The Annual Register 1914 / A Review of Public Events at Home and Abroad for the Year 1914

by Anonymous

J. S. T.

ART, DRAMA, AND MUSIC.

I. ART.

In the history of art in England the year 1914 will be remembered chiefly as a period of trouble, unrest, and disappointment. To the picture lover the first disappointment of the year was the failure of the Royal Academy to hold the exhibition of Old Masters which had been arranged for January; a disappointment caused, not as some imagined by the difficulty of obtaining works, but solely by the death in the preceding autumn of Sir Frederick Eaton, the Secretary to the Royal Academy, who had been chiefly responsible for the organisation of the Winter Exhibitions almost from their commencement. The endeavours of enthusiastic supporters of the woman's suffrage movement to call public attention to their propaganda by attacking works of art resulted in serious damage to pictures in various galleries, several of which were closed for a time wholly or in part (pp. 71, 112). At the National Gallery the most serious case was the injury to the famous Velasquez, the "Venus and Cupid." This picture, which had been given an unfortunate prominence two or three years earlier by a ridiculous agitation about a supposed signature which proved to be imaginary, was now the victim of a more serious attack. Early in March a woman named Richardson broke the glass in front of the picture with a hatchet and managed to slash the canvas several times before she could be arrested. The outrages at the National Gallery caused the partial closing of the exhibition for some time, and the normal conditions had not been resumed when the war broke out and still further disarranged affairs at Trafalgar Square.

The German threats of attacks on London by airships called attention to the possible injury to the nation's pictures in such a case, and Sir Claude Phillips was especially prominent in urging that protection should be given to them. Numbers of the best works were removed accordingly to places of safety, and during the winter the Foreign side of the National Gallery was occupied mainly by second-rate pictures, and each room was disfigured by one or more huge bins of galvanized iron, filled with sand. At the Victoria and Albert Museum special precautions were taken with a view of protecting the Raphael Cartoons and certain other famous works of art.

At the Summer Exhibition of the Royal Academy the Hanging Committee for oil paintings was composed of Mr. David Murray, Mr. Seymour Lucas, Mr. W. W. Ouless, Mr. S. J. Solomon, Mr. H. H. La Thangue, and Mr. Lionel Smythe; the last named of whom also arranged the watercolours, which for the first time were placed in the Tenth and Eleventh Galleries. Another new departure in Academy hanging was the arrangement of the Fourth Gallery by Mr. H. H. La Thangue, who allowed no pictures to be "skied," and did not overcrowd the lower lines. The result was eminently satisfactory, but it is to be feared that Mr. La Thangue's example will not be followed extensively unless the wall space at the Academy is largely increased. During the season several pictures were attacked by women, and Sir Hubert von Herkomer's portrait of the Duke of Wellington; Mr. Sargent's portrait of Mr. Henry James, the novelist; and Mr. Clausen's study of the nude, "Primavera," were all injured. Mr. Henry James, whose portrait by Mr. Sargent was one of the most discussed pictures in the exhibition, was also the subject of another portrait of great interest, a bust in marble by Mr. F. Derwent Wood. This bust was a commission from Mr. Sargent, who, however, surrendered it to the Chantrey Trustees, by whom it was purchased for 100l. A marble statue "Dawn," by Mr. C. L. Hartwell (1,100l.), was also bought by the Trustees; and two pictures, Mr. F. Cadogan Cowper's "Lucretia Borgia reigns in the Vatican in the absence of the Pope" (1,500l.); and Mr. Maurice Greiffenhagen's "Women by a Lake" (420l.). The general sales at the Academy were fairly numerous although not up to the level of some recent years. The King, when he paid his first visit to the exhibition, purchased Mr. B. W. Leader's landscape, "The River Llugwy, near Bettws-y-Coed" (150l.); and the other pictures sold included "The Annunciation," by Mr. J. W. Waterhouse; "The Little Archer" (400l.), by Mr. Charles Sims; "The Silent Woods" (350l.), by Sir Ernest Waterlow; "A Farm Loggia, Veneto," and "A Riva on the Grand Canal, Venice," by Mr. Henry Woods; "Primavera" (250l.), by Mr. George Clausen; "Noon, Equihen, France," and "To the Sea: Equihen, Pas de Calais, France," by Mr. Hughes-Stanton; "A Greek Water Carrier in Egypt" (250l.), by Sir W. B. Richmond; "And step from glowing heat to welcome depths of shade" (300l.), by Mr. Reginald Vicat-Cole; "Where Aspens Quiver," by Mr. Lionel P. Smythe; "Eternal Eve" (500l.), by Mr. Gabriel Nicolet; "Rag-time, Rio Mendicante, Venice" (250l.), by Mr. David Murray; "Dawn and the Shepherd" (200l.), by Mr. George Wetherbee; "The Silver Strand" (630l.), by Mr. Julius Olsson; "A Winter Morning" (350l.), by Mr. Harry W. Adams; "The Toast is England—Lord Nelson handing the loving cup to Benjamin West, R.A." (500l.), by Mr. Fred Roe; "Room at James Pryde's" (300l.), by Mr. Oswald Birley; "The Meadow Pool" (105l.), by Sir Alfred East; and "Napoleon's last Inspection of his Army" (315l.), by Mr. J. P. Beadle. It is curious that the largest picture exhibited in the Royal Academy at the time England declared war upon Germany was the portrait group by the late Sir Hubert von Herkomer of "The Managers and Directors of the firm of Fried, Krupp, Essen, Germany."

The exhibitions held in the earlier part of the year, before the declaration of war, included those of pictures by artists of the Venetian School, at the Burlington Fine Arts Club; of Old Masters and of the work of Mr. John Lavery, both at the Grosvenor Gallery; and of paintings or drawings by M. Steinlen, Sir Alfred East, Mr. H. H. La Thangue, and Mr. L. Campbell Taylor at the Leicester Galleries. An exhibition of Italian studies by Sir William Richmond was held at the Fine Art Society's gallery. The famous portrait by Millais of Mrs. Heugh, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1873, and afterwards sent to America, was shown in the spring at the International Society's exhibition, to which it was lent by Mr. Edmund Davis. A loan exhibition of examples of modern French art was held at Grosvenor House by permission of the Duke of Westminster. It was of singular interest, but, unfortunately, was opened too late in the season to attract the attention it deserved.

One of these exhibitions, that of Old Masters at the Grosvenor Gallery, was organised to raise funds for the purchase of modern pictures for the nation. It was so successful that the committee was enabled to purchase works by Mr. W. Orpen, Mr. Oliver Hall, Mr. H. Muhrman, Mr. A. McEvoy, Mr. W. W. Russell, Mrs. Mary Davis, Mr. John Lavery, and Mr. Gerald F. Kelly; all of which were presented to the Tate Gallery in July. A noble gift of some twenty examples of his art was made by M. Auguste Rodin to the Victoria and Albert Museum in November. The London Museum, admirably arranged in its permanent home at Stafford House, was opened in the summer; and other events of interest in the year were the unveiling of the Royal Academy memorial to Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (designed by Sir George Frampton) at his birthplace in Holland, and of a memorial to the late Sir William Orchardson in St. Paul's Cathedral. An important new departure was made at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where the "sixpenny" days were finally abolished and free admission given to the public throughout the week. In the summer plans were made, for the consideration of Mr. Asquith, for a proposed Ministry of Fine Arts; and a non-party and unofficial committee was formed of members of the House of Lords and House of Commons for the purpose of noting and examining questions connected with the acquisition of pictures for the nation and other matters relating to the arts.

The outbreak of the war was from every point of view disastrous to artists and picture dealers. The sale of pictures was brought temporarily almost to a standstill; the opening of some exhibitions was postponed indefinitely, and that of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters abandoned for the year. In these conditions, when artists were suffering severely themselves, it is to their credit that they made great and successful efforts to aid the funds of the war charities. For the Artists' War Fund they contributed more than four hundred paintings, pieces of sculpture and prints which were distributed by lot to subscribers. Mr. Sigismund Goetze defrayed the cost of collection and distribution; and Messrs. Dicksee lent their gallery free of charge; and the honorary treasurers and secretary, Mr. O. Wynne Apperley, Mr. Louis Ginnett and Mr. Martin Hardie, were therefore enabled to hand over the entire receipts, amounting to 2,615l., to the Prince of Wales's National Relief Fund. The Royal Academy called a meeting of the Presidents of the principal art societies to arrange an exhibition of pictures to be sold for the same purpose, and also lent several of its galleries to the United Arts Force whose members practised military exercises in the courtyard of Burlington House.