CHINESE ART.

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19765, 21 December 1935, Page 19 (Supplement)

CHINESE ART.

THE VIGNIER COLLECTION. UNQUESTIONABLE MASTERPIECE. As a conveniently succinct introduction to the forthcomnig huge Exhibition of Chinese Art at Burlington House, the Vignier Collection of early Chinese paintings will serve, it is on view at the Leicester Galleries, London. The late Charles Vignier was a learned French connoisseur. Taste and knowledge presided at his purchases. An unquestionable masterpiece is “A Poetess Seated at her Work Table” attributed to Wang Yl, a 14th century painter. The delicate girl holds her writing brush ever so lightly. Her fingers weave the air while her sideglancing eyes and half-pouted lips also tell eloquently of a mind in search of the exact word. The very essence of refinement and .culture breathes in that picture. , Not, one of the exhibits looks stiff and posed. Fleeting rhythms of ink strokes enliven landscapes,” men, women, animals, and birds. Pictures by Henry Lamb In an adjoining room look fairly wooden by contrast. One, a large family group, "The Elliott Family”, is definitely wooden. Henry Lamb is nevertheless a very praiseworthy artist. A small canvas conceived and executed all-of-a-piece like “Happy Mother” would grace any room. The small “Family Group” has an interesting diagonal design besides charm of human insight and sympathy