TWO MODERN ARTISTS.
Stanley Spencer and Henry Lamb. "The Contemporary British Artists" Series. (Bean, Limited. 8s. 6d. net each.) THE admission of Mr. Stanley Spencer -to the distinguished company of contemporary artists already represented in Messrs. Benn's series is fully justified, and the thirty-five illustrations summarizing his work up to the present day, vindicate his claim to consideration- as an-artist of established importance. Since his entry into the Slade School in 1909 he has always shown a predilection for drawing upon the more dramatic moments of Gospel history for his subject matter, and his picture called "The Visitation" is analyzed by R. H. W., the author of the introduction, in the following illuminating passage :— " In this touching picture the Virgin, embodied in the figure of a Cookham kitchen-maid, in a pink print dress and newly laundered apron, has just arrived at her cousin's house. Through the open door behind her we see a cottage garden with some corrugated iron sheds. The Virgin pants, for she has come 'with haste,' and emotion plays its part, too, in her shortness of breath. The matron, in coarse woollen clothes of a humble station, ,has come to the door. She takes the girl by the hand, leads her within, and will shortly hear the story of her vision and of the things that are to be. Nothing could be simpler or more delicate than Spencer's presentation of this scene."
In this, as in his Blake-like " Resurrection " (1914), a finely realized whole has been produced out of his artistic and intellectual sympathies. Meaning is implicit in every line. Since the War his chief pictures have been "Christ carrying the Cross," "The Last Supper," "At a Dressing Station," and his big "War Composition." In these the emotion is less part of the fabric of the composition, and he has chosen rather to crystallize the characteristics of a scene by portraying as vividly as possible a second of its physical enactment.
Although influenced by Stanley Spencer, the work of Henry Lamb shows a more catholic sympathy and amore gracious and mature manner. His well-known portrait of Mr. Lytton Strachey is a great achievement involving - an appreciation of character and the ability to translate it into pictorial forth in the happiest-manner possible. The process is so complete as to make no line irrelevant, -no detail merely
incidental. He has at his command a lucid and charming style of painting and a mastery of line. Early he developed a facility in the lyrical manner, and to this period belong the " Portrait " and "Head of a Bretonne " (1914). Though that period is 'over, its charm is not lost, and such pictures as "Homily John," the " Anrep Family," his excellent War picture now in the Tate Gallery, and the various views of Poole, make one impatient for what is yet to come. It is unavoidable that each of these volumes should be in a manner introductory. There is, one imagines, no idea that either of these painters are to have final judgment passed on them. In neither case has their art reached its maturity, and if we look forward to even better things it is in a spirit not of disappointment but rather of congratulation.
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