Studio: international art (78.1919)

A NEW NATIONAL GALLERY.

a

THE exhibition of war pictures which
has been arranged in the galleries of
the Royal Academy will give the public an
excellent idea of the general character of
the collection that is later on to be pre-
served in the Imperial War Museum. It
does not include, it is true, all the works
which are destined for this new National
Gallery, and certainly some of those
omitted are of particular importance, but
quite enough are shown to prove that the
museum will be an institution which will
worthily fulfil its purpose as a record and
memorial of the war. These pictures have
been partly collected by the Museum itself
and partly have been transferred to it by
the Ministry of Information; some of
them have been painted by young artists
from quick sketches done on the battle-
front or from vivid memories of actual
experiences in the field, others by official

artists who, though they have had time to
work more deliberately, have had their
share of the trials and discomforts of active
service. #0000
As a result, the atmosphere of the show
is one of definite reality; actual impres-
sions are powerfully recorded and the
works themselves have a strong signifi-
cance which makes them of great value for
the information and instruction of pos-
terity. They vary a good deal in character
and among them are some which may
possibly be questioned as being too aggres-
sively modern in manner. But these,
illustrating as they do certain phases of
artistic opinion in vogue at the time of the
war, have their legitimate places in the
collection and are entitled to the oppor-
tunity to claim the judgment of the future.
They may be approved or they may be
condemned in years to come, but to exclude
them now would be unwise. 0 0

The completeness and representative

"REMOVING SANDBAGS, BRITISH
MUSEUM.” BY H. RUSHBURY

89

LXXVIII. No. 321.—December 1919