20 
LAND & WATER 
October lb, lyi/ 
without the effect of untruth. Once accept the evidence of 
your whole organism, instead of the mere optical evidence of 
your eyes, as the basis of your art and you can reduce the 
appearantes of Nature to geometrical forms with;nt any 
prejudic; to reality. As will be seen, most of the works 
m this exhibition are indulgent as regards appearances ; but 
in all of them appearances are dealt with as conceived by the 
mind rather than as perceived by the eyes. 
One consequence of this new trust in conceptions that J 
have never seen remarked is the rehabilitation of materials. 
To put it crudely the pictures look more " painty " and the 
sculpture more " stony " than perhaps the visitor has been 
accustomed to see. But a moment's consideration shows this 
to be inevitable. So long as the materials of art are used to 
imitate appearances 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 comparison 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 appearances ; it has always regarded them as creatures 
with an expression of their own ; and, consequently, it has 
acquired and taught a perfect technique tor their artistic 
fulhlment. In effect the Chinese artist shows the subject 
to ink or water-colour or ivory or jade and says : " Now, 
what do you feel about it ? " And, with his collaboration 
basxl 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 carvings for example — as of mediaeval 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 refinements of expression. Even that 
blessed phrase " the limitations of the material " has a new 
meaning ; since it. is obvious that the limitations 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 thv 
niw limitations — that paint, for example, will not stand 
alone like a block of marble but must be contained in definit' 
shapes, whether naturalistic or formal. Exactly the same 
thing happens in life. If you have lived under the law you 
will not all at once adapt yourself to the freedom of the spirit. 
Something of this sort is happening 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 because, even in Western art, 
the materials of drawing and sculpture have never 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 the same level as the beautiful little " Mother 
and Child" by the 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 
imaginary ovoid which both contains the emotional meaning 
of the work and preserves the habit of 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 leaves 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 
" childlikeness " 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 on 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 disnriss 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 
By ihiftcun tirant 
