Studio: international art (87.1924)

DRAWINGS BY FOUR FAMOUS ETCHERS

method of putting down paint with a view
to final effect does not appeal to him. All
his work is super-imposed upon a neutral
foundation. 0 0 0 0 0

In view of certain qualities of his work,
it is not surprising that Bertram Nicholls
has been called a disciple of Cotman,
though he had not even seen Cotman's
works when the comparison was first
suggested. Hence any similarity which
exists is due to affinity of ideas rather than
to discipleship. The painting of Hickling
Broad, reproduced with this article, will
probably be considered reminiscent of the
Norwich School, the artist having of late
years worked in the country made familiar
by Cotman and Crome and others of that
school. For both these masters he avows a
great admiration, but the star in his heaven
—as anyone may easily imagine who has
studied his work—is Richard Wilson.
Among contemporary artists, it is to Mr.
Frank Mura that Bertram Nicholls owns
himself most indebted for friendship and
advice. 000000

“STEYNING CHURCH”
BY BERTRAM NICHOLLS

(By courtesy of D. Croal
Thomson, Esq.)

DRAWINGS BY FOUR FAMOUS
ETCHERS. EXHIBITION IN KEL-
VINGROVE GALLERIES, GLASGOW

THAT Glasgow should possess in its
civic collection an assemblage of
prints particularly high in interest reflects
the enthusiasm for this aspect of art in the
West of Scotland. Etching absorbs the
attention of collectors there to a remarkable
degree. In the spectacle of four Scots
among the prominent etchers of the world
local patriotism may have helped to
stimulate the natural inclinations of culture.
Prints by William Strang, D. Y. Cameron,
R. Muirhead Bone, and James McBey
have at any rate been eagerly captured.
In organising a loan exhibition of prints
and drawings in Kelvingrove Galleries
the Scottish Print Club and the Art
Galleries Committee of the Glasgow Cor-
poration had therefore a magnificent store
of modern art to draw upon. 0 0

With a notably happy inspiration, the
exhibition has been arranged to give
isolated prominence to nearly a hundred
drawings by the four artists. To a draw-
ing redolent of the first fresh impulse of
the artist clings a fascination peculiarly
appealing. It is the hand’s response to an
inmost emotion,—nervous, swift and
audacious. The same emotion, recalled
in tranquillity, may cast its enthralment in
an etching where fiawlessness of style can
be fully sought. Yet the drawing has its
own spell, that lurks even in an accidental
fault. 000000
With 250 etchings and ten lithographs,
the scope of the famous quartet is
eloquently conveyed. William Strang is
represented in his changeable moods of
portraiture, of landscape, and in his
searching gravity as social satirist. 0

In the prints by D. Y. Cameron several
rare subjects much sought after by
collectors are included, and the imagina-
tive reverence that suffuses the best of
his landscape work is clearly seen. 0

Muirhead Bone’s attributes of precision,
delicacy, strength and idealism compel
enthusiasm in a set of prints that range
from his infinitely subtle Orvieto to his
massive lithographs of Clyde shipbuilding
subjects. James McBey's best - known
etchings, especially his desert studies.

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