. Studio international . George Reids Portraits directions—one by the subtle insights into highmoments of spiritualisation, wedded to an un-erring capacity of presenting delicate tonal har-monies ; the other by his vice-like grip of the moreevident likeness of the sitter, combined with a powerand a mastery of his medium, which names him asone of the greatest constructive draughtsmen thatScotland has ever produced. Of modern portraiture that counts we findvaried tendencies. There is the purely decorativepainter who is scarcely troubled at all with theproblems presented by the character of the s
. Studio international . George Reids Portraits directions—one by the subtle insights into highmoments of spiritualisation, wedded to an un-erring capacity of presenting delicate tonal har-monies ; the other by his vice-like grip of the moreevident likeness of the sitter, combined with a powerand a mastery of his medium, which names him asone of the greatest constructive draughtsmen thatScotland has ever produced. Of modern portraiture that counts we findvaried tendencies. There is the purely decorativepainter who is scarcely troubled at all with theproblems presented by the character of the sitter,but is content if he can produce an attractivecolour-scheme with a note of distinction. Thelate Robert Brough, in most of the phases of hisbrilliant art, was one of these, and it is expressedmarkedly by many of the young men of to-day,notably Mr. Glyn Philpot. Mr. J. J. Shannon,Mr. George Henry, and Mr. John Lavery, keenlyalive to decorative qualities, are ahead of in their attempt to blend decoration. TOM MORRIS with character-drawing, which unity reaches itshighest expression in Sir James Guthrie, moresubtle, if less daring and determined in tech-nique, than Mr. Sargent. For delicate shades ofcharacter, indeed, Guthrie is at the Orpen, Mr. Nicholson, and Mr. John, morevirile than either Mr. Shannon or Mr. Lavery,though lacking their occasional graces, neverattempt that minute analysis of spiritualisationwhich is characteristic of Sir James Guthrie,yet never leave us unsatisfied by an over-emphasis of the merely decorative side of theirart. Sir George Reid, on the other hand, is neverclosely analytical, Meredithian, soul-searching. Heis content to make his man appear a man, toleave the essential feminine which exists in mostrefined natures alone, and to confine himself tothe necessary qualities which make a man a in doing so he approaches to crude-ness, to hard and unsympathetic drawing. But inall m&L\\corrnptio optimi pessima
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Keywords: ., bookcentury180, booksubjectart, booksubjectdecorationandornament
