Cotmania. Vol. X. 1934-5

Sept: 4. 1935. Visited Castle Museum at Norwich. All the officials very busy as it was first day of Brit: Ass: Meeting. Saw Mrs Barnard for a moment. The 'Alhambra' from the Heseltine Collection is a [?] of the 1st water - quite fresh and charming in colour - blue distance, blue and white sky, yellow castle, brown foreground. A w.c. given by Mrs Field of a castle on the sands is a very good specimen of his hot blue and yellow drawings, in excellent condition. The sepia drawing from the Allen collection of the Church of St Giles, near St [?] is an elevation in brown ink and sepia. In the showcase is a letter from J.S.C. June 16 - probably 1827 - refusing an invitation on his wife's behalf to dinner because of his illness: suggests he should bring his 'eldest son' instead, written to 'Samuel Bigould Esq'
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ART
THIRTY PAINTINGS, By E.M. HEATH, With foreword by EDWARD GARNETT, Jonathan Cape, 10s. 6d.
In his appreciative forword to this collection of thirty reproductions in collotype of paintings by Miss E.M. Heath Mr. Edward Garnett develops a reasonable view of landscape painting, though not the only one possible. He puts the chief responsibility upon truth of tone in rendering the subtle gradations of nature. A moment's reflection shows that this would exclude not only the landscape painting which derives from Cezanne but also the Italian "primitives," in their landscape backgrounds, the "classical" school, and Cotman in many of his water-colours - not to speak of "The Waterfall," which for many is one of the finest landscapes ever painted. When Mr. Garnett goes on to say "Miss Heath's landscapes are a return to the quiet naturalness and simplicity that we find in the seventeenth century Dutch school and in the early masters (we should still exclude Cotman) of English water-colour" we "catch his wavelength" and we can to a great extent share his enthusiasm for Miss Heath's paintings. They are, indeed, not only subtly true in "the relations of fields and grass, earth and sky," but they are remarkably consistent as a whole, and most of them are well composed in the relation of one tone to another in the picture, which we cannot but feel is a rather more important relationship than that of the tones to the facts. Some excellent portraits are included in the reproductions.