A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
THE commentators have been so busy in pointing out that it was rude of Mr. Adrian Stokes, as one of the hosts, to interrupt the Prime Minister, a guest, at the Royal Academy banquet, that they have over- looked the point of the remark. I do not for a moment justify Mr. Stokes's action, and so far as Mr. MacDonald is concerned, it is only fair to remember that it is in the tradition of these occasions to talk more about the Government, the Army and the Navy than about art, and that Mr. MacDonald was merely conforming to conditions prescribed by precedent. The fault then —if it is a fault—was not Mr. MacDonald's, but that of the Academy itself, which year after year for as long as I can remember has surrounded itself with such adventitious worldly glory as it can get from the presence of persons distinguished in the. world of politics and society—perhaps with some of the wisdom of the serpent which knows that such publicity brings patrons to the galleries and purchasers of pictures. But it is worth noting that the Prince of Wales and other members of the Royal Family who have attended in recent years have insisted upon talking about art. The Prince of Wales is generally in the right in matters of taste. This is the one occasion in the year when the nation's only accredited body of artists claims the attention of the public in the same insistent way that the Chancellor of the Exchequer does on Budget day. Surely the subject of talk on this evening of pomp and ceremony should be art, and especially contemporary art.
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