The Royal Glasgow Institute

if many of the exhibits have to be passed over,
it is not because of non-appreciation.

Though in regard to portraiture the display is
not particularly striking, there are yet personal
presentments of more than passing interest.
Suzanne, the work of Miss Alexina MacRitchie,
is distinguished by great unity and charm; a
Portrait, eminently decorative, is that by Miss
Norah Nelson Gray, R.S.W.; and Finishing the
Patchwork Quilt, by Miss Sara M’Gregor (Mrs.
Holroyd), a decorative figure study, is masterly
and pleasing in modelling and tonal subtlety.
Why the hanging committee, unless moved thereto
by exigencies of space, should have placed this
delicate symphony of colour adjacent to John
Hassall’s aggressively toned commemorative Ban-
nockburn picture, commissioned in an excess of
patriotic fervour by the Glasgow Corporation, is
difficult to determine. Notable portraits are also
contributed by Mr. E. A. Walton, R.S.A. | Mr.
George Henry, A.R.A., R.S.A.; Mr. Fiddes Watt,

A.R.S.A.; Mr. W. M. Petrie; Mr. William Findlay ;
and Mr. J. B. Anderson.

The Fen Reeve, by Mr. Fra. H. Newbery,
dominates a whole room, in its robust handling
and strength of characterisation. The Director
of the Glasgow School of Art has revelled in this
masterful composition. And as if to emphasise
the extreme versatility of the modern artist, he
sends The Garden, an antithesis to The Fen Reeve
in almost every quality but that of convincingness.
Natural, fresh, and radiant, it veritably scintillates
with daylight; it fulfils the expectation encouraged
by Mr. Newbery, of new interest on every canvas.

Three contributions by Mr. E. A. Hornel are in
the unique style of this master of matchless colour
harmonies. The Estuary, a glimpse of sea and sky
through a tracery of branches, with headland and
wild hyacinth patch in middle distance and fore-
ground, is attractive, yet bewildering; the little
nymphs are absent—are on holiday the artist says
—and the theme seems deficient in consequence.


“sunlit meadows”

BY W. H. CLARKE

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