DOI Heft:
No. 344 (November 1912)
DOI Artikel:Allerton, A. R.: The Cotswold Gallery
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21393#0236
THE COTSWOLD GALLERY
" OXFORD." PEN
DRAWING BY
EDMUND H. NEW
THE COTSWOLD GALLERY. 0
THAT the~conditions under which most
works of art have to be exhibited nowa-
days are very seriously at fault, has long
been patent even to the most casual eye. It
is not only at the Royal Academy that visi-
tors suffer from the "Academy head-ache."
A large exhibition-room, decorated with
gorgeous secondhandfurniture,and densely
packed with pictures, is not only repellent
in itself, but is of all environments the least
favourable to a just appreciation and enjoy-
ment of modern works of art. For the art of
the present day, carefully limited in scale
and intimate in feeling, imposes upon itself
a finely proportioned reticence. Yet the
methods of public exhibition remain as
flamboyant and barbaric as ever; and
most of us had given up all expectation of
seeing any improvement in these condi-
tions. 0 0 0 0 0 0
Some few individuals, however, still
cherished a hope that one of the responsible
" arbiters of elegance " might one day be
inspired with sufficient originality, imagina-
tion and courage to effect the necessary
revolution. A rather small, well-lighted
room, tastefully furnished, where a limited
220
number of really admirable pictures could
be conveniently viewed, seems at first sight
no unattainable ideal. Nevertheless, it is
probable that very many difficulties have
had to be surmounted before such an ideal
could be realized. For that reason the
new Cotswold Gallery in Frith Street,
Soho, is of no small interest. 0 0
The inaugural exhibition at this Gallery
contained just forty-three works, selected
out of the thousands of pictures, good, bad
and indifferent, which are continually being
produced. Yet these forty-three pictures,
shown as they were in a couple of tastefully
decorated and well-lighted rooms, made a
far more powerful and distinctive impres-
sion on the visitor than he would ordinarily
derive from galleries containing ten or
twenty times the number of exhibits. The
artists who contributed to this noteworthy
collection have all lived and worked among
the Cotswold Hills. The names of Pro-
fessor W. Rothenstein, Mr. A. J. Gaskin,
PORTRAIT STUDY
(PENCIL) BY
MARGARET GERE
" OXFORD." PEN
DRAWING BY
EDMUND H. NEW
THE COTSWOLD GALLERY. 0
THAT the~conditions under which most
works of art have to be exhibited nowa-
days are very seriously at fault, has long
been patent even to the most casual eye. It
is not only at the Royal Academy that visi-
tors suffer from the "Academy head-ache."
A large exhibition-room, decorated with
gorgeous secondhandfurniture,and densely
packed with pictures, is not only repellent
in itself, but is of all environments the least
favourable to a just appreciation and enjoy-
ment of modern works of art. For the art of
the present day, carefully limited in scale
and intimate in feeling, imposes upon itself
a finely proportioned reticence. Yet the
methods of public exhibition remain as
flamboyant and barbaric as ever; and
most of us had given up all expectation of
seeing any improvement in these condi-
tions. 0 0 0 0 0 0
Some few individuals, however, still
cherished a hope that one of the responsible
" arbiters of elegance " might one day be
inspired with sufficient originality, imagina-
tion and courage to effect the necessary
revolution. A rather small, well-lighted
room, tastefully furnished, where a limited
220
number of really admirable pictures could
be conveniently viewed, seems at first sight
no unattainable ideal. Nevertheless, it is
probable that very many difficulties have
had to be surmounted before such an ideal
could be realized. For that reason the
new Cotswold Gallery in Frith Street,
Soho, is of no small interest. 0 0
The inaugural exhibition at this Gallery
contained just forty-three works, selected
out of the thousands of pictures, good, bad
and indifferent, which are continually being
produced. Yet these forty-three pictures,
shown as they were in a couple of tastefully
decorated and well-lighted rooms, made a
far more powerful and distinctive impres-
sion on the visitor than he would ordinarily
derive from galleries containing ten or
twenty times the number of exhibits. The
artists who contributed to this noteworthy
collection have all lived and worked among
the Cotswold Hills. The names of Pro-
fessor W. Rothenstein, Mr. A. J. Gaskin,
PORTRAIT STUDY
(PENCIL) BY
MARGARET GERE