Studio: international art (69.1916)

Modern Art in Leeds

one who has attained the greatness of his style, essential traits of his art. His canvas A Spanish
his breadth and force, and the complete independ- Woman shows him to be a fine painter with a sure
ence of his creations—sometimes, it is true, a little hand, a painter, too, who never trusts to the luck
superficial and hasty, but far more often quite of inspiration; at the same time very objective,
magistral in their breadth. We may cite here, as and more anxious about the solid modelling of his
belonging to the Wilson Collection, his beautiful figures than bathing them in an atmosphere in
painting of Old Kew Bridge, of which a repro- which they can breathe and live. A draughtsman
duction in colour appears among our illustrations, of disconcerting precision, we see him express by
and a design for a fan in which we surprise the a stroke of his chalk psychological nuances of the
master in a smiling mood, whereas his art has most subtle kind. Almost invariably his talent
chiefly been attracted by great spectacles of evokes a very high opinion, and if at times we
modern industry or the virile interpretation in may hesitate to follow him in the domain of
terms of sumptuous colour of his Oriental illustration and anecdote we feel obliged none
experiences. the less to recognise him as one of the most

Industry, too, has inspired George Sauter to original and versatile artists of the modern British
one of his finest works—The Leeds Picture, School.

which forms part of the Wilson collection. This George Clausen is represented in the Wilson
canvas, very different in subject from those he is Collection by quite a large number of landscapes,
best known by, symbolises the homage of Labour figure-subjects and interiors, which enable one to
to Beauty, to whom the products of local industry follow the evolution of the artist, and to discern
are offered by attendant females, and is certainly the influences to which he has been subject and
one of the most harmonious and complete from which he has at length freed himself,
pictures that the artist has produced. Amongst these influences the earliest is that of

Sauter has often been reproached with not Bastien-Lepage, the great French realist, who some
carrying his pictures to completion. This reproach thirty years ago seems to have exercised a real
is as a rule a proof of
ignorance, for as Theodore
Rousseau has very truly
observed, it is not the
amount of detail that
constitutes a finished
picture but the har-
monious co-ordination of
its parts. One might,
with just as much in-
justice, reproach Orpen
with giving too much
finish to his pictures, were
it not that he has himself
furnished a contradiction.
Though at times he ap-
pears to be content with
an almost literal imitation
of nature, this artist is so
diverse that just when you
think you have grasped
some of the elements of
his personality he eludes
you. He is never the
same in any two works,
and one must be ac-
quainted with all he has
done to formulate a judg-
ment comprehending the " iiarwich quay" by j. buxton knight