| BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS |
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A one-man exhibit of paintings and sketches by
George Goutiere, now on view at
the Art Gallery, is the most vigorous and beautiful that
I have as yet seen here by an artist living in Canada. Mr. Goutiere was brought up in India, and his sister, Christine Weston, is the author of "Indigo," a thoughtful and vivid novel about that troubled country. These qualities of vividness and thought are apparent in the Brother's paintings, as well as a remarkable technical facility, a feeling for rhythm and solid form, and a poetic sensitiveness in the treament of the human figure. WARM APPEAL The delicate study of "Betty," the warm appeal of the rounded forms in "Young Mother," and the fine treatment of the flesh in a nude study are most distinguished. Watercolors and sketches show the artist to possess an exciting feeling for the poetry of motion. Studies of horses, of Doukhobor women striding along a plowed field, and sketches of "Drinkers," "Workers," and "Dancers" are delightful, as is a striking watercolor portrait of his sister. In the landscapes there is often a reminiscence of Van Gogh, as in the "Wheat field," but it is far from being imitative. Certain works are disingenuously imaginative, highly original, yet perhaps not so movingly lovely as those in which the artist is pure painter, without pretensions to philosophy. |