Studio: international art (87.1924)

GLASGOW

“SIESTA*” WOOD BLOCK COLOUR
PRINT BY ANNA R. FINDLAY

(Glasgow Society of Artist Printers)

the quality of thought and mind of the
artist. That a line is but a convention is,
of course, well known, but it is a conven-
tion whereby an artist can, with simplicity
of means, express the beauty of form,
length, breadth, and thickness; speed as
well as a dragging heaviness, laughter as
well as pain, and light as well as dark-
ness. The thoughtful draughtsman will
realise that each subject will demand lines
inherent to themselves, fully to express the
emotion they wish to convey, and, in his
search for these, he knows that merely to
use set formulas and recipes, only too evi-
dently results in mediocrity. This pro-
cedure may produce pleasing documen-
tary pictures, but further than that they
have nothing to say of an enduring nature.

It was for their enduring qualities
that one lingered over the etchings by
Mr. Iain MacNab, especially attractive
being his Vingt-et-Un and his Friesian
Fishermen. The same art of rare distinction
applied to the personally treated animal
studies by Mr. Warwick Reynolds, in
which one felt he had certainly used his
mind as a tool in uncommon design, as well
as technical excellence. Attractive, too, by
his individual rendering, were the black-
and-white wood-cuts by Mr. John Mac-
kenzie. Notably in his The Food Stall; nor
could one overlook the arresting appeal
342

made by Mr. Campbell-Mackie's strong
and thoughtfully composed lithographs.
Amongst the exhibitors of coloured wood
block prints, the most distinguished in-
cluded The Siesta, by Miss Anna Findlay,.
From the Barr Hill, by Miss Chica
MacNab, The Shore Cottage, by Miss
Lesley Smith, and The Wave, by Miss:
Jessie Isabel Garrow. Each of these
artists clearly recognises the limits of
the capable expression of his material,,
achieving a personal result, otherwise
than by merely assimilating water-colour-
drawings, or succumbing entirely to>
Japanese methods. Interesting land-
scape etchings were shown by Mr. William
Walker, his most notable being The Gram-
pian Range; others included an attrac-
tively designed Muckerach Castle, by Miss:
Janet B. Young, a simply and effectively-
treated Lake Garada, by Mrs. Josephine:
Miller, animal etchings by Miss Chris.
Macgregor, The Coffee Stall, by Mr. J.
Hume Henderson, and various dry-points;
by Mr. Stanley Wilson. 000
But one feels that none of the members’
work could be justly ignored, and only
limited space prevents further examples
than the accompanying ones being noted
and illustrated in the present issue, others:
being reserved for a future number. 0

E. A. T.