The Camden Town Group in Context

Still another exhibiting body of painters makes its appearance this year, when the shows of already existing societies have proved more than a little overwhelming. But the Camden Town Group, under the presidency of Mr. Spencer F. Gore, quite justify their arrival. Of the sixteen members, all but Mr. J.D. Innes are exhibitors, and their fifty works, all small, show a common influence which may be described as that of Fitzroy Square. Only Mr. M.G. Lightfoot seems a little unrelated to his fellow members, and Mr. Lightfoot’s exhibits prove him quite able to stand by himself. There are mistakes on the walls – the Camden Town Murder series, by Mr. Walter Sickert, is among them – but there is not a single canvas that does not really interest. I may mention the President’s “Mornington Crescent,” Mr. Henry Lamb’s excellent “Man Fishing,” Mr. Ginner’s “Sunlit Wall” and his “Still Life,” interiors by Mr. W. Ratcliffe and Mr. M. Drummond, the portrait-heads of Mr. Gilman, and the drawings of Mr. J.D. Turner. And having referred to his gruesome efforts, I must express the pleasure to be got from Mr. Sickert’s “Emily,” a study of a girl gazing into the mirror above a mantelpiece in a room into which sunlight flows. The note of this stimulating little show is one of live intelligence on which no exhibitor breaks with anything that is commonplace. Mr. Augustus John contributes two small landscapes in Wales – his latest work, I understand – but these had not been framed in time for the Press view.