Canada: QUEBEC: General & Artist

Of the 345 paintings and sketches in the Spring Exhibition of Montreal's Art Association last week, most galleryites eagerly sought out two. Titled Twin Isles, B.C. and The Norfolk Broads, England, they were both done by Governor General Alexander, who has heretofore been shy about letting the public see his amateur work. In their first view in Canada, critics and artists were not impressed, but other Canadians thought the G.G.'s work clever and charming.

The Norfolk Broads, the better of the two (painted in February 1946), is a melancholy landscape against a grey-green, threatening sky. One artist complained that the windmill in the painting looked "pasted on." Twin Isles, a British Columbia scene, is a splashy oil of a stretch of forest full of color—yellow, blue, and red flowers, iridescent water and a yellow sky. One professional artist, appraising the lavish use of color, said dryly that the G.G. "must get a great deal of pleasure out of painting."