Studio: international art (83.1922)

LATER WORK OF F. CAYLEY ROBINSON, A.R.A.

pronounced aestheticism. Very soon, how-
ever, the boats of a Cornish harbour were
to be combined with the almost wilfully
placed row of lilies of The Ferry. Yet a
few more years and the artist was giving us
a world of visionary fantasy, as in The
Beautiful Castle, In a Wood so Green,
Fata Morgana ; this, in turn, was crossed
with a graver, more human note, which,
once attained, has become the direction
from which he has not swerved. 0 0

Meanwhile the name of Cayley Robinson
had become a sort of signal for certain
enthusiasts, the retiring personality,
methods, and aims of the artist remaining
a mystery. It was his reappearance at a
special exhibition at the Baillie Gallery in
1904 that confirmed these u whisperings in
the dark.” Occasional exhibits at the
Society of Oil Painters and at the first

exhibition of the Allied Artists kept the
artist’s public in touch with him. 0 0

In 1908 the exhibition at the Carfax
Gallery revealed the fulfilment of many
ideas hinted at in the Baillie Gallery days.
The staging at the Haymarket, and the
subsequent illustration, of Maeterlinck’s
Blue Bird formed the turning-point in
Cayley Robinson’s career. This was
followed in 1911 by a third special exhibi-
tion—at the Leicester Galleries this time.
Shortly afterwards, Mr. Cayley Robinson
turned his attention to mural decoration,
designing four large panels for the vestibule
of the Middlesex Hospital, owing to the
discerning commission of Mr. Edmund
Davis ; in addition, he executed a panel for
the Dublin Modern Gallery—the result of
the competition organised by the late Sir
Hugh Lane. He finished a series of water-

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" REMINISCENCE.’' GESSO PAINTING
BY F. CAYLEY ROBINSON, A.R.A.

(In the possession of Cecil French, Esq.)