Studio: international art (82.1921)

STUDIO-TALK

by Sir William Orpen called Sowing new
seed for the Board of Agriculture and
Technical Instruction in Ireland, and ap-
parently intended as a satire on that
department of the Irish administration,
which, besides the cultivation of the soil, is
supposed to look after the cultivation of
art. The picture was, it seems, acquired
by one of the public collections in
Australia, and is now in England again
because it failed to give satisfaction and
was replaced by another work. Though
characteristic of the humorous vein to
which Sir William has often given ex-
pression in his paintings, the picture can
scarcely be classed among his best achieve-
ments. Mr. Clausen, Mr. Muirhead Bone,
Mr. Augustus John, Mr. D. Y. Cameron,
Mr. Glyn Philpot, Mr. Charles Shannon,
Mr. Gerald Kelly, and Mr. James McBey
are well represented among the paintings
at this show, and some of these are also in
evidence in the capital selection of draw-
ings, which is not the least interesting
feature of the display. 0 0 0

The New Society of Artists, which held
its inaugural exhibition in the Suffolk
Street galleries during July, has been
formed, the catalogue says, partly to meet
" an overwhelming demand by artists of
merit for facilities for showing their work
in London, and partly to counteract the
manifold evils of what has been described
as bolshevism in art, which is in fact
nothing more than part of the general
revolt against authority which is manifested
in every walk of life." Artists of merit there
certainly are in this society, but unfor-
tunately these are far outnumbered by
others whose performances, as exemplified
in the work exhibited in this show, are so
commonplace as to bring discredit upon
this new organization, and indirectly
perhaps to encourage the tendencies its
spokesman deprecates. 000

The design for a stained glass window in
Khartoum Cathedral, which we reproduce
opposite, is one of a series entrusted to Miss
Mabel Esplin by the architect for that
edifice, Mr. R. W. S. Weir, whose choice of
such a talented artist for this important
undertaking was well justified by her high
reputation in this field of work. Unfor-
tunately a prolonged illness has prevented
Miss Esplin, who is a skilled craftswoman,

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from carrying out some of the designs she
made for these windows, and their execu-
tion has therefore been left to other hands.
The main body of the Cathedral was built
some years ago, and several of Miss
Esplin's windows have been erected in the
places assigned to them. All that remains
now to complete the whole is a tower which,
when erected, will make the Cathedral an
imposing landmark in the Sudan. 0
One of the pieces of sculpture by Mrs.
Whitney which we reproduced in a recent
issue—a nude male figure supporting a
weight—was entitled Caryatid. Such was
the title given to it in the catalogue of
her exhibition, but the term is, strictly
speaking, only applicable to a female
figure supporting a weight, usually draped
as in the familiar example of the Caryatides
of the Erechtheum (British Museum),
while male figures having a similar function
are conventionally designated Atlantes, or
in certain cases Telamones. 0 0

SILVER PRESENTATION CHALICE
SET WITH EMERALDS AND
PEARLS. DESIGNED AND
EXECUTED BY AGNES VYSE