ROYAL ACADEMY

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 126, 30 May 1935, Page 25

ROYAL ACADEMY

CONVENTIONAL DISPLAY

ARRAY OF PORTRAITURE

THE BIIUSH OF SPENCEII

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

LONDON, May 4.

It is quite truthful to say that there is nothing pre-eminently outstanding in the Royal Academy exhibition this year. No one has been allowed to exhibit alleged art which defies the conventions, no one has produced a canvas of extraordinary proportions, and very few. are showing pictures which it is difficult or impossible to understand. The critics will doubtless affirm that tne exhibition is of a good average standard of craftsmanship. Many of the portraits by well-known artists are excellent, but their interest is confined mainly to the family and friends of the subjects. Even though it. is Jubilee year, there is no new portrait of the King. A portrait of his Majesty has pride of place, but the picture is one by Sir Arthur Cope, R.A., which was shown at the exhibition of 1928. The interest attaching to this is a consideration of the effect of time and illness on his Majesty during the intervening years. Among the portraits of the Royal Family is a charming study by Mr. Edmond. Brock of Princess Margaret Rose. She is dressed in white, and holds a white rose in her hand, and is seen against an indistinct and dark outdoor background. People will notice in the alert child a striking likeness to ,her mother, the Duchess of York. A good portrait of the Duchess herself is to be seen. This is by Mr. Simon Elwes. In the middle of the main chamber devoted to statues is the one-sixth model of the King-Emperor, in State robes. The statue, by the late Mr. C. Sargeant Jagger, is destined for New Delhi. A small statue of the Prince of Wales by the same artist is also exhibited. It is a pleasant piece of the Prince looking very young as a tennis player. Mr. Jagger, it will be remembered, was responsible for the Royal Artillery monument' at: Hyde Park Corner, a realistic work typifying war, and a monument that' has been criticised for its stark realism. The model of one of the soldier figures in the monument is shown.in the exhibition—an extra tribute to the deceased sculptor. .■■■'■■;. MR. S. SPENCER'S PAINTINGS. Mr. Stanley Spencer has already drawn attention "to his work by. one of those "sensations" which usually occur before or during the exhibition. His specialty is entirely to mutilate 'the human form. For this reason and for other idiocyncrasies—in addition to the fact that he knows how to use colour effectively—he has been proclaimed the artist of the period who will live. The selection committee rejected two of his pictures, and he demanded that the other three should be returned also.; This the Academy authorities refused to do, and so three of his unusual works appear. "The" Scarecrow of Cookham" is an entirely legitimate work, merely showing "a grotesque figure stuffed with straw. He has. brilliantly reproduced a fact in this case and not a fancy. "Workmen in the House" is also amusing. It shows a kitchen with a man with circular limbs, and with his head up the chimney. Another human burlesque is looking along the'edge of his saw. A woman is seated on the floor taking off her gaiters, and a child is holding one of the gaiters and is using the painter's brush on it. Domestic chaos is the spirit of the picture. In his other work Mr. Spencer has. illustrated building activity. "Builders,"; as- the picture is called, is a conglomeration of hod-carriers and birds1 on'? their nests. There is an 'armi'as large "as the owner of the arm and a man without a face, and the birds are of primitive design.,.. NbTABLE^PdRTRAITS. Among the notable portraits of the year are one of the Prime. Minister; by Mr. Edmond Brock; one by Mr; Algernon Talmage, R,A., "of Sir' Herbert Brown, chairman of Croydon Hospital; of Viscountess Furness, by Sir John Lavery, R.A.; of Sir Stephen Killick (Lord Mayor of-London), by Mr. R. .G. Eve. A.: and of the Rt, Hon: Montagu Norman, by Mr.iA. K. Lawrence, A. This last-mentioned portrait is a mural decoration for the Bank of England. Field-Marshal Sir : .William Birdwood, Bt, Colonel of the 'Royal Horse Guards, and Master^of" Peterhouse, is painted by Mr. Francis Dodd, A. It is a very formal picture of the famous field-marshal. Miss VioletVVan:brugh, the famous actress, is painted by Mr. Gerald L. Brockhurst, A. Mr. Frank D. Salisbury has for subjects two important men of the day—Mussolini and Roosevelt. They make ah excellent pair. II Duce is in- neat morning dress, very Italian, snd.is.seen signing State documents. The President of the United States, a handsome, 'Vigorous young man, is also seen seated, at his desk. A distinguished African—the Hon. SirNana Atta, K.8.E., Paramount Chief of Akim, Abuakwa, Gold Coast—is the subject of a portrait by Mr. Cowan Dobson. Handsome and dignified as a negro, Sir Nana wears a crown of gold, and is.garbedin rich;robes which tone well-with his dark, features. Another notable/ portrait; not because of the subject,-but because, of :the treatment, is: the "Portrait -pf: a Young Wc-man,": by Meredith -Frampton. The artist has- employed the: stereoscopic principle: with effect. The subject is a young woman in rich cream: velvet; standing beside a 'cello. '■■' Mr. Augustus John,-R,A., paints one of his i characteristically rugged portraits of Lord Con way, of Allington, and. also a very striking one of Miss Thelma -Cazalet, M.P. iMiss Cazalet is garishly dressed in yellow, and white. A very beautiful study of a little girl among the bluebells is contributed by Mr.;F.;-Cadogari Cowper,. EUAI Elect, and, Mr. Richard, Sickfiri, R.A.,; has a nebuloug full-length portrait of Lord Castlerosse. The.nebulosity consists •in features that are riot visible and an .indecision in thei lines of the figure. It is a man, as it were, seen through .a.mist.-- •■' ,' •,. ,■ ;,. „■ ■~ ■~: M r. Alfred J. Mannings, R.A., makes his ?us\ial contributions, of bloodstock. On-this occasion he has painted' "My Horse, my Wife, and Myself," in that order of importance, with the background- of his country home. Sir Harold Wernher's horse, "Brown Jack," is another of Mr. Munnings's studies. The interest lies in the fact that this famous small horse is not perfectly formed or handsome in the muscular front half, but has perfect hindquarters. SUBJECT PICTURES. An,interesting subject picture is one painted by Mr. Alan Sorr.ell for the library of Southend-on-Sea. The artist paints an imaginative "picture of the founding of Prittlewell Priory, with the monks arriving with oxen cart and building material to take up their habitation, in the meantime, in a straw hut. Natives of the country, some in their coracles, have gathered round to see the strange intruders. Among the most notable of the seascapes -arid; landscapes' are Mr.* S. J. Lamorna Birch's-"The Rock-girt Pools of Spean," Sir H. Hughes-Stanton's "Mount Taggitos,'Plain of Sparta,

Greece," Mr. Gerald F. Kelly's' "La Vallata della Fontant Buona, from Montallegro," and Mr. J. W. Burgess's "Sunlit Shower of Dancing Spray."

Mr. W. Russell Flint has two subject pictures of distinction—the one a new version of "The Judgment of Paris," and the other "Marnya the Strong," an Eastern woman displaying her prowess by holding water jugs at arm's length while a group of . her friends look on with admiration. ■ Finally, a touch of humour is introduced by Mr. George Belcher, A., in his picture of "The Mourner." The mourner has crepe almost to the top of his top hat, his gloves and tie are aggressively black, but his eyes on the glass of wine he holds show a joy which competes strongly with hia grief for the dead.