Studio: international art (72.1918)

Frank Huddlestone Potter

failed to impress very greatly more than a small
minority of people who viewed them ; but A
Quiet Corner which was hung at the Grosvenor
in 1887 had a fuller measure of appreciation ;
though the
recognition
came too
late, for his
death took
place on the
opening day
of the exhibi-
tion, May 3,

1887.

Besides the
Tate Gallery
pictures, the
Little Dor-
mouse and
The Music
Lesson, of
which repro-
ductions are
here given,
only a few
of Potter’s
pictures have
found their
way into per-
manent ex-
hibitions in
the United
Kingdom.

Embers, a very typical canvas, is in the Walker
Art Gallery in Liverpool. It is an almost full-
length figure of a girl of about fifteen, seated on
the edge of an upholstered stool near a fire, her
head bent pensively gazing at the embers.
It is a charming study full of poetic inspiration.
In the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art in
Dublin is exhibited a Study of a Child, which was
presented by the late Sir Hugh Lane, and there
are probably a few others in lesser known public
collections. Just thirty years ago a wall was
devoted to a loan collection at the British Artists'
exhibition of thirty-three of his creations, in-
cluding The Music Lesson, and other important
canvases. Most of them have since found their
way into the possession of appreciative amateurs,
such as Mr. Stirling Lee, Mr. Edmund Davis (the
owner of that fine work The Lady in Muslin), and
Professor Brown of Richmond. Miss Whelan, of
West Hampstead, always a faithful and generous
152

friend of_ the pathetically sensitive artist, still
has a few of his works, including her mother’s
portrait mentioned above. His first exhibit
at the Royal Academy was sold to a dealer for

£25, and the
young artist
was naturally
elated. His
great ambi-
tion was then
and subse-
quently to
secure a £50
commission,
but he never
reached more
than about
the £30 mark.
One of his
most beauti-
ful pictures
went to pay
the rent of
his studio at
Hampstead,
and another,
Laziness, after
being kept
for several
years, was
sacrificed for
a few pounds
to meet a
pressing debt. In 1882, worn out with disappoint-
ment and privation, he' quitted the metropolis
and went to live at Filey, where he took
up his abode with a village cobbler until he
managed to raise sufficient money on a rever-
sionary interest to return to London free from
urgent necessities. His health had been so
seriously undermined, however, that he found it
more and more difficult to pursue his work.
When his slender life ebbed away his death
was attributed to enteritis. The actual cause
of death was, however, a long period of semi-
starvation and chronic anxiety reacting upon a
system which never at the best approached the
robust.

Frank Potter’s ideal was a high one, and so
far as lay in his power he strove to realize it
faithfully, with general and, on the whole,
brilliant results.

STUDY OF A CHILD OIL PAINTING BY FRANK H. POTTER

(By courtesy of Messrs. Wallis or Son, the French Gallery)

H. W. Wheeler.