THE STUDIO
THE WORK OF GEORGE HENRY, that has greeted a popular work condemns the
R.S.A. : A REVIEW AND AN unfortunate artist to a succession of attempts, more
APPRECIATION BY PERCY or less successml> to repeat his triumph. Or yet
another cause of this narrowness of achievement
may be found in the fact that a painter has hit upon
There are many painters—perhaps one may a novel convention, a personal method of treatment,
even say that they are in the majority—who, that is easy to him, and soon becomes habitual. An
having discovered that work of a certain style artist may develop a method that suits one particu-
attains a great success with the public, and there- lar class of subject, while being quite inapplicable
fore possesses a distinct commercial value, continue to another ; or he may attain the doubtful success
consistently to produce that one thing, and that of a style so individual that it absolutely hall-marks
one thing only. There is, of course, more than his picture! This latter is often a questionable
one cause for a painter's production of one special gain, for such a method is apt to degenerate from
class of picture. It may be that the artist has no manner into mannerism, is apt to induce a habit
capacity for painting of another kind; the aqua- of artistic indolence, preventing a painter from
rellist often fails when he turns to oils, and the advancing, while it cannot preserve him from
portrait painter achieves but scant success when he retrogression. No one can rightly claim that the
attempts a landscape. It may be that the applause expression in a painter's work of his individuality,
"kelvingrove park" by george henry, r.s.a.
XXXI. No. 131.—February, 190+. 3
THE WORK OF GEORGE HENRY, that has greeted a popular work condemns the
R.S.A. : A REVIEW AND AN unfortunate artist to a succession of attempts, more
APPRECIATION BY PERCY or less successml> to repeat his triumph. Or yet
another cause of this narrowness of achievement
may be found in the fact that a painter has hit upon
There are many painters—perhaps one may a novel convention, a personal method of treatment,
even say that they are in the majority—who, that is easy to him, and soon becomes habitual. An
having discovered that work of a certain style artist may develop a method that suits one particu-
attains a great success with the public, and there- lar class of subject, while being quite inapplicable
fore possesses a distinct commercial value, continue to another ; or he may attain the doubtful success
consistently to produce that one thing, and that of a style so individual that it absolutely hall-marks
one thing only. There is, of course, more than his picture! This latter is often a questionable
one cause for a painter's production of one special gain, for such a method is apt to degenerate from
class of picture. It may be that the artist has no manner into mannerism, is apt to induce a habit
capacity for painting of another kind; the aqua- of artistic indolence, preventing a painter from
rellist often fails when he turns to oils, and the advancing, while it cannot preserve him from
portrait painter achieves but scant success when he retrogression. No one can rightly claim that the
attempts a landscape. It may be that the applause expression in a painter's work of his individuality,
"kelvingrove park" by george henry, r.s.a.
XXXI. No. 131.—February, 190+. 3