MANCHESTER—EDINBURGH
There is certainly beauty in the eye with
which Mr. Valette sees the atmospheres
and effect which come from the commercial
efforts of the city of his adoption : the
very fact that Manchester should have
gained and kept the services of this French
artist is a tribute to her unpremeditated
charm. The layman coming to Manches-
ter is apt to say “ hideous.” This is an
example of how the layman needs the
artist—to show him beauty where he
cannot see it. 0000
Mr. Valette was for a number of years
one of the principal masters at the Man-
chester School of Art, which, it is clear
from the nature of his work, must have
suffered by his loss. He now devotes his
talents to creative work—portraits, land-
scapes, church decoration, and the notable
” Manchesterscapes.” These are most
valuable—any town is blest which has an
artist recorder of her aspects, and Mr.
Valette's records are of the very essence
of the fog-bound town. 000
Whatever may be Mr. Valette’s friend-
ship for his English city of adoption, the
land of his birth and training makes much
of its value. He is still a Frenchman, as
such works as Le Sol Natal (the property
of A. W. Wood, Esq.) proclaim. Homage
to Manchester—and France. J. W S.
EDINBURGH.—There is much to be
said for the contention that artists
are the best critics of each other’s work,
but—it all depends upon the breadth of
understanding, the general “ bigness ” of
the critic-artist, for he must forget his
own ideals in contemplation of those of
his subject where they differ, remembering
only the Ideal of ideals. Mr. John Duncan,
R.S.A., and Mr. F. C. B. Cadell are both
outstandingly fine painters—“ highlights ”
of Edinburgh. 0000
Here is an extract from an appreciation
of Mr. Cadell by Mr. Duncan : “ A picture
is no longer thought of as a confection—
4 un bon morceau de peinture ’—it has
become something of a personality in
itself, a force that stings us to a fuller sense
of life and imparts to us a newer and a
gayer spirit. Mr. F. C. B. Cadell is a
chevalier of this ideal, and his glad and
brave work is a banner and a trumpet to
us all: but we would also praise his
moderation—whilst many of the new
movement show little control, he never
oversteps the limits he imposes on himself.
He has a mastery of his means which is
rare at any time, but never more so than
at present, when the effete is giving place
to the inchoate, the picture postcard to the
placard. Let the pictures themselves bear
witness to the amazing energy of his de-
sign, the clarity of his tones, the power, the
radiance, the keen loveliness of his colour.”
This is not only powerful and most
expressive criticism, putting Mr. Cadell
and all he stands for before us : it is the
tribute of a man of genius to another who,
in methods at least, is entirely other than
himself. Only in the highest—the spiri-
tual—force do the two men meet. As
that spiritual force is the final aim of art,
the attitude of artist-critic to fellow
artist is natural. Mr. Duncan could not
have written thus about a “ painter of
pretty pictures.” 0 0 0 0
In Mr. Cadell’s work there is a brilliant
reserve, a seeking for the inevitable and
the inevitable alone, which suggests the
instinct of Japan, and which is tempera-
mental. Iona, the Mecca of the Scottish
poet-artists, has gained tribute from him.
J. W. S.
“ A LADY IN BLACK AND
gold/' by f. c*b. cadell
287
There is certainly beauty in the eye with
which Mr. Valette sees the atmospheres
and effect which come from the commercial
efforts of the city of his adoption : the
very fact that Manchester should have
gained and kept the services of this French
artist is a tribute to her unpremeditated
charm. The layman coming to Manches-
ter is apt to say “ hideous.” This is an
example of how the layman needs the
artist—to show him beauty where he
cannot see it. 0000
Mr. Valette was for a number of years
one of the principal masters at the Man-
chester School of Art, which, it is clear
from the nature of his work, must have
suffered by his loss. He now devotes his
talents to creative work—portraits, land-
scapes, church decoration, and the notable
” Manchesterscapes.” These are most
valuable—any town is blest which has an
artist recorder of her aspects, and Mr.
Valette's records are of the very essence
of the fog-bound town. 000
Whatever may be Mr. Valette’s friend-
ship for his English city of adoption, the
land of his birth and training makes much
of its value. He is still a Frenchman, as
such works as Le Sol Natal (the property
of A. W. Wood, Esq.) proclaim. Homage
to Manchester—and France. J. W S.
EDINBURGH.—There is much to be
said for the contention that artists
are the best critics of each other’s work,
but—it all depends upon the breadth of
understanding, the general “ bigness ” of
the critic-artist, for he must forget his
own ideals in contemplation of those of
his subject where they differ, remembering
only the Ideal of ideals. Mr. John Duncan,
R.S.A., and Mr. F. C. B. Cadell are both
outstandingly fine painters—“ highlights ”
of Edinburgh. 0000
Here is an extract from an appreciation
of Mr. Cadell by Mr. Duncan : “ A picture
is no longer thought of as a confection—
4 un bon morceau de peinture ’—it has
become something of a personality in
itself, a force that stings us to a fuller sense
of life and imparts to us a newer and a
gayer spirit. Mr. F. C. B. Cadell is a
chevalier of this ideal, and his glad and
brave work is a banner and a trumpet to
us all: but we would also praise his
moderation—whilst many of the new
movement show little control, he never
oversteps the limits he imposes on himself.
He has a mastery of his means which is
rare at any time, but never more so than
at present, when the effete is giving place
to the inchoate, the picture postcard to the
placard. Let the pictures themselves bear
witness to the amazing energy of his de-
sign, the clarity of his tones, the power, the
radiance, the keen loveliness of his colour.”
This is not only powerful and most
expressive criticism, putting Mr. Cadell
and all he stands for before us : it is the
tribute of a man of genius to another who,
in methods at least, is entirely other than
himself. Only in the highest—the spiri-
tual—force do the two men meet. As
that spiritual force is the final aim of art,
the attitude of artist-critic to fellow
artist is natural. Mr. Duncan could not
have written thus about a “ painter of
pretty pictures.” 0 0 0 0
In Mr. Cadell’s work there is a brilliant
reserve, a seeking for the inevitable and
the inevitable alone, which suggests the
instinct of Japan, and which is tempera-
mental. Iona, the Mecca of the Scottish
poet-artists, has gained tribute from him.
J. W. S.
“ A LADY IN BLACK AND
gold/' by f. c*b. cadell
287