David Donald John Cameron, Alfred Priest, 1928

PRIEST'S PAINTINGS

Noted Artist Arrives

Mr. Alfred Priest, an artist of repute in England, arrived in Sydney by the s.s. Chitral last Thursday, after spending a few months in India with his brother, Major R. Priest, of the Indian Army, at Nani-Tal, where he found subjects for his brush and painted many portraits, including Lady Barron and the Nawab of Chatari, a well-known Rajah.Mr. Priest is a member of the Royal Society of portrait painters. He was a pupil of the late J. Watson Nichol, and of Sir Arthur Cope, R.A. Later he studied at the Royal Academy Schools, where he won the Turner Gold Medal and Scholarship (1897).

At the Royal Academy Schools his teachers were John S. Sargent, R.A., W. Q. Orchardson, R.A., Solomon J. Solomon, R.A., J. Waterhouse, R.A., Sir G. Clauson, R.A.

Mr. Priest was also a student at Julien's, in Paris, and for two years he studied etching under Sir Frank Short, R.A.—the president of the Royal Society of Painter Etchers. r. Priest's ability as a student was highly appreciated by Mr. Sargent, who, at the Royal Society's Exhibition in 1905, hung a portrait painted by Mr. Priest as a companion to one painted by himself, and wrote stating that he "was pleased to do that justice to such a good piece of work."

IMPRESSIONS OF INDIA.

During 1904 he was on the staff of the London "Daily Chronicle," making pen portraits of celebrities. He visited Spain in 1905, Holland 1915, Switzerland 1925, Italy 1926, for sketching purposes; and recently Kashmiri, where he found "landscapes like Switzerland, Holland, Italy, and India all rolled into one country." Art lovers in Sydney will be given an opportunity to view some of his impressions of India.

Mr. Priest has exhibited for many years; his portraits and subject pictures at the Royal Academy, Grafton Galleries, Royal Institute, and other galleries in London, also at the Paris Salon, 1922, and the principal cities of the United Kingdom.

Two of his war pictures, "Mother, Mother" (1917) and "Got Him!" (1918), while on exhibition at the Royal Academy, attracted much favorable comment in the Press, and were purchased by the Marquis of Bute, who subsequently employed Mr. Priest on some big designs for tapestry, illustrating important events in the history of his family, which entailed much research and study.

One work, measuring 18ft. by 8ft, depicts "The Admirable Crichton—an ancestor of Lord Bute—submitting designs for the fortifications of Mantua" to the Duke of Mautua in the year 1528.

Another design measuring 22ft by 12ft, comprises 120 figures, many of them portraits. This work represents "The Prayer for Victory Before the Battle of Prestonpans." Another work is a design for a frieze composed of waterside plants and flowers, painted lifesize on a canvas measuring 15ft by 6ft.

His past work has shown remarkable versatility—pen and ink drawing, etching, miniatures, landscapes, still life, and subject pictures, on canvases ranging in size up to 22ft. He has also been much occupied with commissions to paint presentation portraits of notable persons throughout Great Britain.

Mr. Priest has long desired to visit Australia, where he has relatives. While here, he intends to paint Australian subjects, and later on to hold an exhibition on his work.

SKILLED ARTIST

A. PRIEST'S SHOW

OIL AND WATERCOLOR

ALFRED PRIEST, a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, who recently arrived in Sydney, is holding an exhibition of his oil and watercolor work at the Macquarie Galleries, Bligh-street. Mr. Priest is evidently a skilled craftsman, who can paint as well as draw.

An example of fine draughtsmanship and the skillful handling of paint is afforded in the study of a nude girl just waking from sleep. The girl is curled up on a couch covered with drapings, and is stretching herself with a movement of feline grace and ease. The torso is beautifully modelled, and although a trifle low in tone, the flesh possesses a wonderful luminosity. On the other side of the room is a lifelike portrait of G. K. Chesterton strongly painted and excellent in expression. But the most attractive picture in the gallery is a still life, with some yellow pears in full light, all admirable in the brilliancy of its color, drawing and composition.

VIEW OF HIMALAYAS.

In the use of watercolor Mr. Priest shows great delicacy and refinement in his treatment of a subject. A view of the Himalayas from Mt. Cheena is admirable in the clearness of its statement, its refinement of color and the sense of majesty in repose which the artist has managed to convey. A crisp effect of sunlight and pleasing color distinguish a sketch of a creek in Dalveen, and fine bold brushwork and searching drawing make "Boulders, Stanthorpe,"— No 15— a desirable piece.

A portrait of Mrs. Donald Cameron is to be noted for the expressive look in the eyes and the general harmony of the coloring. The Australian gumtree, however, presents an artistic problem which Mr. Priest has yet to solve.

GEORGE GALWAY.

ART EXHIBITION.

Mr. Alfred Priest, the English artist, who arrived in Sydney last year, has been studying the Australian landscape scenery, and some of the results of his observations are included in an attractive exhibtion of his pictures at the Macquarie Galleries. Watercolours form the great bulk of the collection.

In this medium he has produced admirable effects in his studies of Queensland rural country, in such subjects, for instance, as "Gum Trees, Sunset," charming in tone and atmosphere, the "View from Mountside, Warwick," and "A Creek in Dalveen." Mr. Priest invests these subjects with quiet, graceful beauty; possibly the rugged grandeur of the bush scenery will capture his attention in later work. A corner of Sydney Harbour, No. 5, in oils, conveys an immediate impression by its deep blue tones of sea and sky, relieved by the shore line, with its array of red roofs and clusters of foliage, and by the trading vessel in the foreground.

Many of the water-colours are of scenes in India. Of these the "Rhododendron Tree" may he quoted as an example of majestically proportioned background in the heights and sharply-descending valleys of the distance, an imposing setting for the tall flowering tree, which stands immediately at hand. This sense of vastness in the mountain scenery is well convoyed in other Indian pictures. There is great charm in the silvery quality of a group of birches in Sussex. Among the oils is a sterling portrait of G. K. Chesterton, strong, vigorous, and rich in character, as he leans slightly forward, with hands folded across his walking-stick. A chalk-drawing in profile of Mr. Chesterton is another excellent piece of work. A large oil-painting of a nude figure, "Waking," is sure in draughtsmanship and tone, and some artistic still-life subjects are among the features of the exhibition. There are two admirable watercolour portraits of Lieutenant-Colonel and Mrs. Cameron.