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1 84 ENGLISH POST-IMPRESSIONISTS
Camden Town group, of whose work there is
plenty in this exhibition. Walter Sickert, the
chief of that school, was in possession of a
style and a reputation when Picasso was still
making figures on a slate. Spencer
Gore has
taken from the new movement just so much as
was suited to his temperament, and, without
submitting his personal gift to any formula,
has added immensely to the significance and
charm of his work. The majority, however,
remain essentially what they have always
been realistic impressionists. They have
been very conscientiously twisting their hurdy-
gurdies while Rome was a-burning.
But, as this exhibition shows,
school of English Post-Impressionists.
there is a
It is
not completely represented here ; indeed, the
gaps are as conspicuous as they are unfortunate.
Here we have only a heterogeneous collection
of young painters, diverse in talent and temper,
all of whom have this in common, that they
have swallowed, more or less whole, the
formulas which French masters invented and
which French masters are now developing and
modifying. Confronted by the elaborate sur-
prises of these rank-and-file men, the patriotic
critic, supposing such an anomaly to exist,
will have to admit that English painting
remains where it has generally been in a bystreet.
It is well to admit this in time ; for