Mr. William Marchant's salons, discontinued during the war, have come to life again, and the ninth of the series has been open during November and December. The Goupil Gallery has a large capacity, and Mr. Marchant seems to have gone out into all parts of the United Kingdom and gathered in a large crowd of artists, nor has he been able entirely to exclude some of the halt and the blind. A detailed criticism from picture to picture, or even from one man's group of work to another's, would be very tedious, for there are some 300 exhibits displayed in the series of rooms. The choice of work is very comprehensive, ranging from James Pryde to Pamela Bianco, from Mr. Lewis's portrait of Mr. Pound to the post-Millais backwash of Mr. Ranken.
In the Large Gallery are Mr. Augustus John and Mr. Sickert. The former exhibits two soldier portraits and No. 51, Birdie, all of which serve to remind us of his unequalled position in that branch of art. Mr. Sickert, the contemporary in age with most of the artists in this room, shines forth in his work with all the vigour and freshness of youth. His No. 49, Bridge at Bath, challenges the declining interest in the work of the more established artists in the room, while he runs level with, even sets the pace for, the younger generation.
In the First Gallery Mr. Lewis's portrait of Mr. Ezra Pound is apt to blunt our sensibilities to the other works therein. It is indeed a remarkable painting, standing like a ferro-concrete factory amidst a peaceful and rather decaying village. Of its faithfulness I am unable to judge, being acquainted with Mr. Pound solely in the pages of the Little Review, but its hard compelling colour and the solidity of its built-up design make it a thing difficult to forget. Mr. Robert Bevan's landscape, No. 100, has a reposeful design that is very telling. Mr. Ginner's sturdy realism is refreshing, and his painting in this room is, I think, more successful in design and colour than his other exhibit.
The Third Gallery.—Here, again, Mr. Sickert's two charming paintings attract our attention, and Mr. Mark Gertler's fine portrait is essentially a picture that leaves an impression in this maze of paintings. There are besides two fine wall paintings by Mr. William Rothenstein.
The Grey Room deserves its name indeed. It is difficult to say why the standard of water-colours is so low compared to the oils: with a very few exceptions, noticeably the drawings of Mr. Albert Rutherston, we seem to have touched bottom in this room, and a very muddy bottom too, so that coming at last to Mr. Shackleton's Peace Day one felt there remained nothing but to burst through the skylight into the air again. The absence of line in the water-colour drawings is very depressing.
ARTISTIC PERIODICALS
ILLUSTRATION
Foremost among the periodicals issued recently is Mr. Gerard Meynell's Illustration. This is a trade circular, and as such would naturally demonstrate within its covers the printer's aspirations in the reproduction of blocks and lettering. "Circular" is not an attractive word, but Mr. Meynell is no ordinary printer, and his circular is still less an ordinary affair. To those who are unacquainted with it, I would hasten to say that Illustration is more like a beautifully-coloured fairy-tale book than the accepted idea of a circular. This time Mr. Meynell has surpassed himself in his efforts not merely in the turn-out of his book, which to the professional and the amateur glance must be entirely admirable, but in giving us the added interest of a Supplement containing eight reproductions of modern art.
JOHN NASH