Title

The Art of Ethel Spowers.

Author

the Age

Source

The Age. Melbourne, 1854 - ongoing.

Details

2 August 1927, page 7, column 6.

Publication date

2 August 1927

Type

Exhibition review

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Full text

ART NOTES.

The Art of Ethel Spowers.

The exhibition of water colors, wood

cuts and colored lino. impressions by Miss

Ethel Spowers, which opens at the New

Gallery to-day, is one of the best demon-

strations of the kind yet held in Mel-

bourne. Within its limits as pure illus-

tration, the work of Miss Spowers shows

an admirable grasp of form, and a sense

of decoration arrangement which derives

its inspiration from a pictorial tradition

rather than from any individual source,

save, perhaps, in a few instances, where

the influence of the Japanese print is

traceable.

The twenty-five water colors are mostly

of the book illustration type, and vary in

execution from a pure wash, used decora-

tively, to a facile combination with line,

which, particularly in the drawings deal-

ing with childhood, reveal exceptional qua-

lities of draftsmanship and a happy gift

of composition which does not, as in the

case with some illustrators, repeat itself

unduly. Good examples in this section

are The Deserted Jetty, Up a Pine Tree,

and The Guard Room, Port Arthur

(treated in the normal water colour man-

ner).

The lino cuts, in addition to their at-

tractive artistic qualities, show great tech-

nical expertness, both in cutting and print-

ing, and are altogether admirably adapted

to the purpose of book decorations. Espe-

cially good things here are The Green

Bridge, The Timber Crane and The Island

of the Dead. Three uncolored wood cuts

are shown, and two black and white draw-

ings, The Joy Ride and The Three Swans,

the last mentioned being specially worthy of

notice.

The exhibition will remain open till

13th inst.

[The Age (Melbourne), 2 August 1927, page 7, column 6.