“ADVANCED” ART.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 December 1920, Page 1

“ADVANCED” ART.

LONDON, Oct. 18. The youiig me?) (and wutnen) of the advanced “London Group” of painters are opening to-day at the Alansard Gallery, 196, Tottenham Court-road, AY., an exhibitioit —their thirteenth—which, at least, vyijl not be charged with dullness. Wherever these artists fall short it is never by a lapse into the pretty pretty. The landscapes, and there is this tiiiie a large proportion of landscapes, have this much ?ii coinmon—that any selected picturesqueness and all elegant romantic feeling are avoided. The London Group declines to sentimentalise over nature. Air Eliott Seabrooke is no extremist, but lie is typical in his insistence that his cottage roofs and dumpy trees ape no part of fairyland: The plainest of prosaic folk ?night live among them. “Near Pourvilfe” is an excellent pa jilting 1 from this “artist, whoso clearly knows what he is at.

The challenging picture of tlie show is Air Malcolm Drunimpndls “Common Jury,” a drastic affair’ indeed. The jurymen are sternly simplified; the economy (a poster-like economy) of this large niid severely qglv canvas is remarkable. Undoubtedly it tells its tale; the artist lias hit a mark. Only tlie tale is told all at once—an advantage ill a poster; but from a picture, don’t we ask that a little bo withheld, that a little mystery lurk to draw back again and again tlie charmed eye? Air Boris Anrcp sends mosaics, and this is natural enough, for “Back to Byzance” lias really been a slogan of the post-impressionists. Only Air Anrep uses the venerable medium to make jokes e.g.j “The Fat Bride,” as one effort is called. John Nash, Paid Nash, Ethelbert White, and Bernard Men?risky arc here to add to the gaiety. Mr

Adrian Ailinson (who ps at the extreme “right” of the London Group’s constituents) sends accomplished, decorative scenes of snow, moonlight, and mountains; - '*.