DLA095-0067  Transcription

‘Dundee Art Society’s Exhibition’, Dundee Courier, 6 March 1924

With the same square of white canvas and the same tubes of paint what amazing variety of effects can be created by different minds. The exhibition of the Dundee Art Society—Dundee’s Royal Academy, as it were—which opens tonight in the Victoria Gallery, is modesty itself, compared to the great collections at Burlington House or the Champs Elysees, yet it offers an astonishing diversity of outlook.

Each artist has seen some vision of loveliness, which he tries to convey to us, but each sees Nature through the medium of his peculiar temperament. If we can contrive to see things from the same standpoint we will admire that man’s pictures. But most of us would hardly care to say “Why.”

Yet that searching question is to be put by the Art Society to several hundred Dundee children whom they will invite to visit the exhibition, with the further prospect of writing an assay on “What I Think the Best Picture—and Why!”

Here was a new way of regarding an art collection, and in making a preliminary survey of the gallery we tried to put ourselves in the children’s place, and consider what picture made the greatest appeal.

“Hallowe’en,” by Mr. W. S.. MacGeorge, R.S.A., would undoubtedly attract. A group of children out with lanterns is something children can understand. They probably will not appreciate the clever handling of the light or be much impressed by the delightful freshness of the young faces, but, they may perhaps notice that the turnip lanterns are pretty ordinary affairs, not carved with suns and moons as we make them in our countryside.

The “Ordination of Elders,” by Mr J. H. Lorimar. R.S.A., will also have its admirers. It has been described as the most “national picture ever painted” and “one touching the very heart of Scottish piety and reverence.” Perhaps, however, these rugged old men, with bent bucks and gnarled hands, each face a study in character, will arrest the interest of an older generation. “From scenes like these old Scotia’s grandeur springs,” but they are passing even now.

The Fight In the Steeple.

No doubt, however, about No. 204, Mr. C. G. L. Phillips’ vivid rendering of “The defence of the old steeple by Governor Lumsdon against General Monk, 1651.” Here is something that happened in our own town, the battered rose window through which the smoke is curling has been restored, and you can see it to-day. Other work by Mr Phillips they might not notice, the clear amber water in his picture, “The Fisher,” for example—but they will enjoy the stir and strife of “The Defence.”

Further than these we could not follow our imaginary companions. They would probably not linger very long beside Mr. J. Maclauchlan Milne’s “Les Roches,” for it is an artist’s picture, a notable technical achievement. The well-thought-out design, the dexterous management of the planes, and the rich, satisfying colour are all supremely well contrived, and yet we have a sneaking preference for the looser texture, the broken colour, and the inspiring gaiety of his “Luxembourg Gardens” nearby.

“Hampstead Thorn Trees,” by Mr. A. J. Munnings, A.R.A., is another picture with an artist’s appeal. It is only a white horse, lit by the evening light, but for itself it would make the exhibition worth going to see. Dundee has already a white horse by Munnings; this one twould make a charming stable companion.

A Dundee Singer.

Mr. Stewart Carmichael’s portrait of Mr. Neil Matheson is on the same wall, and is the most satisfying of Mr. Carmichael’s portraits. An excellent likeness, the figure is well built up and the Highland dress provides a rich colour scheme. Elsewhere the walls reflect some of the sunshine and glamour caught by the artist during his latest stay under Italian skies, and his decorative study “Anima Celtica” expresses his profound national spirit and enthusiasm.

Mr. Alec Grieve’s brush has been well employed, both at home and abroad. His “Pile Light, Tayport,” has the right tang of the sea and a lovely spacious sky. “Evening on Tentsmuir” is suffused in a golden glow, and his Belgian subjects see rich and colourful, the “Minnewater” being also delightfully composed.

Sir William Orpen and Philip de Laszlo

[Illustration of [4727]]

Laszlo’s painting of Mrs. John M. Fraser.

are each in his own way supreme artists, and reference has already been made to their portraits respectively of Mr. and Mrs. John I. Fraser of Invermay. The bravura of one picture and the tender grace of the other offer contrasted examples of the art of portrait painting which will repay study. If the test of a painter is “managing the hands,” Laszlo has overcome it superbly.

The “Why” of E. A. Walton.

A “Pastoral” by the late Mr E. A. Walton, R.S.A., presents a very puzzling “Why?” The picture transgresses some rules of composition, but it is so gracious and full of charm, and the characteristic brook in the valley—a little bit of blue sky that has become unstuck and tumbled down—is such exquisite colour that we would like to dwell for ever with the picture’s Wordsworthian calm.

Since his departure to Edinburgh Mr David Foggie, R.S.W., has broadened and deepened his art, as several fine examples testify. “Fatigue” is a striking assay in impressionism, and at the other end of the sable is a dainty “Old Gown,” the preliminary study for the delightful “Painter’s Wife,” whose crinoline becomes her so well.

Mr. David P. Ramsay has likewise an alluring portrait, that of “Miss Helen Marie Elizabeth Mowat,” a very simple study of a girl in black, but attractive because the tones are so well handled and the pretty model carries herself with so piquant an air.

Mr. Charles A. Sellar, R.S.A., also scores heavily with his portrait of “Lieut.-Col. A. M. B. Grahame of Glenny”; it is not so much a “speaking” likeness as a “teasing” one, the sitter looking as if he were taking a roguish delight in “ragging” someone—possibly the painter.

A Caird Hall Study.

The “Caird Hall in Course of Erection” has provided Mr G. Wilkie Gahan with a subject which he has turned to surprising account. The great bulk of the building has eluded the artist, but he has captured such mellow tones and so soft an atmosphere that the result is a symphony in grey. A fine “Still Life” testifies to the artist’s versatility, and not everybody can make still life interesting.

The ever-changing charms of our own highlands have naturally furnished meet’ landscapes; thus Mr. J. Calder Smith is represented with an imposing “Loch Mares” and a “Loch Torridon,” most pleasing in its soft distances. Mr. Edwin J. Smith has several examples of Newtonmore landscapes, in which the sunlight and the cloud forms are achieved with fine certainty; while Mr. J. Mackie Smith, also at Newtonmore, obtains several drawings of delicate charm, and one at least with broad and sweeping effect. Miss Edith A. Macintyre’s landscape has breadth and boldness, qualities shared by Miss Helen S. Johnston.

“Furrin’ parts” have boon a magnet for others with pleasing results. Mr. Tom Ross, whose range is very notable, has caught French sunshine enticingly in his “Street of the Golden Apple”—alluring name!—and chic French colour in his Montmartre. His “Curling,” to return home again, has an amazing fund of humour and vivacity.

The “Water Colour Room” is too rich to analyse perfunctorily. Mr. James Watson’s glowing “Fruit Shop, Venice,” and his fresh and verdant “Spring,” so easily got and so fresh in feeling; Mrs. Gwen Cuthbert’s vivid Austrian sketches; Mr. Joseph Gray’s rich “Harvest in Holland”—more particularly his etchings which have caught the very spirit of the low and restful landscape—and Mr. James Cadzow’s bold etchings, giving such a wonderful impression of space and power-are among its contents. So also are Miss Kate Hill’s “Fiesole,” Mr. R. B. Smith’s “Burgillo Road,” Miss Christina B. Ferrier’s clever pastel portrait.

The small landscapes of “Helen Wingate” have a charm that is in part hereditary; Mr. George Davidson’s forest studies have a rich glow and a depth that invites one to walk deep into their mossy paths; and a picture memorable for its vigorous handling is Mr. George Smith’s “Cattle Shelter.” Miss Beatrice M. L. Huntington has provided an essay in cubism, the portrait of Miss Gertrude Dick, which will attract much attention, as will Miss Florence M. Leo’s decorative flower panels.

It would be almost impertinent at the end of a notice to mention the exhibit by the Dundee School of Art. The case of jewellery and metal work sent by its pupils is a revelation of the exquisite craftsmanship practised in the school and the inspiration imparted by its teachers. It would need a notice to itself.

MD

11/11/2007