DLA095-0151  Transcription

‘How the Artist Conquers the Camera. Some Predominant Personalities in the Dundee Art Society Exhibition’, Dundee Evening Telegraph, 6 March 1924

Painted pictures possess a charm too elusive to be captured and imprisoned by the camera. By the modern film, often so full of exquisite detail and luxury, we are awed, amused, or thrilled, but we do not obtain the subtle satisfaction to be gotten from the small canvas on which has been impressed a picture composed of a hundred thousand brush strokes and an artist’s personality. The photograph reproduces life as it is, but the artist adds something more to this life. He interprets nature, as he sees it, and we are delighted, for he has found new beauty in old things.

It is in such a frame of mind one should visit the Dundee Art Society’s exhibition opened in the Albert Institute to-day, for one of the chief interests is the strong personality that pervades the work of most of the painters. Although many take for their subjects such common things as a clump of trees, a flowing stream, or a building, each present us with something new. Sometimes it is an unusual tint in the skies or water, again, a fairy depth of woods or the grimness of tall trees. Others interpret a uniformity or diversity in Nature we have not noticed before. The pictures being strongly individual, a word must be said for those who arranged the hanging, for there are few clashes.

A Virile Portrait.

Dundee is fortunate in having the opportunity of seeing new studies by Sir William Orpen and Mr. Philip de Laszlo. These artists have painted portraits of Mr. J. M. Fraser and Mrs. Fraser [4727] of Inverary respectively (Nos. 187 and 201). Orpen, in characteristic style, has taken full advantage of strong light and shadow, thereby investing his study of Mr. Fraser with vigour and life. His aim has been to interpret the man, not to make a pretty picture, and he has succeeded.

Laszlo, the exquisite, has aimed at creating a beautiful picture. He also has succeeded. Although compelling admiration by its delicate colouring and brushwork, it reminds one of some fragile piece of porcelain ware or a delectable sweetmeat.

Mr. David Foggio’s painting of his wife (No. 247) is, perhaps, the finest portrait by a member of the Dundee Society. Not only is it natural and lifelike, but is enhanced by by [sic] an original perspective. The artist has painted from a considerable distance above his subject. Mr. Foggio's impressionistic excursion into a study of the nude is less fortunate. He depicts a young girl, with back turned, kneeling before what appears to be an oil stove, her arms strangely twisted behind her back. The pose does not make the most of a beautiful body, and so it disappoints.

A Weaver of Colours.

The style of Mr. Alec Grieve is particularly attractive. Breaking his colour in a subtle way, he achieves an effect that is reminiscent of rich, old tapestry. One would describe his pictures as being woven rather than painted. His best work is where he introduces old waterways in which are reflected colourful buildings. Three from his many exhibits (Nos. 184, 188, 236) are especially fine, and show his art of employing mellowed colours and a luminous red.

The same technique, only intensified and more vivid, is employed by Miss Jana Younger. Her colours are dazzling and broken like a mosaic. Distance is a necessary part of her work’s beauty, and her studies under Continental skies, “A Corner of Dieppe” and “Quimperle” (Nos. 46 and 71) are especially fine.

War in the Old Steeple.

Local interest enhances Mr. Charles G. L. Phillips’s “The Defonee of the Old Steeple of Governor Lumsden” (No. 204). What seems to be an error in perspective—the figures in the front being too large or those behind being too small—is over ridden by the heroic atmosphere. Here we see soldiers firing from the windows of Dundee’s oldest building, while others are being tended for grievous wounds. A mist of powder smoke hangs heavily in the air. This is the sort of picture that could well belong to the city.

Mr. S. W. Gahan’s painting of the Caird Hall in the course of erection is another interesting piece of work. Although the sense of hugeness and magnitude has been missed, it has a real atmosphere. In detail it is almost photographic. The “Ordination of the Elders” (No. 19a), by Mr. J. H. Lorimer, portrays some real Scottish types which, alas! are dying out only too rapidly. Each of the figures represented is a character, the expressions of reverenee and awe being skilfully brought out.

For boldness of conception and execution few exhibits can compare with Mr. Maclauchlan Milne’s massive picture, “Les Roches” (No. 212).  It depicts a tiny village held prisoner by a gigantic crag from behind and tall trees in front. Striking the eye with its balance and clean-cut design, it gives an impressive illusion of distance.

Delicate Water Colour Pictures.

Mr. Stewart Carmichael’s adventures into water-colours are always charming, and those he exhibits this year are no exception to this rule. Marked for their precision of detail and sense of solidarity; their colouring never fails to please. A good example is to be seen in his “The Old Crypt Ghent” (No. 68). This year he exhibits a number of portraits, including one of the Dundee singer, Neil Matheson. Although carefully painted and well posed, these are the less fortunate pats of his work. A word must be said for Mr. Carmichael’s allegorical paintings, such as “Reconciliation” (No. 234)—a troubled youth receiving comfort from an aged and bearded man. These, all of which have the priceless quality of an idea, are reminiscent of Watts in conception and colouring and Burne Jones in execution.

Fairy Woods and Captured Sunlight.

The secret of “painting deep” has surely been found by Mr. George Davidson. One can see for miles, it would seem, in the fairy woods of his “The Drive, Lytham” (No. 148), while one is entranced by the colouring of his “Edge of the Wood” (No. 221). Another artist who has got very close to nature is Mr. Harry G. Shields. His “Drowsy Autumn”—a study of trees, the green, and sunlight—is prominent for its vitality and light.

“The Burnside, East Linton” (No. 176) by Mr. W. M. Fraser, attracts by its subdued and mysterious colouring. It depicts great trees sinking into a gentle mist, until they become a ghostly embroidery.

The Moderns.

The modernist spirit is represented in the exhibition strongly by Miss B. M. L. Humintgon in her portrait of a girl (No. 44). Flat in the surface and strangely angled, the picture demand attention, and is certainly attractive. There is a strong touch of cubism in the work. One cannot but appreciate it, but one wants to ask questions. Wherefore the strange shadows over the forehead, if they be shadows? And why has the mouth been painted on conventional lines when the rest of the free and the shoulders have been done with an eye to cubist effect? The artist has impressed her personality strongly, and the evenness of her execution is refreshing.

Another painter who has gone off the beaten track is Miss Edith A. MacIntyre, especially in her picture, “Moonlight” (No. 218). The colours and outline are unconventional, and the moon is like an orange, but a certain atmosphere of loveliness and unreality of night is obtained. In fact, the artist has “got there,” and for it we like the picture. The same applies to her poster-like effects in “A Day in Early Spring” (No. 206).

Apart from pictures there is a pleasing exhibition of jewellery and metalwork by the Dundee Art Society and others.

MD

25/11/2007