Page 23 - Studio International - December 1968

vides in Canada a spectrum of the styles in tainly he was out of touch with the struggling tails from these are to be found in his Night
vogue in the art world of Great Britain and Canadian art scene. Correspondence regard- Bombardment.
North America at that time; and because it ing the selection of Canadian artists to paint Harold Gilman's Halifax Harbour at Sunset
contains examples of very large canvases, in Canada or at the Front between himself in all its vivid colour occupies a place of
often the only ones ever done, by relatively and Sir Edmund Walker, chairman of the honour in the present building in Ottawa.
young unknown artists who were later to Board of Trustees of the National Gallery This is possible only because of its moderate
achieve fame and prominence. It thus merits shows this. The staff of The Studio were, height. All the others mentioned so far except
a second look, especially after a space of however, in a very different position. Over Nash's are too tall for convenient hanging
fifty years. the years their Canadian correspondents, in the present gallery. But for this Frederick
In January 1919 The Studio reproduced Mortimer Lamb of Montreal and Eric Brown Etchells's Armistice Day, Munitions Plant
certain examples of the exhibition at Burling- of the National Gallery, had consistently pro- and Charles Ginner's The Filling Factory
ton House of those works which were com- vided accurate and informed articles on the would also be on display. There are a number
pleted. The reviewer concludes his short Canadian art scene. They were thus much of other oversize paintings that merit special
comments with a rather significant sentence : closer to the realities of the situation and mention. Dame Laura Knight's Physical
'We think, however, that Canadian Art might possibly also well informed of the dissatis- Training at Whitley Camp, all 10 ft. by 12 ft.,
with advantage have had a considerably faction felt by many in Canada over the is a curious picture for a woman painter.
larger share in this monumental undertaking'. selection of artists. Despite its title it is a George Bellows style
Here the reviewer (and the only one in the These controversies took place many years boxing match with the fighters (one of whom
British Press to my knowledge to do so) has ago and the Canadian War Memorials, a side is Joe Sheen, bantamweight champion of the
put his finger on a point which may have product of the activities of Lord Beaverbrook, forces) almost life size. It is just as vivid an
had rather unfortunate effects on the later remains important both for its value as a action painting as any of Bellows's boxing
housing of the collection in Canada, for the record and for its stature as the first official paintings. Among the remaining oversize
monumental building never came to pass. It commission of this magnitude in modern works, from Charles Sims's Sacrifice to Kerr-
may also have been a factor in the unfortu- times. Much of the credit for this must be Lawson's Arras—The Dead City, there are no
nate wrangling over settling the accounts of given to Paul Konody, art critic for The entirely bad paintings. Some, it is true, such
the enterprise when the time came to hand it Observer and other Rothermere newspapers. as Richard Jack's Second Battle of Ypres, are
over to the Government of Canada. Why His name keeps cropping up everywhere in flavoured with the heroic academy battle
were so many British artists employed to this field—either as author of a monograph painting style. But it should be noted that
record the exploits of the armed forces of on the cubist war sketches of C. R. W. this style is absent from his large The Taking
another country? A country to achieve Nevinson in 1916 or in the selection a little of Vimy Ridge, Easter Monday, 1917, painted
recognition of her status as a quasi- later of Bone, McBey and others to paint for later in the war.
independent nation at the Versailles Peace the Ministry of Propaganda. As art advisor The planned great work by Augustus John,
Conference. This status was won on the to the scheme he must have early gained the Canadians Opposite Lens—Winter 1917-18
battlefields of Vimy and in later victories by confidence of his principals for they accepted was unfortunately never completed. This
Canadians. Why was such a relatively minor his judgement in giving commissions for was to have measured 9 ft. high by 40 ft.
role given to Canadian artists, particularly large decorative works to younger artists wide. However years later the Honourable
when Australia made such a point of making such as Roberts and Wadsworth (Dazzle Vincent Massey, when High Commissioner
a fuller use of her own men ? Ships). He also gave the Canadian David for Canada in London, purchased the char-
There are several reasons which come to Milne, who was to remain for many years coal cartoon of the same size and deposited
mind. First there was the availability of large unknown and unhonoured in his own land, it in the National Gallery. This work is of
numbers of first-class men in England near his first important commission. course an extraordinary tour de force with
the major scenes of activity at the time when In surveying the scene fifty years later, there its background of colliery tips on the Douai
the scheme began, and this certainly is a are also examples of works by other men who plain and its varied forms of refugee or troop
factor not to be underestimated. Secondly, were young at the time. Prominent among activity in the foreground. It is reproduced
however, there is the more intangible factor these of course is Paul Nash represented by on page 12 of the January, 1919 issue of
of personality. Lord Beaverbrook was a New his Void, a work small in size but far from The Studio.
Brunswicker from a province with a very small in impact. Also his larger work Night Two other groups are worthy of mention
strong Loyalist background. He had earlier Bombardment, which remains a puzzle pic- before turning to the works by Canadian
terminated his career in Canada after making ture to those looking at it for the first time. painters. These are the paintings of special-
a considerable fortune and had settled in Incidentally, there is another version on the ized subjects such as the horse pictures by
England where he had begun anew an back, which apparently did not appeal to A. J. Munnings and Algernon Talmage; the
equally successful and controversial career Nash. And there are also his vivid and inter- air Pictures by Turnbull ; and the portraits of
in politics and business. Did he end up by esting sketches, such as Landscape—Year of VCs and senior officers by McEvoy, Orpen,
becoming 'plus royaliste que le roi'? Cer- Our Lord, 1917 and Dumbarton Lakes. De- Harold Knight, Frank Dobson, and others.

Philip Rawson is Curator of the Gulbenkian Dore Ashton, the American critic, is a regular Rosemary Simmons is director of the Curwen
Museum of Oriental Art, Durham University. He has contributor to Studio International. Gallery.
written seven books on oriental art and his book 'The
Paul Waldo Schwartz, art critic for the New York Gene Baro contributes to Art International, The
Art of Drawing' is shortly to be published. He
Times since 1963, is author of 'Cubism' and 'The London Magazine and other periodicals.
organized the 1963 Exhibition of Indian Music, Art
sculptor in his studio', both to be published this year.
and Dancing at the Edinburgh Festival. Correction
The price of J. Leymarie's book 'Who was Van
Jasia Reichardt is assistant director of the Institute
Robert Hughes has recently published his book Gogh?', a Skira publication distributed in the U.K.
of Contemporary Arts.
'Heaven and Hell in Western Art' and is currently by Zwemmer's, is £3 15s (not 15s as stated on
working on a study of Leonardo da Vinci. Robert Simon is director of the Curwen Press. p. 228 of the November issue).