The Royal Canadian Academy

Enter Martin Luther

The Royal Canadian Academy written by Ramsay Traquair

The Heretic

From The Canadian Forum, December 1920, p.83

The Royal Canadian Academy Exhibition this year is better than it has been for many years. The general standard of the work is high, there are, of course, "regrettable incidents", but they [p.84] are inevitable and there are an unusual number of pictures of real interest. As usual, the clear division of Canadian Art into "Portrait" and "Landscape" is noticeable. There are almost no strictly imaginative pictures and those there are are not very successful. The creative imagination of our painters has been turned to landscape and, in this field, is producing the most interesting work of the day, but one may be allowed to hope that some day a revolt will take place against the overwhelming importance of landscape in today's picture painting.

To come to the present exhibition, the official portrait is not always also a picture, but Mr. Varley's portrait of Mr. Chester D. Massey, from Hart House, not only looks a good portrait, but is a fine picture. Mr. Massey is comfortably seated, with the light coming slightly from behind, giving strong modelling to the features. The background is a shimmering yellow and the figure shows against it in silhouette. This gives a good monumental effect, so that the picture is not only pleasant from near at hand, but carries well even at the full length of the exhibition rooms. This is a very thorough work, well painted and of original quality.

Mr. Cullen is perennially fresh. His Winter shows what can be found in the Canadian woods and his September Moon, with its soft, deep colour, shows that Mr. Cullen is not a one-idea man. But Mr. Cullen has his place secure. His renderings of the winter woods, in greys and soft blacks, are full of imagination and mystery, and are backed by solid knowledge.

In The Lake of Bays, Ontario, Mr. Palmer has caught the suppressed colour of an evening after rain. This is one of the most successful landscapes in the exhibition. It is worthwhile comparing it with Mr. F. H. Johnston's large picture Beaver Haunts. Both are low in tone, both are Canadian lakes, both prefer richness to brightness of colour, both are good and quite different. If we include in our comparison Mr. Frank Carmichael's An Autumn Hillside with its strong contrasts of bright colour at the one extremity and Mr. Cullen's Winter at the other, we have a complete scale of ascending colour, a series of gradated interpretations from the same original theme. There is certainly abundant material in the Canadian woods.

Mr. Johnston's exhibits, in tempera have the sparkle of that medium. Wild Cherry and Live Forever is very attractive.

The so-called "advanced school" are well to the fore and the hanging committee have wisely hung a number of their works on the large wall facing the staircase where they can be seen at a little distance. These painters have an ideal which is not that of the older men, and to hang their works amongst those of the older men is cruel to both. It must always be the weakness of any general exhibition that the conflict of ideals is more apt to strike the casual observer than the quality of the ideals themselves. We are too apt to condemn one, or the other, if, for instance Mr. Arthur Lismer gets hung beside Mr. Bell-Smith.

As they are here hung, these boldly painted pictures can show their qualities much more easily than can similar pictures hung in the other rooms. The colour of this wall stands out in the Exhibition. Oh that the walls of some public building were available! Painting might here in Canada take its proper place as an art of Public Life, for we seem to have the painters.

The individual pictures are interesting. Mrs. Eva Brook Donly's two flowerpieces are quite minutely painted and very clever. Of Mr. Carmichael's Autumn Hillside mention has already been made. Miss McGillivray's At the Edge of the Grove, Whitby is good in tone and value. Mr. Arthur Lismer's Rock and Water is very, very bold, and Miss Mabel Lockerly's In the Garden has an interesting mediaeval quality. But all these painters seem to be in conflict with the old convention of the panel picture. They really should have fifty feet square to work on. Take, for instance, Mr. Jackson's Winter, Georgian Bay. A whole wall of this would be splendid. As a panel picture in a gold frame it is not satisfactory. The "advanced school" have not yet really got their chance.

But one question must be answered. Will any picture last which has so rough a surface as say Mr. Lismer's Logging, Nova Scotia? This is not a question of artistic merit, but of craftsmanship and of proper respect for our children. The paint in these pictures often stands up in sharp ridges of almost a quarter of an inch. This may give a quality of sparkle, but, as dirt accumulates in the crevices the effect will be lost. We are suffering for similar sins of our fathers. Every picture of the XIX century painted with bitumen is ruined today, and our painters have rightly abandoned bitumen. Are they not sinning in another direction today? It does seem that any picture intended to live beyond the walls of an exhibition should have a cleanable surface. This defect may be part of the unconscious quarrel with the small panel picture, a form imposed by past generations who painted more smothly^(sic!) and it is probable that the forced technique would vanish if the painter had to cover a large enough space. At present the paint is a little "out of scale".

Mr. Harry Britton's two large water colours, Dutch Boats and Mild Weather, are the only works in this medium that call for particular mention. They are hung amongst the oil paintings but quite hold their own. They are well handled, fresh and good in colour.

Mr. Raine shows a number of etchings and pencil sketches from the Province of Quebec. The etcher is still too much neglected here and Mr. [p.85] Raine is fighting in a good cause. His work advances steadily year by year. Mr. S. Carter's illumination is an example of an art even more neglected than etching. It is good in design, colour and craftsmanship if possibly a little archaistic. It is worth more attention than it is likely to get. Mr. F. S. Haines sends four aquatints, three in colour, which are interesting examples of a delicate process.

A special word of praise must be given to the hanging committee. This is the best hung Academy for many years.

Ramsay Traquair