ART.
WINTER EXHIBITIONS.
IT is difficult to prevent a twinge of regret at the recent conver- sion of the Gallery of the British Institution from an abode of Art to an aristocratic bowling-alley. Of course we are all bound in loyalty to observe that skittles are as necessary to princes as to ordinary men ; and the consolation which is derivable from that consideration, is reinforced by remembering the total failure which of late had attended the efforts of the institution to secure even a respectable collection of modern pictures for its spring exhibi- tions. Unfortunately in exterminating those modern tares the nutritious grain of ancient masters has also been rooted up, and the town may be excused for lamenting the loss of the most pleasurable and instructive of its annual exhibitions of pictures. Two sets of interests are thus injuriously affected, which are not always identical,—those of artists and those of Art. Of these the former are the least able to wait, and they have fortunately found vacant ground at the Dudley Gallery, where it may fairly be hoped they will be attended to with more discriminating and successful care. It may perhaps be said that there is always the Royal Academy open to all the world, and that to exhibit once a year is as much as is wholesome for any artist. But without disput- ing the existence of a certain risk of encouraging hasty production by multiplicity of exhibitions, this, it may be safely answered, is more than counterbalanced by the danger to be apprehended from leaving it wholly to a body of such narrow predilections as the Royal Academy to determine his chance of publicity and fame for every British artist. Infirm as was the management of the British Institution, yet it not unfrequently gave opportunity for new men to assert their claims to notice which the greater crush and equally haphazard management of the Academy are ill-fitted to supply ; and among the pictures now exhibiting at the Dudley and French Galleries, many of great merit and greater promise are by artists hitherto unknown to fame. To begin, however, with an older favourite : there is no more perfect picture at either gallery than "Tired Out" (237, Dudley), by Mr. H. S. Marks. To his characteristic power of expression, Mr. Marks has gradually added the very necessary accomplishments of good arrangement and pleasing colour. So that his pictures, which were always interest- ing, often in spite of awkward composition and careless light-and- shade, now please the eye, as every good picture ought to do, by well ordered lines, and other purely pictorial merits before and almost independently of the intellectual entertainment provided by the ideas conveyed in them. Of course the ideas should regulate the treatment, which in a sense therefore should not be wholly independent of them ; but that the good " pattern " is something besides the good idea, may be seen by the frequent instances supplied by every exhibition of good ideas marred by pure ugliness of form and misproportion of masses. From faults of this nature Mr. Marks has been steadily escaping. "Tired Out" represents a well-to-do farmer or freeholder of the olden time taking a midday nap in his armchair after the morning's toil in a hot sun. Notwithstanding the title of the picture, the man has only been following the old maxim, "Use rest and exercise, but chiefly exercise," and is suffering no more fatigue than will be cured by a little rest in the cool apartment where all his sur- roundings give evidence of his prosperity and comfort. The colour is that of pure daylight, a quality in which the artist has lately made great advances ; the painting is straightforward and essen- tially manly ; and it is a real pleasure to see how well and truly all the accessories are painted,—still keeping their place unobtrusively as accessories,—polished brass, with its harmonious gray reflections, earthenware flower jar, fresh green laurels filling the fireplace, family portrait hanging on the wall, and last, not least, the in- quisitive Aylesbury duck peering into the silence through the door- way that opens on the well-stocked straw-yard. In remarkable contrast with this picture is one by Mr. A. B. Donaldson, the subject of which, " Choir Practice " (250 D), appears to have been chosen for the opportunity it gave for a rich display of colour in ecclesiastical attire. In colour, however, the picture must be pronounced a failure. Of crude and bold colours, indeed, there is no lack ; but of that subtle harmony which constitutes the glory of the colourist, whether his pitch be high or low, there is no sign. There is no attempt to indicate that prime condition of all earthly matters, space ; the figures therefore appear uncomfortably crowded and cramped, while individually they are not redeemed by any vitality or earnestness in expression. For these qualities recourse must be had to a picture by M. Legros (336 D), " Les Demoiselles du Alois de Marie," a picture with as little of the prettinesses of art as can be imagined. But its very severity is in its favour, not only by contrast with its fussier companions in an exhibition, but absolutely as conducive to the full effect of the cloistered scene that it represents, and to the impression of solemnity that surrounds a religious service. In intensity of expression the picture partakes more of the Flemish school of which Leys is the most popular master than of the French school of painters. But, on the one hand, it avoids the heavy vulgar features and the dull small eyes so dear to the Flemish artist, as much as it refuses all relationship, on the other hand, with that sentimental prettiness which is the most odious form of vulgarity, and which is but too familiar in our picture exhibitions. M. Legros paints faces such as all may think they have seen, yet invests them with a meaning and a fervour which lifts them altogether above the common-place. In this picture every head deserves study, but most of all the head of the monk playing on the organ. The transition from such a picture to Mr. Dicksee's "Scene from the Two Gentlemen of Verona " (97) is terribly sudden. Such a Valentine and such a Silvia we may have seen on the stage ; but this pert young woman is certainly not Shakespeare's Silvia, " holy, fair, and wise." However, she is a favourite of Mr. Dicksee's, and figures in a picture exhibited by him at the French Gallery (3) as the shrew Katherine. Mr. Eyre Crowe's "Freres Igno- rantins " (139 D), a company of blackrobed priests displaying, as they pass in procession before a bust of Voltaire, placed in a niche in the public street, every variety of hate, fear, anger, and indifference, possesses undeniable cleverness. But it is difficult to overcome a feeling of the unreality of the scene ; unless indeed it is to be understood that the bust has been only just placed in its niche, and that the brethren see it there for the first time—a circumstance, however, not indicated by the picture. There is a feeling of largeness in Mr. E. Armitage's " Pasquerella" (140 D); but the drawing wants refinement, the lines are unyielding and lifeless. " To live along the line " might well be adopted as the motto expressive of the draughtsman's duty. " The Twins" (69 F), by M. Bouguereau, is an example of this sensitiveness in drawing. " A Shepherdess" (120 F), by the same artist, is an equally good lesson, but an insipid picture. The rich and massive colouring of M. Bisschop are well represented by "At Church" (68 F), and the peculiarities of Mr. Orchardson's style are exemplified in a study of costume and furniture, called "The Sick Chamber" (86 F). Those peculiarities are not all commendable.
The name of Mr. W. L. Wyllie is new among landscape painters, but if he keeps the promise of his present work, should be heard of again. There is an excellent sea view by him at the French Gallery (16), a trifle dull, perhaps, and monotonously grey. But the rolling water is well understood, and the lip of a wave is exceedingly well expressed. A scurry of breakers driven on shore by a " sou'-wester" (343 D), is also a noticeable sketch, notwithstanding some want of fluidity in the water. Ths burst of light through a squally sky, and the fishing boats tearing through the tossing waves, are true and spirited. Mr. Hall sends a similar subject, realizing with unusual success the difficult effect of the sun shining through sea-scud. The spray fills and whitens all the air (40 D). Inexperience in the use of oil colours has apparently prevented Mr. A. Severn's "Sea near the Land's End" (201 D) telling with the full effect which its grand subject and bold treatment deserve. Mr. H. Moore is less ambitious in aim, but he is more practised in the use of his material, and
perhaps a more sedulous student of nature. Hence he seldom fails to paint good daylight. "Slimmer Dabblers" (209 D) is a good example of this. But he should be cautioned against a tendency to coarseness in execution which does not seem natural to him. Painted in a different manner, but also very good for its pure daylight, is Mr. Sidley's quiet sunset in " Conway Bay " (29 D). Mr. G. Maw- ley contributes to the Dudley Gallery one of its principal landscapes, "A Canal—Evening" (68). The canal stretches away in a straight course between tall rows of poplars, in the shade of which a barge is towed noiselessly along by its three horses. The stateliness of the tall trees gives a certain dignity to the composition very characteristic of French landscape (the scene is French), and the local beauty of the scene is further enhanced by the blue sheepskins of the horses and blouses of the men. The picture is not entirely free from heaviness ; perhaps it is painted with too equal emphasis throughout. But Mr. Mawley has taught us to judge him by a high standard. Mr. W. W. Deane is another artist of the true ring. None knows better the value of pure gray and pervading daylight, and the utter futility of seeking for force in blackness (115 D). Mr. Edgar Barclay seems inclined to follow the same good road. "The Town Gate, Capri " (17 D), is very promising ; and there is much good taste and grace in " Spreading Figs to Dry " (175 D) ; but there is much to criticize in his draperies, and here his sunlight is not luminous. Mr. George Mason obtains a rare quality of colour in his quiet studies about the Staffordshire moors (87), but they indicate too little light for any time of day but twilight. " A Sketch from Nature" (192 D) by him is a surprising instance of beauty arising out of a just harmony and proportion of colours extracted from a very unpromising subject. Mr. Hemy's " View of Chelsea " (104 D) is pleasant in tone, though awkward in com- position, while Mr. E. Edwards arrests attention by the intense reality of dreary cold in his " Winter at Sunbury" (119 D).
At the French Gallery is a good landscape by Mr. H. W. B. Davis, " In the Dunes, Picardy" (176), with no want of tone or refinement. Something of both is yet required by Mr. Leader before he arrives at the point of success which yet always seems as if it should be within his reach. " A September Morning on the Llugwy " (11), is bright, but thin ; " A Highland Loch" (34), with a glowing twilight sky, is a landscape more of the Welsh than of the Scotch character, but it shows at least some feeling for a mountain ; whereas " The Cuchullin Hills, Skye " (128), by Mr. Dunbar, are robbed of all their grandeur and mystery. There is a tolerable specimen of the Flemish painter Clays (87) ; and a view of Chatham by Mr. Dawson (110), not unskilfully treated, but
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