DOI issue:
No. 344 (November 1912)
DOI article:Galerien, Theodore: The renaissance of the Tate Gallery
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21393#0208
THE RENAISSANCE OF THE TATE GALLERY
in which the appeal is a familiar one—
attractive things attractively painted. 0
The picture of Bank Holiday by Mr.
William Strang does not show his work at
its best, but it is interesting as revealing
both his virtues and his defects. It is a
rather crude statement of pretty obvious
facts ; but what it lacks in subtlety it makes
up for in force. It is made effective by its
very downrightness and is not permanently
interesting for the same reason. On the
other hand, The Angler reveals Sir William
Orpen in a less aggressive mood than he has
too often been. It has not, here, been his
purpose to produce one of his dazzlingly
successful portraits which take the eye and
gain the price whether they be full or half
lengths. It shows a fine perception of the
relationship of tones, which would prob-
ably be wasted in a society portrait, and
the colour is exquisitely delicate. 0
It is seldom in Mr. Cameron's paintings
that one is able to lose sight of the etcher.
His picture of Stirling Castle has that
quality of repose which is the result of
harmonious composition. It is felt in line
and tone ; the effect is harmonious, but
there are few notes in the harmony. The
handling is very sensitive and finished.
Mr. Cameron is an artist of distinction, and
this picture is eminently distinguished—it
bears the impress of his personality—but
he does not seem able to express in paint as
he does in etching such a range of feeling.
There is wonderful finish in Mr.
Nicholson's painting of the Lowestoft Bowl
—a finish of breadth and refinement
peculiarly his own. All Mr. Nicholson's
work is finished even when it is not com-
plete. He has a gift of natural elegance
which cannot be imitated—one can do it
or one cannot, mostly one cannot. His
pictures are always composed of beautiful
things, and his sense of colour and tone is
so exact and so much at his command that
his pictures seem to have grown spon-
"LOWESTOFT BOWL." BY
WILLIAM NICHOLSON
192
in which the appeal is a familiar one—
attractive things attractively painted. 0
The picture of Bank Holiday by Mr.
William Strang does not show his work at
its best, but it is interesting as revealing
both his virtues and his defects. It is a
rather crude statement of pretty obvious
facts ; but what it lacks in subtlety it makes
up for in force. It is made effective by its
very downrightness and is not permanently
interesting for the same reason. On the
other hand, The Angler reveals Sir William
Orpen in a less aggressive mood than he has
too often been. It has not, here, been his
purpose to produce one of his dazzlingly
successful portraits which take the eye and
gain the price whether they be full or half
lengths. It shows a fine perception of the
relationship of tones, which would prob-
ably be wasted in a society portrait, and
the colour is exquisitely delicate. 0
It is seldom in Mr. Cameron's paintings
that one is able to lose sight of the etcher.
His picture of Stirling Castle has that
quality of repose which is the result of
harmonious composition. It is felt in line
and tone ; the effect is harmonious, but
there are few notes in the harmony. The
handling is very sensitive and finished.
Mr. Cameron is an artist of distinction, and
this picture is eminently distinguished—it
bears the impress of his personality—but
he does not seem able to express in paint as
he does in etching such a range of feeling.
There is wonderful finish in Mr.
Nicholson's painting of the Lowestoft Bowl
—a finish of breadth and refinement
peculiarly his own. All Mr. Nicholson's
work is finished even when it is not com-
plete. He has a gift of natural elegance
which cannot be imitated—one can do it
or one cannot, mostly one cannot. His
pictures are always composed of beautiful
things, and his sense of colour and tone is
so exact and so much at his command that
his pictures seem to have grown spon-
"LOWESTOFT BOWL." BY
WILLIAM NICHOLSON
192