Cotmania. Vol. XI. 1935-6

ART
English drawings. An Anthology.
Edited with an Introduction by M T Ritchie. (Life and Art in Photograph, No. 10) Chatto and Windus. 5s.

In his introduction to a collection of ninety-six English drawings - No. X in the "Life and Art in Photograph" series - ranging in time from Matthew Paris to Mr Duncan Grant, Mr Ritchie stresses the point that the collection is an anthology and not a history, and that in making the collection he has not tried to prove anything except that for several hundreds of years there have been some very fine draughtsmen in this country. The drawings, he says, were chosen because they seemed to him interesting in themselves, and not necessarily because they were by important artists. He makes a good distinction between the "timelessness" which we expect in a large picture and the seizure of a particular moment which gives interest to a drawing. In the main the drawings reproduced support this distinction, though it does not work in the heads by Matthew Paris, the figures by Hilliard and some of the late example, such as "Scoulton Church," by Cotman, and "Miss Siddall," by Rossetti, and it might have been well to distinguish between drawings which, like the majority of this book, are made "with an eye to painting" and drawings made as an end in themselves. The existence of such drawings suggests that the "timeless quality," which belongs, or should belong, top them, thought not good enough for broad distinction, is not really a matter of scale in the picture. It depends upon the original intention of the artist in making the drawing. Most of the drawings reproduced here are "less well known" and among the more interesting are a "Night Scene" for the stage by Inigo Jones, and self portraits by Girtin and Samuel Palmer.
Times Lit Sup. [Times Literary Supplement]
May 23. 1936

In 'Pictures and Picture Collecting' by C J Holmes
n.d. but d. 30 years ago.
'The works of Crome and Cotman in oil are very rare (genuine oils at least) but are also of very fine quality + still remarkable in price. The history & criticism of the Norwich School is dreadfully confused, so that a certain risk attaches to such purchases unless the collector has made a special study of the subject, in which Mr Laurence Binyon's 'Portfolio' monograph will be found invaluable. Yet the pictures are in themselves often so desirable that they are worth all the study that can be given to them."

331 Cotman (J. S.). Oppé (A. P.). The Water-Colour Drawings of John Sell Cotman.
24 col. plates, 4to, o. wrapps., 1923. 27s. 6d.
*From the Catalogue (1936) of
F. B. Neumayer
70 Charing X Rd
W.C.2