Laughing Torso

LAUGHING TORSO

man. I went along with her and when I got there
I knew for certain that the Royal Academy was no
place for me and decided at all costs to leave
Pelham Street. This was not so easy, as my Grand-
mother was thinking of the five years' free education
at the Royal Academy Schools rather than my
artistic development.
I wrote to Mr. George Clausen, the Academician,
who occasionally gave criticisms at Pelham Street.
I went with some of my drawings to his studio in St.
John's Wood. He was very encouraging and sym-
pathetic and when I asked his opinion on the
advisability of going to the London School of Art
he seemed to think that it wras a good idea. The
result was that my Grandmother was induced to
pay my fees for a short time.
The next term I went to " Brangwyns," as we
called it.
Here at last was paradise. It was run as a French
Academy. The class had a Massier who posed the
models and the professor came once a week.
Swan was a remarkable personality and was very
hard to please. One day a negro model was posing
and I was doing a large drawing in charcoal. Swan
appeared and said, " Go and wash your hands and
face and if you can draw like that you are all right."
Most of the students imitated Brangwyn and their
work was atrocious. They imitated his mannerisms
instead of learning from his real qualities. He was
not a good professor, he had too much personality
to teach welL
Later George Lambert and William Nicholson
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