MR. J. LAWRENCE BALFOUR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2545, 24 December 1902, Page 12 (Supplement)

MR. J. LAWRENCE BALFOUR.

(see next page.)

Mr J. Lawrence Balfour is a native of the neighbouring colony of Victoria, where he was born in 1870, so that he may justly be described as a rising young colonial, one of those in whose hands lies the future of art in our colony, the task of handing down to a new generation the traditions of the Old World and the hopes of the New. At the age of 17, this young Victorian went to London, being in this respect more fortunate than many of his contemporaries, and entered the studio of Professor H. Herkomer, one of the foremost portrait painters of our day, whose fine technique and execution are universally acknowledged. From London Mr Balfour proceeded to Paris to share in the advantage offered to students in that city, where may be obtained in the numerous excellent schools and ateliers, cheap instruction, splendid practice, and the stimulating society of a great colony of artists drawn from all parts of the world, sharing the same work, the same aspirations and pleasures. Mr Balfour enjoyed to the full

these unique means of progress, and found satisfaction not only in study, but also in pitting his strength against that of his equals and superiors, thus finding out his strong and weak points, the pitfalls to be avoided, and the heights that might be scaled. In this artistic and Bohemian, world, so ably pictured for us by Dv Maurier in the immortal " Trilby," our young artist spent the years between 1890 and 1895 acquiring skill and experience, and that confidence which comes with the knowledge of power, studying in the atelier of M. Jules le Febvre and other equally famous studios. Then he began to send his work to the different London Exhibitions, and in 1898 achieved the honour of being hung on the line of the Royal Academy, reaping the fruits of his labour in sales and commissions. But he soon found that high art, though a good mistress, is not a paying one, and recognising the necessity of living by his profession, he devoted himself for a time to black and white work and the illustrating of books and periodicals. Here he got plenty of hard work, though but little fame, and gradually obtained that mastery of form, and speed in execution, which are invaluable in every branch of art, by reason of the precision and confidence which they impart. After some years spent in this way, varying the black and white with a catholic choice of other subjects, Mr Balfour decided to lollow in the steps of his famous master Herr Herkomer, and fix on portraits as his special life work. This proved successful and remunerative, but by-and-bye he, like most colonials, began to tire of the smoke of London and long for the brighter skies of the sunny south, and in 1900 he resolved to leave the Old Country and settle in New Zealand. He carried out his intention, and is now practising his art as a portrait painter in Christchurch.