Studio: international art (84.1922)

A SPANISH PAINTER IN LONDON: F. SANCHA

Murcia and many others, all very skilfully
done and with clever regard for essentials.
I confess, however, that to me monochrome
outline in mural decoration is like a drum
and triangle " solo." In the billiard and
other rooms Sancha has painted decorative
panels with added touches of colour which
make real music of his rhythms. Here he
allows us to see him at his best. The
canvases are all essentially drawings, and
nearly always distinguished by a suggestion
of satire or simple fun. Of these pictures
that of the Castilian donkey rider, here
illustrated, gives a good idea. a a
Sancha was born in Malaga about forty-
eight years ago. He began to earn his
living, after his father's death, at the early
age of fifteen. Trained in Madrid and
Paris, he drew for Paris papers such as
" Le Rire " and " L'Assiette au Beurre."

He came to London in 1901. England
made him a painter ; it was here that his
eyes were opened to colour. " The
Spanish painters," he says, " know only
tone, but nothing of colour." One might
feel inclined to dispute this perhaps, so
much depends on the meaning of words.
I know not a few artists who would put
Velasquez above Titian as a colourist. a

Sancha has become well known in this
country as a caricaturist. He complains,
nevertheless, that drawing for the press has
handicapped him as a painter; affirms
that he would have preferred architecture
as a career, and rounds off this open con-
fession with : " An artist with nothing to
do would suit me wonderfully." a 0

Interpreted this means that he regards
all that part of his occupation which he
must give to money-making as an injury