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Visions Rich and Strange
Louise Whitford Gallery, 1982. £15.00
For a long period the target of disdain and mockery, the official painter of the 'Fin de Siècle' are no longer acknowledged as mere craftsmen: the most qualified had a sensibility directed towards the Fantastic and Imaginary.
Manicheism which used to divide painting in two categories - good and bad - no longer prevails: objectivity has replaced it and themes have been rehabilitated. These painters considered that their work was a mouthpiece of the moral ideas of their time. This explains how 'Vision Rich and Strange' with its intimist or tragic accents, is part of a European artistic movement and represents a sociological study of the period.
As eclecticism is the keynote of this catalogue, a large place is given to Symbolism.
Gerald Schurr, 1982