COLOUR AT ACADEMY

Taranaki Daily News, 20 July 1935, Page 6 (Supplement)

COLOUR AT ACADEMY

SOME OF THE FINE PICTURES. LONDON AND THE COUNTRY. All the Colour of London seemed to be in the gay streets outside when we went to the Royal Academy, says the Children’s Newspaper. in recent years colour had been returning in full measure to the paintings of our artists, yet this year the colour is sadly to seek. ■. Perhaps the brightest subject pictures of the year ate by Mr. Russell Flint, an accomplished draughtsman ahd colourist not aftaid to try new ideas. HiS study in blues of Truth With Discretion arid Patience is a modern adaptation of a very old theme. There are many portraits by Mr. Augustus John, the eyes of whose sitters are exquisitely painted. In strong contrast to the delicate tints of these portraits are those bold finished works by Mr. Gerald Brockhurst, whose women dominate the walls from which they literally look out No ope wjll ever forget the portraits of Miss Violet Vanbrugh and Mrs. Stanley Clarke. A judicious use of black heightens the intensity of the portraits, and so it does in a large full-length picture of a goldenhaired girl with Madonna lilies by Mr. A- K. Lawrence. Among the landscapes Mr. Lamorna Birch has not forgotten the glory that is England’s; his Cornish Pageantry justifies its title in full measure while his Merry Month of May gives a glad note in another room.

Mr. A. J. Munnings has drawn his own portrait in a picture of his wife on horseback. It is good that to-day when horse-riding is practised by more and more young people and the love of the horse is growing again we have an artis‘ who can paint horses with such a master hand. A painting which must have taken even so skilful an artist a long time is Dame Laura Knight’s Chelsea Bridge. Spring, with its breezes and its clear, cool light, has come to London here, and all who love this great city will linger by this panorama of her beauty. We much prefer the work of our premier woman painter in tills vein to her work as a depicter of garish stage life. Of the London that is passing we have to thank Mr. Charles Cundall for two studies of Waterloo Bridge, exciting with its cranes. As a contrast the Galloway Dam Nearing Completion, by Mr. Charles Oppenheimer, reminds us of engineering triumphs of our time. What the artist can achieve in stone can be seen in Creation, a large group by Mr. William King in the central hall, where are gathered a host of sculptures showing a knowledge of form which is lacking in too many of the paintings. The model of J. M. W. Turner’s statue for the Royal Academy promises a master work by Mr. William MacMillan, and Mr. Winston Churchill will not be the only person to walk twice round Mr. Gilbert Bayes’ little equestrian statue of Marlborough. Then there are busts of Charles Lamb, Lord Trent (for the memorial Nottingham is erecting), Sir Edward Elgar, and many distinguished living men, reliefs with movement and grace, animals, and some delightful little medals.