ART IN BRITAIN

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 150, 29 June 1928, Page 3

ART IN BRITAIN

THE ACADEMY BANQUET! A SOUND INSTINCT SPIRIT OF FAIENESS " (From "The Post's" Representative) . ' LONDON, IGth May. As usual, a t>rilliant gathering of people distinguished in tlio arts and sciences, in literature, politics, and other walks.of.life, attended the Royal Academy banquet at Burlington House. Prince Arthur of Gonnaught, the chief guest, sat on the right of the president, Sir Frank . Dicksce, on "whose left, was the Spanish Ambassador. On the right of Prince- : Arthur of Connaught was the Archbishop of Canterbury, ■ and others at the top .. table included the Lord (Lord Hailsham), the First Lord of tho Ad-' miralty (Mr. W.C. Bridgoman), the Home Secretary' (Sir W. Joynson-Hicks), Secretary for the Dominions (Mr. L. S. Amery), the. Lord Chief Justice (Lord Howart), the Earl of Croiner, the Earl of ■ Crawford, Lord Harding of Pcnshurst, the Secretary for Air (Sir Samuel, Hoare),. Viscount Esher, Sir James Barrie, Mr. Eudyard Kipling, the Speaker (Mr. J. H. Whitley),. Viscount Lee of Fareham, tho Lord Mayor of London (Sir Charles .Batho), the- Duke of Marlborough, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. (Lord Cushendun), Lord Darling, Sir John Simon, the Duke of Sutherland, Lord Woolavington, and Viscount Younger. The president, giving the Boyal toasts, said that trust and affection were the main features of the regard so deeply-seated in the, hearts of the people for the Royal Family. Prince Arthur of Connaught, responding, said he was glad to be able to say something about the opportunities for tho enjoyment of art and about what appeared to him, from tho non-expert point of view, to be encouraging signs in that direction. The fine arts as a profession must obyiously be confined to the few, but as a recreation they wero becoming more and more within the easy; reach of tho many. That was all to the good. When ho spoke- of "recreation," he meant not so much .the amateur practice of art as the pleasure and benefit derived from a study" of the handiwork of pro-, fessional art.ist-s.' London and other great cities at Home and abroad,-with their buildings, their galleries, and their museums, had become accessible to vast numbers who years, ago never enjoyed such opportunities as . they had now for seeing the paintings, architecture, and the sculpture of every school and period. „' '. MOTOR ROADS AND BEAUTY. Thus the: public, was being educated to a keener appreciation of art, and here increased ■ travelling .facilities should bo a help rather than a Mnd- '■ ranetf, although they might remember how strongly ißuskiu expressed his dis^ like of railways. Buskin, referred to stations as '-'tho very temple of discomfort,", and to their decoration as "another of the strange and evil tendencies ' of• the present day;" But things had changed for.the better since then, particularly in the designing.of posters by really good yartists to make known, not only the places of interest, but also—arid1 more important still- — the produce from every quarter of the British Empire. Those excellent posters gave a. more vivid " impression of conditions overseas than maps and textbooks, and should go far to stimulating a desire to '/travel Imperially" as well as to "buy Imperially." "With, the opportunities afforded by motor-cars for observing and enjoying the beauties of nature in the country, besides those of art in the towns, there exists," Prince Arthur continued, "a corresponding danger that in catering for the needs of the motorists, the amenities of our countryside arid of our villages arc being seriously impaired. Nevertheless, Ido feel that this danger might well be averted by a judicious combination of the interests of art and trade. A better appreciation of tho beauties of Nature would also save the many lovely places open to the public—gardens, and commons, and woods—from the damage and disfigurement they suffer, only, too often, I am afraid, from tho thoughtlessness of visitors in.throwing about lighted cigarette ends, matches, and other litter.". ■■■ '..■■■;.: ;...'"'■■ THREE STAGES OF HANGING. Lord Hewart, the Lord Chief Justice, replied for the guests. Some of them, ho said, were ..profoundly impressed by reading in "The Times"1 that morning the following pregnant", words: "Like every other institution, the . Royal Academy stands' for more than what', it actually; contains." (Laughter.) Their guests might perhaps be pardoned if they asked whether that was not a far, far better way than to contain moro than they could actually, stand. (Laughter.);! It used to bo said in tha good, or bad, old days that the Houne of Commons consisted of three- classes :of persons—the knighted, the -benighted, and the to-bq-knighted. (Laughter.) Perhaps it might bo said to-day that j, the guests at that annual banquet wero exhaustively divided into those who had.had a hanging, those whoe wore about to having a hanging, and those who, at any rate, deserved a hanging. (Renewed laughter.) It was a matter in which the prerogative of mercy was but rarely exercised, and still more rarely understood. ,' PORTRAIT PAINTERS' PERILS. There was a pleasant phrase which j came down to us on the joint authority of Boswcll and Langton. "Sir," had said Samuel Johnson a century and a half ago, "among the anfractuosities of tho human mind I know not if it may not bo one, that there is a superstitious reluctance to sit for a picture." (Laughter.) It might bo. a superstition, but it was also something, more. A member of the fair sex might indeed say or sing— • -.. . . Ah, Lely, sure some heavenly grace Inspires the painter's art; My mirror makes me hate my face, You make it win my heart. But in the caso of what might be called the non-flapping sex, other considerations seenied to apply. (Laughter.) Two perils awaited the portrait painter. The portrait might be too like, or it might be too little like, and it was not easy to say which caused the greater pain. (Laughter.) ■ Mankind owed and acknowledged a debt of admiration, of affection, and of reverence to the artist, and it was in that spirit of sincero^gratitude that tho guests thanked them for tho opportunity of being present, arid,:might he add—of hearing that wonderful speech from the Lord Chancellor which sent a thrill down their backs as if they were listening- to good music. (Cheers.) UNIQUE PRESTIGE. Lord D'Abornou, proposing "The Royal Academy," remarked that their hosts, with the modesty which adorned but did not always accompany it, had placed their own toast last on tho list. How was it that tho Royal Academy had attained the remarkable power it exorcised and the unique prestige it enjoyc.d? Nothing.like it was to bo seen in foreign lands. He had lived a groat deal in certain countries pre-eminent for artistic achievement, and in others where artistic education was pursued with method and thoroughness, but.lio knew,, of no State

where tho coiTCsponding institution enjoyed tho position of the Royal Academy. The glory of the names of past and present members of tho Eoyal Academy out explained much. 'Consider the. resplendent list of Eeynolds, Gainsborough, Wilson, Lawrence, Constable, Turner, Mallais, Watts, Sargent. He. spared tho blushes of those present by not endeavouring.to anticipate the verdict of posterity. ! . ■.'..,- There was another reason for , the great position of the Academy—the broadi spirit of fairness which ,had governed their election of associates. Merit and talent had been the test — jealousy and prejudice had been kept under. The classification had been vertical, not horizontal. In similar bodies' it had not always been so. ',','■ Another of the speakers was Lord Hailsham, the Lord High Chancellor, who replied for "His Majesty's" Min-' isters."' The presence of representatives of His, Majesty's Government at Eoyal Academy banquets was, be ■believed, an inimeinorial custom, and it did not, seem evident at first, why artists, whose main concern was the search for beauty, should take in them such an interest. (Laughter.) In this country, unlike some foreign^ lands, there was no official connection between the Government and art. If artists drank the health of His Majesty's Ministers/they did so, after all, as free and disinterested citizens— they sought no favours and their votes ,wero not being sought by the: politicians.- in truth, .the activities of His Majesty's Government in the'sphere ofart wore confined to very narrow limits —grants to a- few galleries, an almost anonymous Finn Arts Commission, the preservation of a" bridge,- the erection of a telephone call-box, or a telegraph pole, and.the designing of a sixpence or a postage stamp..- (Laughter.) ■' ■ ,'.. BRITISH ATTITUDE TO ART j We seemed almost to be half ashamed —so practical and sensiblo a people were wo—to be concerned with the embroideries of life: we seemed to cherish an uneasy suspicion that art was not of interost to the riatiijn, but a luxury to bo tolerated for the sake of the few. That, he feared, was the traditional attitude of the country, and although it was largely a superficial pose,.yet it did, to a great extent, colour'our attitude towards art in the nation's life. This was> also how we appeared to our Continental friends.' They said that when we did recognise the right of tho artist to exist at all we at' once tried to subdue his art to utilitarian purposes; The English,' they said, did not feel art or desire it for it 3 own sake. It-had to be justified to them as providing return for the: ex.penditure of effort and money. ; It was probably true that in aceordanco with our national temperament we had reacted moro strongly than most of the other nations against the ugliness of mere form. Ho ventured to suggest that we had done so in obedience to a true and sound instinct, and becauso it was felt that art must answer to some permanent universal human thing—that aspect of. the spiritual life of Man which sought the Divine; through beauty. Art that .' survived through the ages, which had the power to-nlove new generationa, as they,came to maturity, was art which embodied some universal truth in a form .which was at once illuminating and beautiful. St. Augustine onco said: "We, cannot rest . except we rest in God. As beauty is an essential aspect of the Godhead, wo cannot feel rest without beauty."' In spite of the superficial i.pose of to-day, he thought that 'here was to be found the real attitude of our people. (Cheers.), i . ' -..,'.