Cotmania. Vol. VI. 1930-31

Eastern Daily Press

1. 11.'30.

                                     CASTLE MUSEUM
                                           EXHIBITION

THE ART OF JOHN JOSEPH COTMAN

John Joseph Cotman—what an arrogant,
erratic, morbid, wilful and yet withal
notable figure is conjured up by those three
names. Several Norwich septuagenarians
remember him well, for the youthful mind
could not but have been impressed by the
forceful character of the man who was keen
to interest youth in his art. A little mad
he may have been, but all genius is an ex-
pression of madness in the eyes of the com-
monsense world. That ho had genius will
be denied by few who visit the new loan
collection of pictures at the Norwich Castle
Museum. Here tho art of John Joseph
Cotman may be seen at its best, and
curiously enough it is in the unfamiliar
phase of his work in oils that he reveals
himself most strongly, for in breadth of
conception and depth of colour tones the
son has proved himself worthy of his
illustrious father, John Sell Cotman. Take
for instance the first oil painting on the
right when entering the gallery, a sombre
but powerful study of disused gravel pits,
the gipsy encampment in the foreground
focussing the eye on the centre of the
picture ; then a pair of wooded landscapes,
with vistas through the trees' of fierce blue
skies and blue shadowed villages in the
country beyond. Much of this artist's work
is admittedly influenced by his father,
but these three pictures chow him at his
best when developing his own ideas and
technique. The water colours include
studies of local scenes, such as the view of
the Wensum with the Boom Tower and the
quaint houses of King Street crowding down
to the water's edge, the artist's favourite
blue haze forming a romantic setting for
the picture ; a view up the river featuring
Bishop's Bridge; the old "Gibraltar" and
Heigham watering in a cold autumnal
setting ; the old " Woods End " at Bramer-
ton, and many others in which residents in
the city and county will be interested. A
glorious study of trees of all tints as
mellowed by the autumn sunshine is very
reminiscent of the marvellous colour patterns
with which John Sell Cotman worked uip his
studios of trees on almost Japanese lines.
Exhibited with one very large water colour
is the slight pencil sketch or " note " made
on tho spot from which later the finished
picture was worked up in the studio. Two
large pencil studies of views of Norwich
are so dissimilar in character that, although
each is signed " J. J. Cotman, 1872," it
is only possible to suppose that the view of
the Cathedral as seen from Fishergate Street
is based on tho work of another artist, and
this theory is confirmed by the period of
the dress of the figures which is certainly
much earlier than J.J.Cotman could have
known.