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Rh them are represented by unimportant pictures, the Art Club is less open to hostile criticism than any collection at present on view. The commonplace self-satisfied productions which bulk so largely elsewhere are here conspicuous by their absence. There are undoubtedly several more or less absolute failures, which need not be specified, but there is scarcely a canvas in the room which does not show artistic motive. Among the more notable examples of really high attainment is Mr. Whistler's 'White Note,' which has the dignity of a master. Mr. Hubert Vos, Mr. H. S. Tuke, and Mr. E. A. Walton are each represented by portraits of great excellence. Mr. George Clausen, Mr. Fred Brown, Mr. Frederick Bate, Mr. Edward Stott, Mr. Norman Garstin, and Mr. Alex. Harrison, all well merit attention and study. Of the landscapes, there are several of unusual interest. Mr. E. A. Walton sustains his success of Isist year witii a sober and powerful water-colour, and Mr. Alexander Mann and Mr. James Paterson are represented by important landscapes. Did space permit we would like to draw attention to several works which add charm to this unique exhibition. Mr. T. S. Lee's head in bronze is worthy of study, and there are etchings by Mr. Whistler, Mortimer Menpes, and F. Short, and a masterly pastel by Degas.

The Royal Society of British Artists shows signs of a return to its former humdrum. Mr. Whistler's desertion is lamented by some, but the rejoicing of the genuine original R.B.A.'s is open and sincere. The yellow drapery is still in situ, but the pictures it shades are in many cases beneath criticism, and commonplace to a degree. There are nearly 500 exhibits, of which the majority would be better away. It is only on careful examination that here and there, often in obscure places, we discover work which has some artistic impulse, most often bearing names little known. Mr. Stott's 'Endymion' is without question the picture of the exhibition, and amons the canvases which save the character of the gallery are Mr. Horace Hart's 'Henry the Seventh Chapel,' Mr. Tuke's portrait of Judge Bacon, Mr. Jules Lessore's Church at Rouen, and pictures by Mr. E. Simmons, Mr. Alexander Harrison, Mr. T. C. Gotch, Mr. James Paterson, and Mr. Walter Sickert. A peculiarly cruel piece of hanging is the placing Mr. Frank Brangwyn's impressive 'Rye Ferry' where it is almost impossible to see it. As an exhibition open to outsiders, the Society would do well to consider the principle on which the works received are accorded their respective places on the walls. It would seem to be members first, good or bad outsiders, anywhere.

We have left no space to refer but in a line to the Water-Colour Societies. The Institute indeed can be dismissed in a word: it is a poor exhibition, with scarcely half a dozen drawings one would axre to see a second time. The Royal Society has no lack of inane prettyness and threadbare sentiment, but there are several exhibits of note. Miss Clara Montalba, Mr. R. W. Allan, Mr. J. W. North, and Mr. Albert Goodwin, among others, maintain the interest of the gallery, wliile Mr. Arthur Melville, in his masterly eastern drawings, shows a thorough command of the technique of his medium, a quality and depth of colour which make surrounding pictures look poor and thin.

N a journal such as this, it will, we presume, be scarcely necessary to urge the importance of a serious and widespread cultivation of music. Most of our readers are already conscious of its importance as a factor in the progress of mankind — though it cannot be overlooked that very many persons still regard it as a frivolous amusement, unworthy of the attention of earnest men. One might easily fill columns with the sayings of the profoundest thinkers on social and political questions in all ages, which prove the very high value they attached to the study and practice of music, as a humanising, elevating, and refining influence in the intellectual and social development of a people. We need do no more than remind our readers of the teaching of Plato, Sir Thomas More, and Bacon, not to mention Goethe and others in more recent times ; but we will take the liberty of quoting the opinion of one who has been regarded as perhaps the most practical legislator the world has seen, but who has not generally been credited with much artistic enthusiasm — Napoleon I. He said: 'Of all the liberal arts, music has the greatest influence over the passions, and is that to which the legislator ought to give the greatest encouragement. A well-composed song strikes and softens the mind, and produces a greater effect than a moral work, which convinces our reason, but does not warm our feelings