas was an
interesting example of his austere and intellectual
art; and Mr. David Muirhead, whose delicate
180

painting, The Haven, and a beautiful Norfolk
Village, had the tender silvery quality of his work.
In beauty of colour allied with decorativeness of
composition Mr. Collins Baker’s Llyn Howett was
impressive and one of the best things we remember
of his; and the fine Sussex Dow its by Mr. H.
Bellingham Smith, also a little water-colour The
Downs by the same artist, were remarkable for
their delicate harmony of colour and decorative
arrangement of the composition.

One of the finest pictures upon the walls of the
large gallery was by Mr. W. W. Russell who ex-
hibited, in The Granville here reproduced, a work
superb in quality of paint, and in colour most
attractive in its harmony of black and gold, enlivened
by little touches of red in the plush seats of the
music-hall. The gradation of light from the stage
along the pilastered wall of the auditorium, and
reflected by the faces of the audience in the stalls,
intent upon the “ turn ” which, unseen by us,
engrosses their attention, is all handled most
effectively. A Day by the Sea, showing figures on
the beach, was another pleasing work in more
familiar vein, by Mr. Russell, who sent also a
companion music-hall scene, An Audience, clever
but slighter than his admirable Granville.