ART AT ROYAL ACADEMYD

Taranaki Daily News, 6 May 1930, Page 12

ART AT ROYAL ACADEMYD

SOME OF notable paintings. By Telegraph—Preaa Assn. —Copyright. London, May 4. The Royal Academy is to open on Monday. There are 1669 exhibits, which include a notable display of portraits, among them a stately portrait of the Queen by David Jagger. Otherwise critics agree that the pictures generally do not differ in character or quality from those of recent years. There is the usual display of skill, but no striking display of imagination. The most discussed picture is one by Symons, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” The crucifixion scene is re-enacted in a modern setting, depicting the reactions of human character. A top-hatted crowd jeers, a women are hysterical, men with face? twisted into sneers crew'd around, while the background is a publie house and a church. An unorthodox subject is John Keating’s “Homo Sapiens." This is a satire on human progress for, surrounded by symbols of law, learning, glory and religion, on his head a tin hat awry, in liis hands a gas mask, sits a modern man, awaiting the terror of death from the skies. Sir John Lavery, R.A., has painted Lord Melchett. The Duke of York responded to the toast of “The Royal Family” at Saturday night’s Academy banquet. “The Academy is certainly a social success, judging from the groups of prominent people animatedly discussing everything. Artistically, some critics declare it is boring; the vast army of artists, whose work has been rejected, describe it as a farce,” says the Daily Herald, which unequivocally describes it as the worst Academy since the war.