THE BRANGWYN PICTURE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 158, 28 March 1908, Page 5

THE BRANGWYN PICTURE.

NEW ART PURCHASES ARRIVE. A DESCRIPTION.

Frank Brariguyn's : painting—a -'bit of modern .Venice—which a deputation of art . folk'., oii. the . ,busy, side of the "world had the liick to secure' for the 1 Wellington Art Gallery, arrived from London by the Mamari'a day or so ago, and is now spcceeding in belittling. the .authority, ,'of every other, 'canvas that hangs to the-walls of , the little dingy building, in ~Whitmore: Street.,A glanco .is sufficient show- that', this .is a' great picture by a-masterful 7 hand. Of the vigorous impressionist ,(type,' the streaks of paint' put on with; bold'assurance,. itV'stands .for something new in : arK.in ~Wellington, .and ;as a magnificent, exaii)ple / of the advanced Glasgow School; it'will not improbably stir up the art pulse that beats so feebly', hereabouts/■ . ..Thepainting (4ft; x 4ft'.);,represents a busy quay-side in. Venice,- with tho' rudo shallops of, vulgar commerce being -laden by-brawny stooping figures, under the shadow of the plastered.wall of, a plain drab .block of buildings, that are a combination of the rear of old Santa Maria; whose massive'domo fills ,a space in a sky of 'even iuurk; The lower corner' of v water'has ..all -.that' clear deadness so characteristic of Venice, and the. notion''of picturing Venice at work —in eliminating,, for gondola, : St. Mark's, and, ' tho pigeons-7-is:■ good, but the: painting -is better. • .Close beside, the' picture, the .artist's work looks a streaky smudge by an indefinite dauber, but on'drawing away five of six yards ovory coarse-grainod smudge tells its story. - A groy-brown' dash; apparently a single stroke of the; brush, becomes a bronzed arm, with the muscles ,standihg forth in.iporfect relationship to tho figure, that close lip might : pass, for a casual smear of: mud: It is the ; same with' the faces, tho boats, tho water,'the old; old, walls—{ill brushed in with strong, bold strokes,; in' soinbre" tones,'eaoh with a definite' object. - Wellington's Brangwvn—a real' treasure—should induce many people to visit tho. Art Gallery • to-morrow afternoon. It was cheap at tho price—£2so. 1 With the precious Brangwyiv arrived 'two o,f the other purchases made/on behalf of the Art Gallery, both < very fine; paintings in widely' different styles. ' . One is a pastoral—a gently moving river, flowing' under a lovely tree, past somo well'painted kine, in the distance, ever so far away. There is a soft haze in the air that ■ gives a delicate pcarlino tone to the painting—one that many will, find joy in. . It is from tho brush of Bortram I'riestiuan, , and tho £75, it cost was well spent. ' ';; "a Waterfall," by P.' Wilson-Steer, .is a strong study in rich greens and browns — n'turbulent stream tumbling over a,low fall into a clear-pool, in which are shadowed , the trees and damp stone wall abovo. It is cool and full of artistic effects ithsit oven a casual glanco approves of.' This painting; which has been on view at tho Dublin Exhibition, was well bought at £75.

• Tho' pictures were purchased by Miss Hodgkins; Messrs.'; Norman 1 Garston, Morley Fletcher, and T. L, Dovitt, .to whom nil lovers oF ar't, should feel a deep debt,of gratitude. The purchasers exceeded tho amount set down by: tho Gallery by some £70, which sum will havo to bo raised. -