ART
New Watercolours by Paul Nash. At Tooth's Galleries. Early English Watercolours. At the Fine Art Society.
MR. NASH'S most successful watercolours have been, and are, within a restricted range of light, cool colour. His landscapes under snow, his treatment of cold megolithic stones on grey green hills and his pastoral woods on sunless days have—quite apart from his romantic, powerful and sometimes surrealist nostalgia for primaeval and pre- historic atmosphere—given him an important place in contemporary painting. Mr. Nash possesses a complete mastery of the medium of watercolour, providing he keeps within this range ; his method derives from Cezanne's economical use of washes, and to this he brings a completely native and personal vision. In this exhibition the landscapes under snow, mist and frost, Nos. 2 and 15 in par- ticular, show him wonderfully in control of the situation, with his subtle use of the white paper beneath the colour. These, together with Flower resting in a landscape," are fine examples of his personal art. On the whole, this exhibition does not contain any particularly important watercolours, and many of them are slight, but the most interesting exhibits are Mr. Nash's failures rather than his successes. In his pictures of aircraft for the War Artists' Committee and in certain recently reproduced examples of flower forms in landscape, Nash has been experimenting with watercolour in much warmer and sometimes stronger colours. These, I think, are not as yet successful. In the present exhibition 'the sultry purples and shrill yellows of the studies of the sun descending are somewhat turgid and lacking in depth. The economy of means, so successful where the tones of wash do not depart too far from the colour of the paper, becomes posterish where it creates harsh contrasts, but Mr. dash will doubtless solve the equation, and we may look forward to seeing exciting results. The collection of early English watercolours at the Fine Art Society contains little of interest except the Rowlandsons and a tremendous tour de force by Turner. The Coxes, Cotmans and Gainsboroughs are not outstanding examples, the Palmers are late and consequently poor, and" the exhibition is badly overcrowded. There are, however, several good Rowlandsons, and one in particular, called "River Scene," is a lovely thing. Turner's "Vesuvius in Eruption" is an amazing watercolour, so hot that one wonders that its mount is unsinged and yet perfectly controlled. Mr. Nash could look at it with advantage if he intends to pursue his way
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