Cotmania. Vol. IV. 1929-30

LEEDS. J. S. Cotman : Ploughed Field
I have looked at it until I thought I should get wet for there is rain about, and probably hail too in those clouds. The whole thing takes one really into the country and we know exactly the kind of day it is, for every spot of colour is exactly right for this particular day and time, and here Cotman shows himself to be a great colourist and impressionist. The delightful pattern of the picture is a great joy. From the beautifully radiating ploughed field which forms a third of the picture (with its dead bird hanging on a stick, reminding the feathered world that nature can be cruel), to the soliloquising farmer, the eye is taken to the second part of the picture by a lovely soft mass of trees after the dip in the earth to the little wandering figure and the more distant fields and trees; and onto the horizon and the third part of the picture - sky. Everything appears to be done with the greatest of ease and joy. - Miss Dorothy Gilling, 40, St Helen's Road, Harrogate.
From a Magazine called 'The Art Gallery' Vol. 1 no. 2
Spring 1930

THE STRIDINIG DALES. BY HALLIWELL SUTCLIFFE. Illustrated by A. REGINALD SMITH R.W.S. (Warne, 15s, net).
With the author goes Mr Reginald Smith, and for his share in this work we have nothing but praise. The limestone country of the West Riding has a peculiar tonality; just as the colours in a water-colour painting owe their luminosity to the whiteness of the paper underlying them, so the background of limestone seems to throw up the natural colours of this region, so that they have an appearance of aqueous translucency. It is this quality, so sympathetic to his medium, which Mr Smith has captured in his paintings.
Times Literary Supplement.
March 6 - 1930