New-York tribune., 1911-01-16
LONDON NOTES
A Memorial Academy-Temu|a
Bar in Market.
London. December 81

lection OF academic works has been sub.
stltuted for them at Burlington Hou..
and experts and pedants arc not favored
: with an opportunity for exposing false
attributions and displaying their own
critical acumcn. When a collection ~
; modern pictures made by generop,
patron of art was exhibited az Burlins.
ton House a few years ago there wer.
! obiectors who condemned with fine IRONY
! the proceeding az an indecent advertlse.
ment Of the Academy itself This can.
tious criticism cannot be repeated nov.
for this is a memorial exhibition o,
works by five deceased members Of TIE
Academy. II Is a graceful tribute from
, the living 10 the dead. and AT the sams
time it is a miniature Academy with
e representative work OF excellent quality
and fine variety.
sir William Quiller Orchardson was
not great parsonage in the Academy
nor a brilliant figure in society. but h.
was a man Of force, true artist and an
uncompromislng Scottish painter. who
! maintained tenaciously the traditions o,
the British school. lie came 70 London
: from Edinburgh when he was twenty.
: eight. and was elected an associate OF
the Academy in the course Of the next
five years; and for over forty years he
exhibited subject pictures and portraits
without being affected by foreign infg.
3 ences or artistic fads. lie began with
: romantic Victorian stories I'm paint and
$ drawing room pieces, with tall girls in
pink gowns. and employing fewer colors.
economy Of line and more dramatic
realism produced brilliant works such
as 1.-The Young Duke" with numerous
= figures standing at a table covered with
r fruit and flowers. Mrs. Siddons IN the
= Studio OF Sir Joshua Reynolds' and
E The Borga" There is a. marked sd-
vance in technique between his early
Z works. such as George wisharts First
Communion" or "The Challenge" and
: the mature products of his art; and yet
there is no break In the continuity Of his
, methods and processes. The layers Of
: paint became thinner and more trans
parent; the color schemes and back
grounds were simpfed, and the paint
, ing Of textures was steadily refined; but
t there was downright British persistency
t in adherence 10 methods.
The Orchardson portraits, Of which
t there are many examples in three rooms,
t were always conspicuous for simplicity
! drectness and sincerity. His early
. method is shown in q full length Of Mrs
Birket Foster, and lis last one, that Of
Mr.. Edwin A. Abbey. which was barely
/ finished before his death--the signature
l being perhaps the last stroke OF his
r brush is equally straightforward and
uncompromisng. Between those works
there was a period Of forty years, during
, which romantic and decorative portrait
, IRE was revived and masters Of bravura
: painting, like Mr.. Sargent, attracted
, swarm of imitators; but this reSolnte
/ Scottish artist went on az he had be-
l gun, gradually perfecting his method
but never altering its essentially BRUSH
features. Not even the presence or roy
altv daunted him, for his -Four Gener-
ations. Windsor Castle" had all hr'
; Characteristic qualities. His avoidance
, of fussiness in arranging backgrounds.
? his success in the denotement OF charae-
. ter by the simplest means and his pref
erence for the th!nnest possible layer OF
paint remained fixed habits 10 the end.
Mr.. w. P. Frith's Railway station,
from Holloway College, and Life at ths
Seaside" from buckingham Palace. arc
examines Of a style of prosaic realism
, which was popular during the victorian
period. and the management Of crovo5
is certainly as wonderful as anything 10
be seen on the modern stage, and the
painting of textures Is as effective az IN
more ambitious art OF a later day. Con-
trasting strongly with these garish cam
vases crowded with figures arc Mr..
David Farauharson's lonely stretches oc
wooded country in Aberfeldy and NIX
rlimpses of the solitudes of Ddrtmoor
and of the windswept Cornish coast az
Sennen Cove under a full moon and with
an thrush of spring tide. Mr.. Robert W.
Macbeth was a better colorist tnah
either of his Academic associates ana
an excellent selection, not only OF h''
PAINTINGS but also of his etchinss ana
water color drawings. has been made'
and much of II Is brilliant work.
The painter and sculptor who cnal-
lenges Sir William Orchardson's ascen@
dancv in this group is Mr.. John Ne
Swan. Not in portraiture. although 10
succeeded fairly we'll in his portraits o.
Mr. Ionides. Edward Onslow Ford ana
Z Matthew Maris; nor in subject pictures.
, albeit "Orpheus Charming the LIONS
, and "Endymion" are brilliant WoFH',
3 Int certainly in exquisite refinement Oh
; craftsmanship. as revealed by his beau
tiful nudes, whether sea nymphs or Do!S
hathing in surf, and also in DECORATIVE
effect as shown by his pictures OF ieop'
ards. lions and tigers. Not only was 10
= an inimitable animal painter. but ne "H'
} also a sculptor, who had genuine creA.
tive power. His Puma and Maed"'
"Orpheus and Ieopards" and bust ot
Cecil Rhodes for the Cape Town memori"'
are bronzes. which sustain his reputd'
, tion as one of the greatest artists IN tne
Academy. Unlike his fellow Acaoe"'''
cian Sir William Orchardson, he WAY
not an insular Briton. Both IN palh'.
l ing and in sculpture he has been traihen
on the Continent and was in touch WI"
: the modern movement OF French ART