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THE SOCIETY OF FEMALE ARTISTS. 207
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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_ ^ . The Annual Exhibition Of This Soci...
elaborate Algerine landscapes , in watercolour . Divers critics have observed that these are very cold in colourfor -what they sapiently
call a " warm climate ; " any artist will tell them , that a dazzling and nearlvertical sunliht makes the landscape itself seem cold , and
any trav y eller in Northern g Africa will tell them that the prevailing colour of the luxuriant vegetation is a very blue green ; aloes ,
olives , ilex , asphodel , and cactus , all seeming to be embrued with the best aristocratic blue blood of the vegetable kingdom , and some
of these catching also on their broad polished surfaces a thousand reflections from the intense blue of heaven .
But among the new accessions we do not see the names of either of the Misses Mutrie ; a blank much to be regretted . Will not these
admirable artists send in next year a few floral groups , whose native home might be searched for , not in the conservatory , but under the
'wild hedgerow ? The Society should be gallantly supported by those painters in whose behalf it was not instituted , and who
might very gracefully quit " the line" in Trafalgar Square , to adorn these walls . There is a ' triple virtue in
" A long pull , and a strong pull , and a pull all together . " In looking round the large room at the Egyptian Hall , which
Lord Ward has this year kindly ceded to the society , -we perceive no want of aspiration . The ' Athenaeum' says that we must not
look for a Michael An gelo among the ladies ; but we cannot say that we discern much trace of a Michael Angelesque genius in the
English school at large , just now ! Perhaps the most noticeable thing about the intentions of these pictures is the way in which
they reflect , not so much the ideas of any number of male painters , but the general aspect of English art at the present time . If the
execution of the majority were better it would be impossible to tell that we were not standing in some supplementary room of the Koyal
Academy . There are the same portraits , landscapes , scenes from Shakespeareold housesanimalsand fruit . The ideas -which appear
to govern the , ladies in the , selection , of their subjects are not one whit wiser or weaker than those which guide the gentlemen : only
in historical scenes we discern a deficiency , probably from the difficulty of grouping a number of figures consistently with severe
anatomical requirements . Of anything approaching to the subtle delicacy of a Fra Angelico
we find not a trace ; none of the female artists have lent their brushes to subjects of spiritual refinement . Perhaps the most purely
feminine entitled ' p the icture Wife in ' the b room Miss M is . a Tekusch small and in exceeding which a l daint y lovely one ; y young
matronhabited in , the y costume of the last century , sits copying law , for her husbandwhile with the left hand she amuses her
bab papers y in its cradle . A , singular sweetness and humour presided over the conception ; yet there are many French male artists who
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The Society Of Female Artists. 207
THE SOCIETY OF FEMALE ARTISTS . 207
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1858, page 207, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051858/page/63/
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