Welsh Journals

years ago since Miss Williams left the Royal Academy Schools, after a brilliant career, which she brought to a fitting close by gaining the Gold Medal of the Academy, together with the £ 200 Travelling Scholar- ship. Considering her age, an exhibition of 58 paintings and drawings of the quality of those in this exhibition is certainly extraordinary. The main interest of the collection lies in the opportunity it gave for studying the development in technical achievement of a most promising artist; for on the walls were to be found examples of her student days at the Royal Academy, the product of her stay in Italy, and, finally, the work she has recently produced under the influence of Franz Hals in Amsterdam. Her Academy School works, such as the' Dives and Lazarus.' and The City of Refuge,' are charac- terised by real power of draughtsmanship and a gift for academic composition. They are, however, typical of the tight' painting of the Academy Schools. In colour Miss Williams had not yet found herself. What gave one the greatest pleasure in the exhibi- tion was the clear evidence shown of her ability and determination to throw over the trammels of Academic tradition, and work towards a manner of her own. In her Italian studies her good draughts- manship is everywhere apparent, but we also see gradually developing a finer sense of colour. We note with pleasure her scholarly drawing and admirable painting of bronze in the Baptistry of St. Mark's, Venice, her growing sensitiveness to colour in No. 6 In the Shadow of the Palatine,' No. 34 The Arch of Titus,' and No. 27 The Guidecca.' Her Italian portraits equally attest her advance in her art. No. 24 Mrs. Carugatti is a painting of great charm the soft dull blue of the dress, the bluey green of the background, and the rich browns and reds of the hair and skin combine to make a picture so satisfying in its colour alone, that to us it seems the most promising works in the exhibi- tion. It was a wise decision of Miss Williams to proceed from Italy to Holland, more especially for the purpose of studying at Haarlem and Amsterdam the technique of the most brilliant wielder of the brush in the history of Art, Franz Hals. Her work under his influence has acquired a greater freedom of handling and a breadth of style, so evident in the head of Baron Van Riemsdijk, the Director of the Rijks Museum Amsterdam, and the dignified portrait of her mother. If Miss Williams only cultivates the imaginative side of her art-for of the possession of imaginative gift she gives distinct indications, particularly in the design Winter — the technical equipment she at present possesses ought to insure her a high position in Art. Open-air The Annual Report for 1912 of the Education. Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education containsl information with regard to open-air education which should be of great interest to Welsh Education Committees. We are told that open-air education was practised by the Greeks and Romans, was commended by the educationists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and has been attempted in various forms since 1876 when Bion of Zurich initiated the children's country holiday movement. The forms which this kind of work take include (a) country holidays and country schools for town children, (b) playground classes, (c) open-air class rooms, (d) day open-air schools, and (e) residential open-air schools. Clearly the most convenient and satisfactory form of open-air education for all weathers and for all children is the open-air classroom. This may be either a special classroom attached to an ordinary school, or special schools may be erected on open-air lines. In some districts schools are being so con- structed, in regard to window space, as to allow of one or more rooms being turned into open-air classrooms at will. Open-air schools are intended, speaking broadly, for children who are debilitated, anaemic and ill- nourished-the kind of children who, though not actually suffering from tuberculosis, would readily fall victims to that disease or indeed any other infectious disease. We are informed that taking the school population as a whole not less than 10% are really in need of such treatment as the open-air schools provide. Special open-air schools are not merely schools in the open-air but include the following charac- teristic features fresh air and sunlight, proper and sufficient diet, rest, hygienic ways of life, individual attention, medical treatment, and special educational methods. Where these seven points are woven together in a process of education and hygiene the maximum gain is secured. It is satisfactory to notice in the Annual Report referred to that the Carnarvonshire Education Authority have erected two new schools on open-air lines, all classrooms in which can be thrown completely open or closed at will.