SOME SYDNEY ARTISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2252, 29 April 1897, Page 45

SOME SYDNEY ARTISTS.

BY CIGABETTB.

Since our last visit to a Sydney studio the j weather has grown cooler, and it will not be such ao effort to climb the stairs and pay a viait to two artists of repute who occupy flats in the same building. So follow me, in imagination, to Norwich Buildings, in Hunter street, and on the second floor we shall find Mr Gordon Ooutts hard at work in his studio. This clever artist, though quite a young man, ranks high among portrait and figure painters, and is not to be equalled for conscientious work and truthful delineation of nature. If Balzac's definition of genius be true, then Gordon Oouttfl is one, for there is no artist ia Australia who possesses a more " infinite capacity for taking paint." While you recover your breath on the landing, look round and admire the dainty decorations which adorn the passage leading to the studio. This you can sac at once ia no bachelor's abode, and you are right, for Mr Coutts is married, and it is a woman's hand which has arranged the pot plants, Japanese blinds, and other little etcetera which give an air of refinement to a commonplace city Sat. A knock at the door ia answered by the artißt himself — a fair, slender man, with blue eyes. By the way, have you ever noticed how many artists have blue eyes? It is almost as characteristic of them as long hair is of musicians. I Looking round tbe studio, the first picture that claims our attention is a magnificent painting entitled "Too Late." The subject Is a boy in the last stage of consumption who has just drawn bis last breath, while a priest bends over him with the crucifix, too , late to meet his glazing eyes. The pathos of the scene is intense, and one turns away almost relieved to think it is only a painting after all. " Where did you get such a model 2 " I ask. "He must have been at death's door." " Yes, he was," sayß the artist calmly. " I was afraid he wouldn't j hold out till I had finished, but he did fortunately, and died the day after." With a shudder I turn away. Ah, here is something more cheerful — " A Twilight Idyll." Come and look at it. This ! is a scene which is very characteristic of ! Sydney. A little family party picnicking on one of the favourite spots on the harbour. There is the inevitable " billy " and baby, and the inevitable pair of turtle doves. Tea is just over, aad as the twilight fades into the night an old man, probably grandpa, takes up his violin and persuades the girl to sing, while her lover, stretched at full length upon the grass, gazes rapturously into her face and listens spellbound. Some portraits next claim 'our attention, the artist's wife evidently proving ths favourite model. On the easel is a charcoal study just commenced,. Wouldn't; you like to «cc it ? Of course you would, as all this time it has basn hidden from us. " What are you doin& now, Mr Coatts 1" I ask. " Well, I have been working at a model which one rarely gets. Would you like to SBB it 1 " he asks. Of course we say yes, and ;he shows us a study of a Chinaman. " They have a great reluctance to being painted, as '■ a rulo," he says, as we stand before the easel ! and admire the masterly drawing of the ! head. " How is that ?' I ask. " Well, it is a, strange idea, bat all Chinamen think that if their portraits are painled ov any part of them pourtrayed, that portion of their body will remain on earth when their souls depart to elysium." There is so much to admire in thi3 «tudio that everyone -who enters feels loth to depart ; but, as Mr Coutts is instructor in the Government Art School, we know that his time is precious and the morning his best time for painting. So, thanking him, we Bay goodbye and leave him to continue his work. On our way home wo meet one of his pupils, who attends the classes at the art society. " What sort of a teacher is Mr Ooutts 1 " we siik. "He^is a heatven-born teacher," she replies enthusiastically ; " I believe he would turn the greatest duff era on earth into artists if he had them long enough. And he does make us work too ; we feel as if we could work all day long and half the night to get a word of praise from him, but we very seldom get it. Good-bye," and she hurried away. It ia too late to pay a visit ,to Mrs Stoddart, who occupieß a studio in the same building as Mr- Coutts. However, we Bhall reserve that for another time, and -as she is buay with work for the Queensland Exhibition, we will nob interrupt her till after the 13th.