The San Francisco call., 1906-07-01


ITS iunabitants. that very romantic
school of paiaung ..could naturally be
expected to- deVglop there Ii was not
however. until the beginning of the
Dineteerth- ceutIfr,y that the evolution
of native art had so far progressed
among the. StOtsrqlen as 10 be. worthy
of. being called "a school Of art. The
long delay was caused by the lack: of
material prosperity; f.: The poverty
stricken people had no leisure In which
10 train 15lef. art faculties. q: Now the
Scottish artists have fully found them.
selves and their land: has a school of.
art and According 10 Sir Walter arm
strong, one OF the few . original
schools ~ - -: go
a new book has been written bout
it for THE .Library OF Art: II is
called r he Scottish .ESchool of Paint
ing. I4le alIthors is. William p. Nc
Kay He is himself a painter, a MEM
ber OF the ROYAL Scottish. Academy and
The librarian. Of that institution The
volume. which rs Imported by Charles
Scribner's Sons is: finely illustrated
with Irepresen ntatjons. = OF some OF. the
nlasterpie ieces OF this school ---*
AS ID was one OF. the requirements
Of the .Liprsry. Of Art TO. limit the
treatment 1O@-iOne volume the author
has only given. a clirsory glance back
10 the Scottis.Isp spa1nters who were the
precursors~.o1 the schooE. and he has
also left -12it- of considers t5on. the i'm
med lately fledern:; painters, - because
they are NOT -s.I Ifl3ci esitlS. removed from
US 20 be. free from. difficulties Whieh h.
attend Ihe. Treatment Of .contempo porarS-
art: Even vita these. .deiImitstions he
had 10. Gu5 his matter very much 10
get il withiu::the: bounds OF one thick
volume There are about forty-six. full
page pictures .and. many Of them: have.
long and. Iery# interesting e. descriptions
ard criticisnls.. + The. authors confines
himself chiefly TO: telling a about: the
little about-IheIr personalities and his
tories ~. ::
while he.admits that an. artist when
writing about other artists and their
work IS prone 20. talk much of teehni-
calities. he yet has sendeaFored TO adapt
his treatment 50 as 10 slit the. tastes
and the -:cQrnpce enssons of: the general
reader Aside. from its interest.in gjv-Y
.ing Information about the -sbrusllwo work
OF the c07in Try men. Of Waiter Scott ana
Robert Burns. this. yoIHme. gives many
a sentence aEld- paragraph that is Very,
elucida1iye about. what is the essence
Z ART in general. The author: has had
abundant opportunity as librarian of,
the ROYAL Scottish Academy TO consult
the. 6ocunlen1s about:the paintings and
the painters and b. also TO = study the
originals Of. The. ScottFsh mas steTpieces.
The first artist treated. p. Of :. at ex=+
tended length IS: Henry, RaebUrn, who
was the preGestined man to shake OF
classicisn and. beCorae:- one. OF, the prin-,,
cipal founders. of, the. Scottish school.
David W{llzfe and John Graham were
the other two chief founders One OF
Sir Henry Rae bIfru,s masterpieces is
q picture Of Dr. Nathaniel Spenss taken
in.- Scotch. costume and depicted IN the
attitude OF an archer II IS. considered
ff.er= .ar So. = f-z
tively Scottish. From the much there
S. devoted to this painting. I quote the
following bitsE-s = :.
1O- uiost paihters there come occasions when
al ~ knowledge they have acquired flows from
them in q wliSe leat OF strenuous Effort some
biuetiCh oI circiilns instances. brfngE az rleiE eX-
li,rlouc, 10 bear efTectIveig and as II On some
sc'7cnti wave 0t inspirarioa- they are borne far
beyond their prerio-5s attainrneuts- such .
occasion came % RaebuIEi VIXEN in l7eE he was
coall - -oned by the Royal Company OF ArcheTs
~ IHlnl ~ spens: lie paister was an adept at
arcGeFg-. aBd as he faced the hrm-set hEllre OF
tllis iat thlette bowman. hs doubtless felt within
Us. oFA lreme Ai Ihe tension Of the moment
BE- hes chosen 10. depict. . IN this mas
terly study 81 q c0untensnoe, hxed for the mo-
ment IN al ITS tneaEnents;. nothing is omitted;
nothing 6Verstatel- The firmly compressed lips.
ana - lde-9pen eyes intent on the forthcoming
alroEy digit, betoEe1 Ihe EaFksman's nerve and
the center OF rhe gold.
81 A long chapter is devoted to David
WlEkie, who shares with Raeburn the
honor OF founding the. Scottish. school
Telling US tugt-..a painters; career is
never q continuous. grcwth," he ex-
plains how out OF the, failures and
comparative failures. OF the drst t1-en-
~. years Of his life. came at last sue
cess. He 1eJ short of. himself only
10 rise 10 new triumphs." Wfkie was
good at the class of painting known
as. genre. and in sorle Of these he had
hne opportunity 10 make his work dis
tlncUVely representative. of. +. Scottish
life and he was equal TO his opportun-
1tg Two OF his masterpieces are
The Penny Wedding and .;Blindman's
Bun They are hne as seen On the
big .canTases, but have too many: ig-
ures and TOO much detail to be repro
dUced interestingly in small -.
one OF the lessons in art that WilEie
reports himself 70 have learned from
Sir George Beaumont is that white: is
not l!ght and that detail is not finish.'s
In this chapter discussing Wilkie's
craftsmanship. the .author-artist has
something interesting TO say about the
literary quality OF pictures. 4. e, the
power Of a picture TO tell a story. The
great picture loving: public, no doubt !
by q large majority like TO have this
literary quality added 10 the other ar
tistic projections Of the. painting they
behOld3 but il seems. that in some art
circles this quality is spoken OF dis
paTegin gly, as something with which
true graphic art has no concern. Our
autfIor says: T
The term literary IS applied in a
vague way to the interest Of such pic
tuTes as. his, with the Implication that
they are thereby relegated to q lower
class. Now, while II is quite true that
the narrative or human interest does
not constitute a picture. work OF art,
il is absurd TO hold that il precIudes
II from being sc, or lessons its chance (
OF attaining that distinction. Nothing
can raise IL TO the region OF art but
its srf qualities in other words its
harmonic iOlEe arren cement Of form line !
color and chisroscuFo-the elements
with which the artist has specially to 4
deal But a picture like a. poem: or. a !
romance, is not only a work of art. I
It is a: message from Its author to. a I
public be desires 20 interest. and so 1
long as be weTks on aesthetic lines the /!
w}dtk OF the appeal does not lessen its +
art posEi ibilities.''
Among the greatest OF the successors I
0f Baeburn IS John. Lrsha m Gilbert Il
He S. sometimes called shortly John .
Graham but IS not TO be confused with. (
the elder John Graham. who was onef
81 the three founders OF the Scottish +