ART AND ARTISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2803, 4 December 1907, Page 82

ART AND ARTISTS.

SIR JAMES LINTON. Tho fiist real success of my life was getting into the Institute of Water Colour Arti't?, now the. Royal Institute, for at that time I was essentially a water-colour painter ; indeed, I did rot take up ojlpainting until 1878, though even to-day I vary that work with water-colours, which in my early daya used always to be called "drawings." Like all young artists, T naturally started painting in oils, though tho first picture I ever exhibited at tho Eoyal Academy was a chalk drawing of a Biblical subject. The reason for my selecting such a subject was, no doubt, influenced by the fact that— in obedience to my father's wishes that I should have some business on which I could fall back if I did not succeed as an artist — I had chosen that of 6 ta.ined glass, and had done a great deal of work for the decoration of churches. — A Spoiled Picture. — My taking to water-colour work was almost the result of an accident- I had a studio in Newman street, in the same building at the lato Mr G. R. Boughton, RA.. when he. decided to make London his home instead of returning to the United States, where he had lived from the time he was a boy. We became very friendly. One day Mr Boughton said to me; "Look here, if you care to paint *

water-colour_l think I can sell it for you.** The prospect was natupaliy too alluring* not to be accepted with alacrity. lat once set to work on a picture. As soon as it was finishd Boughton sold it for me for £5. I packed it' up in a case and sent it off. Railway transit in those days* however, was not what it is at present.The case was left in the rain, and when, the picture arrived at its owner's house and was unpacked it was completely destroyed. I had to paint a second picture, and for that I got a second five-pound note. It was in this way that I becam« a water-colour artist. — " Georgione."— The picture which led to my getting into the Royal Institute, which then held" its exhibitions in the old Dudley Gallery, was called " Georgione,"- -and represented* " a young girl looking at a picture painted by that great artist. It was noticed by several members of the institute, including Mr Henry Warren, the then president, who wrote and asked me to call on him at his house. When I went he told "me- that he liked the picture very, much, and was kind enough to ask if I would care to join the institute. To prove -to me he was not speaking in the air, he showed me a list of the members! who had promised to vote for me. It was, in fact, a majority, ■ .and) was quite sufficient to guarantee my ©lection. Naturally, I regarded the invitation as a great compliment, and joined the' society, of which I have now been a member for 40 years. For 17 of these years, from 1881 to 1898, I was the president" of the Bociety, and during my term of office it received its letters patent and became the Royal Institute. — Building the Institute. — Tie instiiut-e, up to its removal to Piccadilly, had a gallery almost immediately opposite Marlborough House. It was anarrow room, which afforded little or no 6cope for the adequate display of 'the works of the members, who were divided into two classes — associates and members. This distinction did not by any means commend itself to the younger members, who were anxious to introduce innovations andnew blood into the society, a course strongly opposed by most of the older men. With certain of them, like Mr JamesOrrock and others, I decided to move in the matter, and" when we proposed to abolish the rank of associate as the first step towards reform, to which there was a great deal of opposition, we met it by threatening to resign and start a new society. This quelled the opposition, and eventually we decided to move as soon as a proper site could be found-. This was secured in Piccadilly, over what is s now Prince's Hall. Mr WU I* Thomas, who had started the Graphic a few years before, proposed that it should be done by means of a limited liability company, and: he undertook that part of the arrangement. Mr James Orrock, Mr Wimperis, and I became three of the directors. When the building was completed it was opened with a conoert, at whioh his Majesty -fine King. then Prince of Wales, was present, and so great was the attention directed to the exhibition that £14,000 worth of pictures was sold in it during that year. — Fashions in Pictures. — -My little picture of " Georgione " was painted under the influence of Burne-Jonos. Rossetti, Madox-Brown, Sands, and Leighton, the leaders of- that movement which sought to represent some of the glamour, elegance, and beauty of Italian art and surroundings. "It was a spell under which most' of the young men of the time came, and it can easily be understood when one Tememberß how admirably it lends itself to colour. It was, I need hardly say, a fashion of the day. for everyone must remember that there is fashion in art, as in every other thing in life. It even affects the value of pictures. Thus, 10 pr 15 years ago Lawrence was regarded as of comparatively little worth, and pictures of his which sold for hundreds, and a few hundreds at that, would now 'fetch thousands of pounds. To showhow great wa« tho influence of the artists* I have mentioned, even men who worked 1 in black and white, like Pinwell, cautthfc the infection. Fred. Walker, who did a great deal of black-and-white work at tho time, however, did not, for he stuck to his piotures of modern life. Tho only costume work he ever did were certain. illuotrobrons for Thackeray's # TU>™* Duval." From the time I Rot into tho institute roy work was favourably reviewed by the critics, and I continued painting entirely in water until 1878. —My Favourite Picture.— My first commercial success, however, was when I was fortunate enough to get, on the recommendation of "Mr James Orrock, a commission to execute a series of large oil piotures for the decoration of w room of a large' house in Nottinghamshire. There were five pictures altogether, and; each was Bft long by 4ft high. For the subject I selected episodes in the life or a soldier of the sixteenth century, and the pictures were " The Declaration of War, "The Benediction— The Warriors," "T»« Capitulation," "The Banquet," and Victorious." The first painted was 'Victorious," and the idea of the strew oub of it. From my own point of view, perhaps, the picture which gave me my fireb success, in my own eyes, was a water-coaour called "The Admonition." It represented a young prince attended by his leman, his jester, a musician, and a poet, and surrounded by his satellites, in the presence of a Prince Bishop with his church following, including not only his clergy tub his men-at-arms, for in those days, as everyone will remember, the clergy always had "an armed retinue. The bishop had come to warn the young Prince that if r-o did not reform Sis mode of life the coasequences would be serious. I represent*:** tho musician and the girl as being terrific* by the bishop's threats, while the poet, who was of the Dante type of face, clearjy indicated by his bearinp that the terrors of the Church were nothing to him. lo> the same idea I returned later in the pjcture in oils, somewhat differently treaty, which I «ent to the last exhibition of the New Gallery.— P. T. O.

—In a tiny iiland called Minikoi, off the southern coast of India, a most peculiar state of society exists, for the woman is lord of all she surveys. The wife is tho reoognised head of tho house. She owns it and everything in it, while anything that her husband, who works very hardy can earn goes to increase her wealln. **•" husband belongs to her, too, ana yrh^n mm marries him ehe gives him her name ja» stead of taking hi*-