Studio: international art (84.1922)

THE WATER-COLOURS OF MR. CYRIL FAREY

Looking over these water-colours of
Mr. Farey, one cannot help noticing how
they, too, are clear and simple. Each one
expresses a definite sensation: that of
having discovered a lovely agglomeration
of building and landscape, and with a
variety of reserve and lambent vivacious-
ness, he brings into action everything he
is and everything he possesses, his virtues
and weaknesses, his store of pre-adjudged
notions, his enthusiasms. And what of
his subjects i Well, it may be said that,
with his characteristic technique—a rather
personal affair by now—the choice of his
subjects explains him. In regard to the
technique, one should remember that Mr.
Farey is looked upon as one of the leading
architectural draughtsmen of this country.
Countless are his perspective drawings
and all have that simplicity and clearness
for which they are justly valued and
praised. That is an achievement, and the
recipe which controlled their making is
also, to an extent, the recipe of his water-
colours. First of all, one apprehends the
mind working rapidly in face of the chosen
subject, preferably a picturesque or monu-
mentally imposing one. Take Reims
Cathedral, for instance. Here is a glorious
fabric : proud, though desecrated ; though
incomplete, still standing nobly against
that clear sky of France. And then Mr.
Farey saw the possibilities of lights and
shades playing about the place, and he
put these down ; and he also put down
the low ground which is seen in front of
the cathedral. That helps, too. He knew
it would. You imagine him toying for a
while with all these contrasts, these
differences of level, the view point, the
dramatic clash of vertical and horizontal
planes, the light, all the time remembering
how excellent it is to concentrate on his
magnificent motif not by drawing and
painting that alone, but by bringing it into
vivid interest by a skilful use of all those
considerations of light and of volume. If,
therefore, he eliminated a lot, he also kept
a few accessories and made the most of
them. And that is why, armed with a
sure technique, he conjured up that fine
water-colour. All the others are done
much in the same way. Maybe, they
sometimes hug the objectivity of the
subjects a little too closely. Yet, one is grate-

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ful to Mr. Farey for piping his message
so clearly and so unmistakably. It is done
pat, with a sweet vigour, and no one can
gainsay the attractiveness of his washes—
so English, so clean and so charming, a

"THE JUDGE'S HOUSE
THE CLOSE, SALISBURY "
LEAD PENCIL DRAWING
BY CYRIL A. FAREY