The Express.
London, England, 1857-04-27 00:00:00

- ,
pm,B? ARTS.

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EXHIBITION OP THE 00012„TY„.. II"
OP PAINT
"...•
IN WATER COL •
The present exhibition may be Osisg iasslid as Vitt*
up to, if not, in some respects, boyeld a rereir
merit of its predecessors. In figure pa:s.ttslf,
which a continued deficiency has been .•0 Wisest!"
bly felt, its members are making vigorous etrii26l
the right direction; many of them showing, if not
originality of conception, much power and diverekv
of talent, in the treatment:of the hackneyed tyros,
which they stall continue to select for subject.. Po
escape from • beaten track seems to our modern
artists the insuperable difilculty ; it is only when
one stronger than the rest, some Samson more
Ames than his fellows, snaps the bonds of flax,
that they seem inclined to take heart ; sad then they
rash to the opposite extreme, jumping as
se sheep over a knee, warningly with
me lies in their heads bat how they an best
" knew their leader." At present the fetters of a
foolish sesiventionality are not yet broken ; it still
continuo, like • Procrustean bed, to pull out
or snip down each notion of art to its accepted
standard; and yet, though the "I dare not
wait upon I would," progress is beginning
to be perceptible in some of the drawings of
the younger members of the society—for instance, in
those of W. Turner, whose " Evening, moon rising,"
and " Storm clearing off" exhibit not only considerable
promise, but very creditable performance.
Of our painters in water colours as a clan
we arc justly proud ; for whatever may be
their defects they form a school which cer-
tainly has not as yet au equal as a school
upon the continent ; and we anticipate for them
a sure, though possibly not a rapid advance-
ment. The artist in water colours has the advantage
of always being able to go at once to nature for
stady—he can carry his materials, his workshop in
fact, about him with esae—he can and should follow
nature into her most secret and most delightful
haunts, her Aresdian plains, her mountain solitudes,
her rocky shores end umbrageous woods—he can
wander, sketch-book and colour-box in hand, among
the ruins of the porn, and bring back to us the form
and shape of the skeletons at lend of those cities
whose bones are fast rotting themselves into dist—
end which, but for such mementos as the lutist and
the author fashion, would soon onus to be even
names in the history of the world. For the artist
whose life is thus spent in pursuit of art—who sits
daily face to face with nature, looking into her eyes
and listening to the words of wisdom that fall from
her lips—improvement is sure; and it is 1:011.

that reieon we speak so hopefully, judging from the
uniform excellence of the 317 drawings exhibited
by the society.
In making • circuit of the room—
no easy
matter, for the " private view " seemed cer-
tainly to include a general public—a stranger
would be struck with the great merit of most of the
leatheapss thaterowd its welts ; they are of all kinds
=T N of merit, and if but few can be pro-
perfect, none, or but • few can be con-
demned as absolutely bad. It is true t: hat not many
dour artists have yet learnt the aviators that
would somas to art from a little disuse *au the
eternal "rock, river, and cattle,* It "sammenia
torrent "—cascade and all, painted ea the at pl.
tern—or " rural scene, with SIMI* saisig=
which speak so little for the imaginative
of their authors. Indeed, scarcely a masker of the
society can be open to the charge of an "infinite
variety ;" nor to judge by the little label of "sold"
which is attached to most of the frames, does it seem
as though the "picture-buying public" required it.
Still we think it would be quite as well if the exbl.
biters, one and all, shook off a little of this cessolein
reproduction of self, and—to quote the Meier of
well-known critic upon art—" treated themselves Is
a good think before they sat down to their *Mine
Mr. Lewis, the President of the Society, exhibit" •
small picture this year, which, however, is grebe
larczoidasnough to give room for the painter to Natoli
all ley kis marvellous treatment of the sub.
beef ESNs. Theiskiing ia entitled " Hareem Life,"
and seproisab a bey w in • not very oriental coun-
Wm, mated d is wharf upon an ottoman, and
=in her hand • mmleificent fan of gorgeous
Her attemiant, who is standing, has her
hese in profile, and Beth that and its reflection in
1114entas bolded bar are excellently painted as
the szpremion and colour. A cat, whose hairy
east is epergne allude of softness, is lying at the
lady's feet. This picture has all Mr. Lewisi excel-
bogies and eccentricities—minitteness of finish,
exquisite refinement of touch, richness of colour,
and evenness of tone. At a first glance
you use that this is an extraordinary production, and
every way the work of a master hand ; though
more than a glance is necessary to take m
its singular and manifold merits. Each square inch
will bear an attentive examination, and you leave
the picture at last with a curious feeling of doubt
which to admire most—the skill or the patience of
the artist. It must also be remarked, that notwith-
standing the unequalled elaboration of the smallest
detail, the eye is never for a moment allowed to be
unnecessarily attracted from the figures which form
the subject of the drawing.
To those persons who delight in contrasts, and
theme of the most violent character, we recom-
mend them, after having attentively examined
the picture of " Hareem Life" by Mr. Lewis,
to place themselves before one from the prolific
brush of Mr. 1/avid Cox: they will have no
dllisulty in doing this, for they are "plentiful as
blackberries" in this room. Mr. Cox has many eulogists;
the style he has adopted is denominated as exhibit-
ing " all that is bold and masterly" in execution—
it is " rough truth ;" to us, we must confess, it is
anything but pleasing. He delights in painting en
the roughest paper—utterly disregards not and
minuteness of detail, but form of all kind. Each
picture—and their name is legion--u a chaotic mar
of colour, muddy and unmeaning. It is a mannerism
that Pocks the eye in its disregard of every rule
that ham hitherto been accepted as a guide in art.
Mr. Cox, jun., is following rapidly in his father's
wake. His paper is getting coarser in its grain
every year ; his colour is put on in still more un-
pleasant-looking blots ; and we can only regret that
two undoubtedly able men should be working so in-
dustriously in what appears to us a wrong
direction.
Mr. 'human has several pictures. They are all of
considerable merit. " Winter—Sheep feeding," is
beautifully true to nature, perfect in drawing, and
refined in execution. His " View of Spithead
from the Isle of Wight," and, indeed, all
the pictures that bear his name this year,
are admirable both in feeling and colour, full of
aerial effects. The water, when introduced, is as
usual a triumph in its spirited rendering.
The productions of Messrs. T. M. Richardson,
W. C. Smith, T. S. Naftel, and a host of
other gentlemen whose names are by this time
well known to all visitors to the Exhibition
of. this Society, are numerous as ever: land-
scape after landscape, all of the same degree of
merit as those of put exhibitions, cover the walls,
till the whole business, we begin to fancy, must be
almost mechanical, or there must be, after all, no
such occurrences as changes of seasons, or, indeed,
any change in the--for we must believe it so—
sterMyped aspect of Nature. That all of these
gentlemen are artists of great talent they have
again and again proved; but until we see some
alteration in the subjects chosen we must content
ourselves by saying ditto to our praise of last year,
u, bat for the roles of the malty, we should ea-