| BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS |
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In view of the great apathy previously experienced towards its exhibitions, the
last one, under the auspices of the British Columbia
Society of Fine Arts, may be considered a fair success. During the week the attendance was
six times that of previous years for the same period. It still remains for the people
of Vancouver to foster the germ of art, which a few sincere workers are exerting
themselves to cherish. The exhibition was good, and those who missed it were the losers. It brought to light several new artists, among others Mr. Rice, an architect from Boston, whose water-colors, by their faithfulness to nature and the delicacy of the soft greys and browns, won for them a high place in general esteem. Mr. Chambers is another new-comer, who hails from Paris. He has had the benefit of personal acquaintance with Claude Monet and his brotherhood of impressionists, whose pictures revel in light and air; indeed, a private view of Mr. Chambers' works proved him no unworthy follower of the great master. Of course the old pillars of the institution were well represented, and showed no signs of weakening amongst the new men. Mr. Fripp's delicate landscapes held their usual high place in the apreciation of visitors and brother-artists. Against his delicate and finished brushwork the bold vivid execution of Mr. Stanley Tytler stands out in strong relief. His representations of scenes in wood and dell have caught most successfully the rare and mellow atmosphere of autumn. It is impossible here to run over the whole list. Mr. Mackintosh Gow merits a good share of praise. Mr. Gow, an exhibitor on many occasions in the Royal Academy and the Royal Scottish Academy, showed three charming local scenes executed in his broad and deliberate style, which is ever a delight to those acquainted with the difficulties of the water-color medium. Of Mr. Kyle's several exhibits the two most deserving mention were "Cloverdale" and the "Snake Fence." In the former the artist has taken an ordinary subject and drawn therefrom a poetical conception. Mr. Champion Jones's "Shack at Kerridale," a harmony in soft, subdued tones, exhibiting a breadth of treatment which is the despair of the niggling practitioner, was not excelled by any other exhibit. His "Deadman's Island," showing that distressful spot as it stood before the recent sacrilege, while exhibiting the chief characteristics of his style, lacks the delicate colouring of the first picture. Miss Grace Judge is an artist the merit of whose work varies considerably. Indeed, it may be said that as in decorative treatment her work holds the first rank, yet as she approaches realism she loses the grasp characteristic of the method in which she has executed so many charming pictures in the past. "Second Beach," by this artist, is a delicate study for decorative effect, but her other more realistic representations were not so pleasing. Passing on to the oil paintings, the "Birch Woods in Spring," by Mr. W.P. Weston, was perhaps the best received. "The Spring" is a charming canvas, full of the crispness of an early morning in the young year, when autumn's bracken, still brown, offers a warm contrast to the bright yellow-green of the budding foliage above. Miss Margaret Wake's portrait group in oils was the only one in this class. Her water-colors, "In the Kitchen" and "Caught," are done with broad handling, and the modern spirit of this artist, who has been thrice hung in the Royal Academy, no doubt instilled some much-needed impetus into the more conservative methods of other exhibitors. Mention must be made of Miss Hay and Mr. Graeme Waddell, of whose work it is hoped more will be seen in future. The only example of pastel was the work of Mr. Bernard McEvoy. "The Wave," reproduced here, is more than the mere presentment of a solitary breaker on the sea shore. It is a philosophical study, with the solemnity and infinity of nature for its theme, expressed through the medium of the stormy ocean. As a technical display, in this the most difficult of mediums, it is indeed praiseworth; the daring dash of ultramarine on the horizon, the transparency at the crest of the wave, and the method by which the sand shows through the foam on the beach, are touches of the deliberate and conscientious artist. "The fewer men the greater share of honor." As usual sculpture has its solo representative in Mr. Marega, and of his work one statuette was the only exhibit. In the "Evening of Life" we see what might be paraphrased as "Tolstoi on his Last Journey" - not a portrait study of the great reformer, but Tolstoi, the embodiment of the Russian peasant, bent as much from the knout of the Romanoffs as under the weight of years, travelling across life's stomy steppes and nearing its end, after lonely, interminable years of care and suffering for others. There was also a frame of miniatures by Mr. Lloyd, who was the founder of the London Society of Miniaturists, and is now its vice-president. His portrait of Mr. Henshaw is a clever and faithful likeness of the benevolent gentleman, but the "Bishop of Zanzibar" was even better from a technical point of view. (continues with essay on the need for art, art gallery, and art school) |
| British Columbia monthly. "Our Germ of Art" by Eugene de Lopatecki (Vol. 7, No. 12 December 1911): Canadiana, https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_06606_11/84 |