The Camden Town Group in Context

At the Carfax Gallery, 24, Bury-street, St. James’s, the “Camden Town Group” hold their first exhibition. As a group they seem to be mainly concerned with experiments, not all equally successful, in analysing light and colour into the prismatic hues, with an unpleasant blue predominating. Mr Walter Sichert [sic], who seems to stand as a sort of leader, is represented by a portrait study, “Lena,” and two not very pleasant subjects of a “Camden Town Murder Series.” Mr J. B. Manson pursues impressionist pointilliste methods with excellent results in “The Avenue, St. Valéry-en-Somme” [sic] and “In the Garden Suburb.” Somewhat similar in method are the “Mornington Crescent” and “Scene III,” by Mr Spencer F. Gore, of whose exhibition at the Chenil Gallery a notice was recently given. “Frank,” by Mr M.G. Lightfoot, stands out from many of the other exhibits by reason of its sober charm of tone and arrangement and by a soundness of draughtsmanship, which finds expression also in a chalk drawing, “A Child Playing with a Ball.” Mr Walter Bayes and Mr Augustus John are both interesting contributors, the latter sending two oil paintings, “Llyn Cynlog” and “Nant-ddu,” which one likes as decorative patches of colour rather than as studies of actual form in landscape.