DOI Heft:
No. 323 (February 1920)
DOI Artikel:Salaman, Malcolm C.: Mr. E. S. Lumsden's Indian studies in oils
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21359#0187
MR. E. S. LUMSDEN’S INDIAN STUDIES
“ TWILIGHT — BENARES ”
BY E. S. LUMSDEN, R.E.
subtly that single note of brilliant green
keys up the whole picture. Jodhpur is a
typical street scene, with the characteristic
figures of the natives—some of them
women poising water-jars upon their heads
—as they pass along or converse in groups ;
it is full of brilliant colour—reds and
yellows dominating—glowing in the sun-
light against the white buildings under a
blue sky. This was a study for Mr. Lums-
den's large picture exhibited last year at the
Royal Scottish Academy, and subsequently
at Liverpool. The Well-head is another
Jodhpur scene, but the time is evening, and
in the delicate desert atmosphere, with its
grey and silvery tones enveloping the high-
pitched colour of the costumes—yellow,
pink, and deep red—and the dark skins of
the natives, the tender leafage of the sacred
pepal-tree, and the pale glimpses of sky
through the balcony, we have a nocturne
effect of peculiar beauty. A night-piece,
too, but with a difference, is Twilight—
Benares, one of a remarkable series of
studies that Mr. Lumsden made in that
enthralling city. Here the painter has
realized a moister atmosphere, and a local
colour warmer and heavier, with the infinite
enchantment of the wonderful quiet river.
The people go down to the holy Ganges in
the evenings, and on the steps generally
sermons attract listeners till after dark,
so that the artist looks down on crowds
showing picturesquely against the water.
The booths are lighted up and, as this is
probably one of the frequent festival days,
the sellers of sweets, fans, and toys are
doubtless chatteringly busy ; but what Mr.
Lumsden, with the exquisite subtlety of his
art, has conveyed in this pictorial harmony
of blues, yellows, and greys, is an im-
pression of mysterious tranquillity. In the
morning sunlight of Above the River—the
Seat of the Priests, an every-day scene of
the bathing shelters looked at from above,
the brown, orange, and red tones of the
costumes, the golden hue of the awnings,
the white of the walls and the blue of the
181
“ TWILIGHT — BENARES ”
BY E. S. LUMSDEN, R.E.
subtly that single note of brilliant green
keys up the whole picture. Jodhpur is a
typical street scene, with the characteristic
figures of the natives—some of them
women poising water-jars upon their heads
—as they pass along or converse in groups ;
it is full of brilliant colour—reds and
yellows dominating—glowing in the sun-
light against the white buildings under a
blue sky. This was a study for Mr. Lums-
den's large picture exhibited last year at the
Royal Scottish Academy, and subsequently
at Liverpool. The Well-head is another
Jodhpur scene, but the time is evening, and
in the delicate desert atmosphere, with its
grey and silvery tones enveloping the high-
pitched colour of the costumes—yellow,
pink, and deep red—and the dark skins of
the natives, the tender leafage of the sacred
pepal-tree, and the pale glimpses of sky
through the balcony, we have a nocturne
effect of peculiar beauty. A night-piece,
too, but with a difference, is Twilight—
Benares, one of a remarkable series of
studies that Mr. Lumsden made in that
enthralling city. Here the painter has
realized a moister atmosphere, and a local
colour warmer and heavier, with the infinite
enchantment of the wonderful quiet river.
The people go down to the holy Ganges in
the evenings, and on the steps generally
sermons attract listeners till after dark,
so that the artist looks down on crowds
showing picturesquely against the water.
The booths are lighted up and, as this is
probably one of the frequent festival days,
the sellers of sweets, fans, and toys are
doubtless chatteringly busy ; but what Mr.
Lumsden, with the exquisite subtlety of his
art, has conveyed in this pictorial harmony
of blues, yellows, and greys, is an im-
pression of mysterious tranquillity. In the
morning sunlight of Above the River—the
Seat of the Priests, an every-day scene of
the bathing shelters looked at from above,
the brown, orange, and red tones of the
costumes, the golden hue of the awnings,
the white of the walls and the blue of the
181