Art
A Socialist Decorator
COMPARED with most other types of artist the decorative painter is at a great disadvantage in the matter of exhibiting his work. He cannot transport his murals from place to place, so he is forced to show either photographs, redueed versions, fragments or studies. It must, therefore, be borne in mind that the exhibition of paintings by Lord Hastings at the Lefevre Galleries does not provide an adequate basis for . a real judgement of his work. But in spite of this fact this exhibition should not be missed. Lord Hastings is a pupil of Diego Rivera and, till such time as we can see the work of the latter in this country (and the long-promised exhibition seems to come no nearer), it is of the first importance to see the work of so good a follower.
There are three decorative panels in the exhibition, all in one way or another imperfect. Spanish Government Militia is excellent, but is in effect a fragment. The Hop Pickers is reduced to such a small scale that all its effect of grandeur disappears. Hampstead Fair is the most satisfactory. As a mild social satire it is telling and complete, but it lacks the advantage of direct propagandist content which Spanish Government Militia has, and which we may hope from a fol- lower of Rivera holding the political opinions of Lord Hastings. The big mural at Marx House is more ambitious, and in many ways more successful than any of these paintings, and, to judge from photographs, the decorations in the artist's own house are probably better again. However, the smaller paintings in the exhibition show qualities which might not he expected in this artist. The superb and not altogether kind realism of some of the portraits, particularly that of Major George Lee, is only a particular application of the realism in the decorative panels, but it is a surprise to find such a sensitive and almost mannered piece of draughtsmanship as the portrait of Dr. William MacGovern. There are some paintings in which this skill in linear beauty goes almost too far, especially when . it is combined with a Gothic jewelled colouring, as in Mrs. Langley Moore or Mid-day. The water-colours display quali- ties of yet another kind : a subtle colour sense in The Hut ; fine observation and lovely, rapid notation in figure studies like Indian Man or Covent Garden ; and in Washerwomen the germ of a grand composition. But it is in a drawing like . Tiger King that the greatest proof of Lord Hastings', n.bility lies. Here the most minute observation and realism are combined with monumentality—the head, incidentally, gains . enormously by being bigger than life size—without any particular mannerism. The problem before Lord Hastings seems to be to transfer to fresco and keep up throughout an elaborate composition the qualities displayed here. If he can do this he will not only become a great decorator, but . he will become the English Rivera, not in the sense of the .English follower, but the English equivalent. For in this drawing are features which show in what way Rivera's style needs transforming to suit the English situation.
In the next room at Lefevre's the East London group is holding its annual exhibition. Some of the artists do not seem to have changed very much since the last show. The two Steggles continue to turn out their precise, clear-cut landscapes with the same metallic beauty of colour as before. The result is still lovely in almost every case, but one is tempted to wonder how long this process can be continued without the artists falling into that deadness which conies over them *when a method, too long exploited, turns into a trick. Mr. John Cooper is still in many ways the most technically brilliant of the Group, but I sometimes regret that he should have been seduced so far into the ways of Impressionism. . Miss. Brynhild Parker is perhaps the most remarkable exhibitor. I cannot analyse the particular quality of her paintings, but I know that I find them more satisfactory when she is being simple and straightforward as in The Lighthouse or Flower Piece than when she is being more whimsical and indirect in Tennis Players.
Within his limits Mr. R. P. Bedford, who has a roomful of Sculpture at the same gallery, is a brilliant performer. But the limits between which he works are extremely narrow. His subjects are nearly all flowers or animals, and they are reduced to such abstraction that it matters little from which kingdom they are chosen.
ANTHONY BLukr."
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