DOI issue:
No. 303 (June 1925)
DOI article:[Studio-talk]
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21402#0362
BRIGHTON (AUSTRALIA)
raised questions that could only be
answered by a closer acquaintance with
the work and the accomplished and
modest artist that produced it. Why
always nudes i was the first question;
nudes are undoubtedly the most difficult
subjects to paint, they are given as subjects
to students to familiarise them with the
greatest difficulties that their craft con-
tains. The reason for Cumbrae Stewart's
preference for nudes is however quite
simple ; she has a curious, almost un-
canny, facility for getting the elusive
half-tones and the perfection of drawing
that the human figure demands ; her
facility is a natural gift improved no doubt
by study, but still a natural gift that few
artists possess and it is in painting and
drawing the nude that this natural gift
most clearly proclaims itself. 0 0
As might be expected, an Australian
artist of such prominence is well repre-
sented in the public and private collec-
tions of her native land—the Sydney Art
Gallery contains no fewer than three
excellent pictures by Cumbrae Stewart;
the Queensland National Gallery, and the
National Gallery at Adelaide also possess
important examples of her work. She is,
however, anxious for a wider reputation,
and has exhibited with marked success
in all the most important English exhibi-
tions. In Paris at the Salon her work has
been always well hung and recognised
officially by " mention honorable." 0
Pastel, which is probably the most difficult
of all mediums in which to obtain harmoni-
ous colourschemes,isso limited as compared
with oil or water-colour that one readily
understands why so few of the greatest
of the world's artists have employed it.
In oils the infinitely subtle gradations of
tone and colour can be obtained by the
simple expedient of mixing ; in pastels
this cannot so easily be done, and so with
the limited range at the artist's disposal
one naturally expects the colour-harmony
to be somewhat deficient. In Miss
Stewart's work this is not the case—over-
coming the difficulty of her medium with
such apparent facility as to appear ignorant
of any danger, she excels precisely in this
very rare and precious quality of soft and
delicate colour gradations. 000
raised questions that could only be
answered by a closer acquaintance with
the work and the accomplished and
modest artist that produced it. Why
always nudes i was the first question;
nudes are undoubtedly the most difficult
subjects to paint, they are given as subjects
to students to familiarise them with the
greatest difficulties that their craft con-
tains. The reason for Cumbrae Stewart's
preference for nudes is however quite
simple ; she has a curious, almost un-
canny, facility for getting the elusive
half-tones and the perfection of drawing
that the human figure demands ; her
facility is a natural gift improved no doubt
by study, but still a natural gift that few
artists possess and it is in painting and
drawing the nude that this natural gift
most clearly proclaims itself. 0 0
As might be expected, an Australian
artist of such prominence is well repre-
sented in the public and private collec-
tions of her native land—the Sydney Art
Gallery contains no fewer than three
excellent pictures by Cumbrae Stewart;
the Queensland National Gallery, and the
National Gallery at Adelaide also possess
important examples of her work. She is,
however, anxious for a wider reputation,
and has exhibited with marked success
in all the most important English exhibi-
tions. In Paris at the Salon her work has
been always well hung and recognised
officially by " mention honorable." 0
Pastel, which is probably the most difficult
of all mediums in which to obtain harmoni-
ous colourschemes,isso limited as compared
with oil or water-colour that one readily
understands why so few of the greatest
of the world's artists have employed it.
In oils the infinitely subtle gradations of
tone and colour can be obtained by the
simple expedient of mixing ; in pastels
this cannot so easily be done, and so with
the limited range at the artist's disposal
one naturally expects the colour-harmony
to be somewhat deficient. In Miss
Stewart's work this is not the case—over-
coming the difficulty of her medium with
such apparent facility as to appear ignorant
of any danger, she excels precisely in this
very rare and precious quality of soft and
delicate colour gradations. 000