GREAT BRITAIN: London: EXHIBITIONS OPEN DURING JUNE Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington. Loan Exhibition of Paintings by George Morland. Guildhall Art Gallery. Exhibition of Irish Painters. A collection of more than 300 pictures, by artists of Irish descent, which was originally destined for the St. Louis Exhibition. It should be a show of some interest, since it includes works by many of the most prominent of our younger British painters. It will remain open on Sundays as well as on weekdays for about six weeks. Borough Polytechnic. Southwark and Lambeth Loan Exhibition (to June 5). The Royal Academy. Summer Exhibition. The Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colour. The Royal Institute of Painters in Water-Colour. The Royal Society of British Artists. The New Gallery. Summer Exhibition. The Burlington Fine Arts Club. Exhibition of Sienese art. Dudley Gallery Art-Society. John Baillie's Gallery. Pictures and Sketches by Australian Artists. Coloured Drawings by Charles Pears. Carfax & Co. Caricatures by Max Beerbohm. This amusing exhibition includes the drawings for 'The Poets' Corner,' reviewed on page 324. Carlton Galleries. Exhibition of Works by Old Masters. P. & D. Colnaghi. Collection of Early English and other pictures, in aid of King Edward's Hospital Fund, Dickenson's Galleries. Water-Colours by Sophia Beale. (June 25 to July 9.) Dowdeswell Galleries. Silver and Enamels by Alexander Fisher. Water-colours by H. S. Tuke. Fine Art Society. Holman Hunt's Light of the World. Egypt and the Nile, by Talbot Kelly. The Lifeboat, by C. Napier Hemy. Goupil & Co. Studies by A. C. Coppier. Bindings by Leicester Galleries. Water-Colours of Japanese life and landscape, by A. E. Emslie. Water-Colours of Dutch life, by Nico Jungmann. New Hanover Gallery. Works by S. Lepine. T. Maclean. Spring Exhibition. The well-known Peacock Room is perhaps the most Shepherd Bros. Exhibition of Pictures by Early British Masters. A. Tooth & Sons. Spring Exhibition. E. J. Van Wisselingh. English, French, and Dutch Pictures. Vicars Bros. Mezzotints by J. B. Pratt. Musée des Arts décoratifs and Bibliothèque Nationale (rue Vivienne). Exhibition of French Primitives. A preliminary notice appeared in the April number of THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE, and longer illustrated articles upon it appear in the present and July numbers. Grand Palais des Beaux-Arts. Salon de la Société Nationale. (The Salon du Champ de Mars.) Small Exhibition of works by Renouard. Grand Palais des Beaux-Arts. Salon des Artistes Français. Musée du Luxembourg. Temporary Exhibition of French Art of the latter part of the xix century. Musée Galliera. Exhibition of Lace. Galeries Durand-Ruel, 16 rue Laffitte. don, by Claude Monet (to June 4). group of Spanish Painters. Galerie Bernheim Jeune, 8 rue Laffitte. works by Sickert. Galerie Vollard, 6 rue Laffitte. Views of LonExhibition of a Exhibition of Works of Bertzuhicher. Salle Le Peletier, 20 rue Le Peletier. Exhibition of a group of artists. AMERICA: Universal Exhibition. The Fine Art Section contains a splendid collection of works by contemporary and deceased painters. NOTE. It is announced that the collection of Mr. James Orrock will be sold at Christie's on June 4th. The collection contains several remarkable English pictures, among which is one of Turner's views of Walton Bridges, and the painting by Constable which was the subject of some discussion when exhibited at Burlington House a few years ago. On June 8th the sale of the collection of the late Duke of Cambridge will begin. It includes some fine porcelain, furniture, and miniatures, and interesting portraits by Reynolds, Gainsborough, Lawrence, and Beechey. The remainder of Mr. Hawkin's collection is announced for sale towards the end of the month. The miniature by Holbein, from the second portion of the collection, which fetched such an enormous price on May 15, will be produced in photogravure in the July number of THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE, with a note by Mr. Richard R. Holmes, C.V.O. We understand that it has passed into the hands of Mr. Pierpont Morgan. 231 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF PAINTERS IN WATER COLOURS 63. Lady Flora. E. J. Sullivan. 88. Stop Thief! A. Rackham. III. Moonlit Silence, Pompeii. A. Goodwin. THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF PAINTERS IN WATER COLOURS THE NEW GALLERY *45. Progress. G. F. Watts. 68. Lord Rayleigh. Sir G. Reid. 112. Beauty and the Beast. J. D. Batten. *132. Endymion. G. F. Watts. 147. A Thunder Cloud. James S. Hill. 150. Giles Hunt, Esq. H. R. Mileham. 168. Jack. J. J. Shannon. *193. A Fugue. G. F. Watts. 201. The Irish Primate. H. Harris Brown. THE NEW ENGLISH ART CLUB 12. Ditchling, Sussex. A. W. Rich. 14. View of Richmond. P. Wilson Steer. CARFAX & Co. *Caricatures by Max Beerbohm. LEICESTER GALLERIES *Drawings by Sir. E. Burne-Jones. The best drawings are those executed before the year 1896. TOOTH AND SONS *Pictures by Fritz Thaulow. Nos. 4, 5, and 10, are perhaps the best. THE FINE ART SOCIETY The Light of the World. W. Holman Hunt. Notices of the Royal Academy and other Exhibitions are held over till next month for want of space. ✔ EDITORIAL ARTICLES I-SOME DIFFICULTIES OF COLLECTING NE or two correspondents have recently suggested to us that we should inaugurate a department for advising collectors of modern works of art. Such an institution would be, of course, as impossible in practice as it is desirable in theory. We have previously referred to the chaotic condition of affairs in which the modern artist and the modern patron have to meet, and to the contrarieties of the criticism which, instead of being a help, is often an added source of confusion. We are not, therefore, greatly surprised when collectors in despair take to buying snuff boxes, or colour prints, or third-rate works by old masters, whose place in art and commerce, though modest, is at least assured, or when the Chantrey Trustees, with the remonstrances of Mr. MacColl and a large section of the press sounding in their ears, fail to improve upon their previous record. The trustees have, indeed, some excuse in our national system of purchase. To avoid the risk of relying upon the judgement of a single man, the English have 232 acquired a habit, which is fast becoming a custom, of supporting their buyers by a more or less expert committee. Now, though admirable in theory, the custom has proved an utter failure in practice, and the cause is not hard to discover. A committee cannot always meet at a moment's notice, and so opportunities are lost. Each member has his own preferences in art, and if they are not consulted is apt to oppose those of his fellows. The result is delay, compromise, and the purchase of unemphatic and second-rate things which excite neither opposition nor interest. Under the circumstances we can only regret that the trustees should not have refrained from purchasing until they could agree upon the acquisition of some notable work which would to some extent atone for the mistakes of past years and their deplorable silence. If we have lost our traditional pluck the committee system is the only one possible. If not, the sooner we do away with it the better. Our great collections were not made by committees, but by single men who had the courage of their convictions. Most, if not all, made mistakes, but they more than atoned for them by their successes. It is to individuals that the arts must continue to look for support, and to make their task as easy as possible is the first duty of all honest critics. Modern exhibitions are so large that even the actual form of newspaper criticism tends to make any notice of mixed exhibitions into a solidly printed string of names and epithets difficult to read, and still more difficult to remember. We therefore think it may be of some use to our readers to have a record of notable pictures in the current exhibitions in a shape which can be II-THE IGNORANCE OF ONYONE who is compelled to examine the vast mass of pictures annually produced in England must from time to time be overcome by a feeling of disappointment which, if he is in earnest, will amount almost to despair. Where such mountains of effort are obviously in travail, it seems incredible that the result should be so ridiculously small. Were it not indeed that most artists have to gain some sort of a living by their work, it would be excusable to wonder if most of their efforts were serious. The average painter, of course, has to concentrate his mind on technical questions. It would therefore be perhaps too much to expect that he should possess a reasonable knowledge of general literature and history. As a rule, however, he does not appear to be capable of taking a wide and intelligent view even of his own business, or to be acquainted with the pictures and books of other men which could help him to learn to paint. He is content to accept the mode in fashion with his fellow students, and sticks to it through thick and thin, however ill it may suit his particular talent. Some Difficulties of Collecting understood at a glance. In making it we have tried to recognize only serious artistic purpose and well-directed effort, on whatever tradition they are based, whether old or modern. Special attention is given to signs of promise in little-known artists, because they best deserve the encouragement of collectors and of the public. We hope soon to deal on a more extended scale with the possibility of a sensible canon of criticism. It is, perhaps, the most important question to be settled between the modern artist and the modern collector, and therefore, in spite of its delicacy and difficulty, it is one which we are bound to face. THE ART STUDENT The student has undoubtedly some excuse for this narrowness. Nowadays the great tradition of painting is confused by many widely diverse aims and methods, so that the best method for training any individual talent may not easily be found. None the less from this chaos some excellent artists have emerged during the last fifty years, so that the failure of the rest must not be attributed to the character of the age in which they have lived, but to some defect of character or training. They fail simply because they have lost their way. Now, though the number of books on art has increased enormously during the last few years, their quality has not increased in a like ratio. We have had elaborate studies of single schools and single artists, but not one book which takes a clear and unbiassed view of painting as a whole. That omission has suddenly been remedied. Two books have just appeared which should be of incalculable use both to students and to fully-fledged painters who have not yet quite forgotten how to think. The elaborate volume by Mr. Charles Ricketts' is reviewed elsewhere. The more modest and 1The Prado and its Masterpieces.' By C. S. Ricketts. Constable. £5 5s. net. elementary work of Mr. George Clausen,2 however, does not need such detailed discussion. Among Academicians, Reynolds, Eastlake, and C. R. Leslie have a lasting place in the literature of the fine arts, and it is hardly claiming too much for Mr. Clausen's book to say that it will survive in their company. Being adapted to the need of the moment and to an audience of students, his book is of necessity limited in its scope; within those limitations it fulfils its purpose admirably. For a painter to be fair alike to the Italian primitives, to Michelangelo, to Rembrandt, and to Monet is an astonishing feat, but Mr. Clausen's judgements throughout are so sound and just that an over-estimation of Bastien Lepage is the worst crime of which he can be accused. The only other words in the book we would alter would be the name of Ambrogio de Predis on page 92, which seems to be a slip. We are glad that the Royal Academy should in some degree be associated with a work so invaluable, not only to students, but also (if they could but realize it) to most professional painters, for during the last few years the teaching of Academicians, judged by results, has not been successful. With such a well-informed and catholic guide to help them, their students should now do much better. We wish the President and Council could accept their own professor's estimate of Alfred Stevens, Whistler, Burne-Jones, and Madox Brown, and, as we have suggested in a previous article, do them the justice which the Chantrey's trustees have once more denied to them. Sir Edward Poynter's recent public tribute to Whistler's genius indicated that so far as he is concerned there is no insuperable obstacle. This, however, is but a side issue; the main fact about Mr. Clausen's lectures is 2. Six Lectures on Painting.' By George Clausen. Stock. 5s. net. Elliot that they represent a serious and sensible effort to deal with the muddle of conflicting theories which makes the task of art students even more difficult than it was in simpler ages. In insisting upon the essential unity of all the traditions which have produced good painting, Mr. Clausen has performed a service to the fine arts and to the British nation of which they have long stood in sore need. The best confirmation of the soundness of his conclusions is their coincidence on all essentials with those of Mr. Ricketts, who sets out from a very different point of view, and with an entirely different purpose. Neither one nor the other will convince the considerable body of those who are too obstinate to listen or too stupid to understand. We are sure, however, that there is a small minority, which includes all talents worth the saving, who are neither obstinate nor stupid, but are only puzzled. To them we heartily recommend these two admirable books. Mr. Ricketts (unfortunately he has no occasion to deal in detail with Michelangelo and Rembrandt) should teach them how and why the great masters of painting are great masters. Mr. Clausen can point out to them that the principles on which those great masters worked are not dead and antiquated, but are the backbone of all that is best in the art of to-day. so poor. No amount of school teaching, no addition to government estimates, no system of scholarships and grants and prizes, can make up for the lack of systematic thought which makes the average of our painting It is because these two books are vigorous and stimulating to the mind that we think they are likely to stop to some extent the waste of ill-directed talent which is the saddest feature of the art of our age and country. We wish them therefore the success they deserve. |
