DOI issue:
No. 387 (September 1924)
DOI article:[Notes: one hundred and ninety-three illustrations]
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21400#0184
DUBLIN—ED INBURGH—PARIS
■ ■
"THE GIPSY." BY
LEO WHELAN, R.H.A.
highest form of art. What Reynolds and
Delacroix would have thought of these
paintings had they seen them is a matter
for interesting speculation. Picasso, no
doubt, would recognise some of them as
the sincerest form of flattery. The few
essays in representational art which these
two young ladies exhibited, when judged
by ordinary standards, seemed no better
and no worse than the productions of the
average uninspired art student in her teens.
The Trustees of the Belfast Art Gallery
have recently purchased a striking picture
of A Lough Neagh Fisherman, by Mr.
Charles Lamb, A.R.H.A., here repro-
duced. Cork has just acquired a large
canvas by Mr. John Keating, R.H.A.,
entitled Men of the South. These two
artists, with Mr. Tuohy, R.H.A., and Mr.
Leo Whelan, R.H.A., are regarded as the
most prominent among the younger artists
of the Dublin School. We reproduce The
Gipsy, by Mr. Whelan, which excited much
admiring comment at the Exhibition of the
Royal Hibernian Academy this year. T. B.
EDINBURGH. — The accompanying
illustration in colour—a considerable
part of the yellow in the original being in
gold—is from one of the recent designs
by Mr. Robert Burns, for a series of wall
decorations for an enterprising Edinburgh
164
firm's dining and tea rooms. Apart from
the wall decorations, Mr. Burns has the
general schemes of the interior furnishings
under his supervision, as well as adding
his refined sense of artistry to the firm's
biscuit-tin labels, printing, etc. a 0
By many, the term " artist " is assigned
in all its glory to the one who paints
pictures and, to attain its full significance,
they must be painted in oils. This atti-
tude is not uncommon, and it seems to be
one that is incapable of realising that the
medium and material used are only inci-
dental, or that art will for ever remain
singularly distinct and can be expressed
by the mind and hand of an artist with an
equality of beauty in an easel picture, a
mural painting, a clay pot, or a poster.
And I think I am certain in stating that
Mr. Burns feels that strongly, and also that
the art of to-day should be concerned with
the life and things of to-day, and not
simply in its attempt at progress to be a
continual reiteration of adapting and apply-
ing designs of the past—beautiful, indeed,
as many of them are—to one's present-day
necessities. E. A. T.
PARIS.—It is now nearly thirty years
since a real revival of decorative art
in Europe made itself evident. However,
anyone who has set out to gather together
the different materials for a modern
"scheme "will have found a great deficiency
in respect of carpets — a department of
capital importance, whether because of the
necessity of having a groundwork for the
furniture or of providing a fitting decora-
tive setting for it. It would be superfluous
to speak of the national factories and the
large commercial firms, who have never
been abb to emancipate themselves deliber-
ately from an old-fashioned tradition, and
who have done little save set various
modern artists to work on the old lines.
Also, individual effort has been handi-
capped by the cost of producing new
designs which are commercial propositions,
by the public's marked preference for
Oriental carpets, having no relationship
with classical styles, and lastly by the
lack of creative ingenuity, bringing new
ideas into the art. Such rare attempts at
novelty as there have been (mostly meeting
with a discouraging reception) have always
■ ■
"THE GIPSY." BY
LEO WHELAN, R.H.A.
highest form of art. What Reynolds and
Delacroix would have thought of these
paintings had they seen them is a matter
for interesting speculation. Picasso, no
doubt, would recognise some of them as
the sincerest form of flattery. The few
essays in representational art which these
two young ladies exhibited, when judged
by ordinary standards, seemed no better
and no worse than the productions of the
average uninspired art student in her teens.
The Trustees of the Belfast Art Gallery
have recently purchased a striking picture
of A Lough Neagh Fisherman, by Mr.
Charles Lamb, A.R.H.A., here repro-
duced. Cork has just acquired a large
canvas by Mr. John Keating, R.H.A.,
entitled Men of the South. These two
artists, with Mr. Tuohy, R.H.A., and Mr.
Leo Whelan, R.H.A., are regarded as the
most prominent among the younger artists
of the Dublin School. We reproduce The
Gipsy, by Mr. Whelan, which excited much
admiring comment at the Exhibition of the
Royal Hibernian Academy this year. T. B.
EDINBURGH. — The accompanying
illustration in colour—a considerable
part of the yellow in the original being in
gold—is from one of the recent designs
by Mr. Robert Burns, for a series of wall
decorations for an enterprising Edinburgh
164
firm's dining and tea rooms. Apart from
the wall decorations, Mr. Burns has the
general schemes of the interior furnishings
under his supervision, as well as adding
his refined sense of artistry to the firm's
biscuit-tin labels, printing, etc. a 0
By many, the term " artist " is assigned
in all its glory to the one who paints
pictures and, to attain its full significance,
they must be painted in oils. This atti-
tude is not uncommon, and it seems to be
one that is incapable of realising that the
medium and material used are only inci-
dental, or that art will for ever remain
singularly distinct and can be expressed
by the mind and hand of an artist with an
equality of beauty in an easel picture, a
mural painting, a clay pot, or a poster.
And I think I am certain in stating that
Mr. Burns feels that strongly, and also that
the art of to-day should be concerned with
the life and things of to-day, and not
simply in its attempt at progress to be a
continual reiteration of adapting and apply-
ing designs of the past—beautiful, indeed,
as many of them are—to one's present-day
necessities. E. A. T.
PARIS.—It is now nearly thirty years
since a real revival of decorative art
in Europe made itself evident. However,
anyone who has set out to gather together
the different materials for a modern
"scheme "will have found a great deficiency
in respect of carpets — a department of
capital importance, whether because of the
necessity of having a groundwork for the
furniture or of providing a fitting decora-
tive setting for it. It would be superfluous
to speak of the national factories and the
large commercial firms, who have never
been abb to emancipate themselves deliber-
ately from an old-fashioned tradition, and
who have done little save set various
modern artists to work on the old lines.
Also, individual effort has been handi-
capped by the cost of producing new
designs which are commercial propositions,
by the public's marked preference for
Oriental carpets, having no relationship
with classical styles, and lastly by the
lack of creative ingenuity, bringing new
ideas into the art. Such rare attempts at
novelty as there have been (mostly meeting
with a discouraging reception) have always