^0 
LAND & WATER 
October i8, 11^17 
without thf clicct ol untruth. Once accept the cviflence of 
your whole orpanism. instead of the mere optical e\ idence of 
\our eyes, as the basis ol your art and you can reduce the 
.ippearances of Nature to geometrical forms witli ut any 
prejudice to reafity. As will be seen, most of tin: works 
m this exhibition are indulgent as rej,'ards api)earances ; but 
in all ol them apfx-arances are dealt with as conceived by the 
mind rather than as perceived by the eyes. 
One consequence of this new trust in conceptions that I 
have never seen remarked is the rehabilitation of materials. 
To put it crudely the pictures look more " painty " and the 
sculpture more " stony " than p«?rhaps the visitor has been 
.iccustomed to see. But a moment s consideration shows this 
10 Ix? inevitable. So long as the materials of art arc used to 
imitate appenranccs they cannot be allowed to declare them- 
selves ; and it is one of the advantages of the new movement 
that it does allow the materials a voice in the matter. 
For damaging comparis<jn the critics point to the ex- 
quisite workmanship of Eastern art. That criticism answers 
itself. Eastern art has never used its materials for the imita- 
tion of ajjpearances ; it has always regarded them as creatures 
with an exprer^ion of their own ; and, consequently, it has 
acquired and taught a perfect technique tor their artistic 
fultiiment. In effect the Chinese artist shows the subject 
to ink or water-colour or ivoiy or jade and says : " Now, 
what do you feel about it ? " And. with his collaboration 
bas.nl upon an intimate knowledge of and punctilious regard 
for its capacities for expression, the material responds in its 
own character and according to its laws ; not only in sub- 
stance, but in characteristic form. One of the beauties of 
Chinese ivory car\ings for example — as of medic-evaJ ivory 
statuettes of the Virgin — is the way the natural curve of the 
tusk is allowed to determine the sway of the figure. 
All this is new to the modern Western artist. Whether in 
his own person or by tradition he has acquired a highly orga- 
nised technique for the purpose of imitation and he cannot 
all at once acquire the reftnements of expression. Even that 
bless'd phrase " the limitations of the material " has a new 
meaning ; since it is obvious that the limitation* of a sub- 
stance for imitation and for expression are entirely different ; 
and some at least of the extravagances of the new" movement 
are due to the fact that artists have not yet recognised the 
n^w limitations — that paint, for example, will not stand 
alone like a block of mamle but must be contained in detiniL. 
:5liape>. whether luiiiu aiisuc ui mnaal. ]{xactly tlie same 
thing h.ippens in life. If you have lived under the law you 
will not all at once adapt yourself to the freedom of the spnit. 
Something of this sort is iiappening in Russia. 
On the whole the new movement seems to have reached a 
greater refinement of quality in drawing and sculpture than 
in painting. This is natural Ix^cause, even in Western art, 
tl;e materials of drawing and sculpture have ne\'er been used 
- -or abused — for the purpose of imitation to the same extent 
as have the materials of painting. Consequently the draughts- 
man and sculptor -and the public also — have less to un- 
learn. At any rate, there is nothing in the exhibition that 
reaches quite tfie same level as the beautiful little " Mother 
and Child" by tlie late Gaudier-Brzeska. Here is a thing 
said perfectly in marble, not only in respect of substance, but 
of what may be supposed to have been the natural disposition 
of that particular piece ; all the carving 'being kept within an 
nnaginary ovoid wliich both contains the emotional meaning 
of the work and preserves the habit ot the stone as it came 
into the hands of the sculptor. The effect of something 
" found " in the block could hardly be more happily illus- 
trated. Another work that lea\'es nothing to be desired in 
quality of performance is " The Ass," by Mr. Duncan Grant, 
which is produced here. Not only does it convey the quaint 
essence of the subject, in its unbroken state, but in actual 
execution it is as expressive of the materials used as a piec? 
of good embroidery. 
A point that has often been urged is the childishne s of 
many of the works in the new movement. Substituting 
" childlike ness " the charge may be accepted as part of the 
consequences. Because the child is much less subject than 
most of us to the optical heresy, and relies much more (jn that 
general " sense " of things which is the basis of all con- 
ceptions. I believe that the extraordinary homeliness of such 
pictures as " The Policeman's Cottage," by E. McKnight 
Kauffer is due to the fact that they recall our impressions of 
landscape before we began to peep and botanise. The 
visitor to the exhibition should dismiss from his mind all 
ideas of optical jugglery. Allowing for all differences of 
" ism " and method, and granting all imperfections of practice, 
the new movement in art is an attempt to convey reality as 
conceived by the mind freed from the tyranny of optics and 
fed from the deepest reservoirs of feeling. . The eyes are used, 
but as channels and not as critics of realitv. 
The Ass 
ii^ Duitcuti GmiiL 
