A DISTINGUISHED PAINTER.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1902, 10 November 1913, Page 10

A DISTINGUISHED PAINTER.

LATE SIR ALFRED EAST, H A. Referring lu (he dcnlh ol Sir Alfred j East. It.A., an 'English paper fays: i Sir Alfred East, who has not long ] survived his election to I'iill Academic rank, oerupicd a psrticnini; place in contemporary painting, if his art could not be called great, it was yet individual; one" might not say that it was really distinguished, hut it ahv-.iys showed a true feeling for distinction. Tho artist's taste never failed him. That he did'not entirely do himself justice in his art was probably due to his remarkable _ natural talents, 'which showed and 'developed themselves in a great variety of interests and anibiti'.ms. Thus ho usefully filled offices and deservedly enjoyed, honours, displayed much address in all'airs, was a good speaker, and wrote gracefully. But the duties and obligations accompanying these exercises of associate gilts were inevitably a distraction from the practice of the spccial one of painting to which he was sincerely devoted, He never quite concentrated upon' it to the utmost. An artistic impulse, directed chiefly, like his, by a fmo taste requires, constant refreshment at Nature's deeper springs, especially when, as was the case with him, tho gift of charm accompanies it. There were, "breaks" in Sir Alfred East's work where he had no time for that refreshment, though we, and perhaps he also, were deceived about their aridity because of the charming pattern he could always • command. Inere were others, again, in which one felt that, recruited by undisturbed communion, with Nature, he had tkUly invested liis dccorativc designs with an authentic emotion. Such were many of his Jafge water* colours and oils like "The Wings of the Morning" and "Solitude," drawings and canvasses steeped in individual moods. In them a genuine poet spoke, and ; it is their achievement, amid much that fell far short of it, that will give Sir Alfred East an enduring place among ; British landscape painters. _ j •Sir Alfred East was born at Kettering, an artist without artistic opportunity. It was by accident that mien a very young man business took him to Glasgow at. a moment wjieu the air of that eity was of a kind to foster painting ambitions. East started his taking also ' tho night classes of - Robert Greenless, and was associated with the revival of Scottish art which is generally referred to as tire "Glasgow School." Later Jig went to Paris, where of oven greater to him than tho instruction of tho Beaux Arts was the influence of Harbison, which had already, given an impulse to the Glasgow "movement." It was with a Barbissoft canvas that lw first contributed to the Royal Academy, iu 1383, and it was sciit from a studio that he now took hi Glasgow. Some years afterwards he settled in London, making a new start in u career there- | after full of honours. An exhibition of work uone in Japan, in a trip round the I world in 1860, brought him general recognition, though its contents showed I only a development along the lines of | his earlier practico, and were really little e/fectid by the ]J.ist. In 1889 ho was elected an AssoeiaV) of the Royal Academy, at whoso exhibitions he had ! coiCnucd to show regularly. When ■Sir Wyko Bayliss died in 1906 the Royal "Society of British Artists' nivitau him to the presidential chair, which no occupied- until his death, exercising an influence on tho society that .was strongly marked in its recent exhibitions. * Knighthood followed in 1910. His thcr .'honours include an Associateship of tho Societe des Beaux Arts, Paris, Caraliere of the Order of tho Crown of Italy, member- : ship of the Royal Academy of Milan ami of tho Meiji Bijutsu, Japan. Last venr the artists of Milan, where ho' is represented in the Aft Gallery by "London by Night," gave him a banquet to mark their appreciation of him as a painter and of his. efforts on behalf of painting. This high estimate of hire on the Continent is illustrated also by the purchase in 1001. of "A Passing Storm" for the Luxembourg, ami of "A Haunt of Ancient Peace" at Budapest, and ''The.Neno Valley" at Venice; and .the Carnegie Art Gallery at Pittsburg bought his "Evening in the Ootswolus."'

There is a . collection of his pictures at Kettering, his native place. It was presented by Sir Alfred as a thankoffering i'or his recovery from the illness of 1911. He then wrote: "I should like 'to do this for two reasons— for the love I have for the old town and also as an expression of gratitude for my recovery from a serious illness. ..This collection would bo composed of softie of inv most representative , works both in oil and water-colour, and which would represent mo at my best. I should regard such a collection as a memorial, and. as such I should say that it was worthy of'your acceptance and of my reputation."

Sir Alfred East's election last July to full membership of tho Royal Academy was a liii intr end to a brilliant career.