Studio: international art (71.1917)

The late J. IV. Water house, R.A.

expressive method of handling was of the And the result of this manner of working was
greatest possible assistance to him in the that he evolved a technical system which was
working out of his pictures. A bloodless, tenta- as personal as his choice of subject-matter,
tive technique, an undecided mode of dealing There was a sort of rugged honesty about it
with executive problems, would have robbed which was the more welcome because the honest
his imaginings of half craftsman is a little
their authority and out of fashion in these
would have taken the days of fads and af£ec"
meaning out of his art tations ; there was a
—sureness of touch reticence, too, which
and thorough control was enjoyable because
over the processes of it came as a relief
painting are never trom tne executive
more necessary than J(F^~ fireworks with which
when the artist seeks we have been so per-
to make credible a /fpSjSfe-. ' sistently bombarded in
delicate abstraction or lllC exmbitions of tlie
to convey to others last few years. But
subtleties of senti- J best of all, there was
ment. ^L^^T -■' tnat naPPY relation
But Mr. Waterhouse jr \ between the manner
never gave way to the / \ of expression and the
modern tendency to fj ■ \ matter of the things
treat the display of I W ' -' expressedwhich
executive cleverness / / always shows signi-
as one of the chief / / ficantly how well an
reasons for the exist- artist understands the
ence of his pictures. 'JrJT principles by which all
The dexterous tricks v ....^r true artistic achieve-
of handling, the amaz- ment is governed.
ing jugglings with Indeed, Mr. Water-
paint, which satisfy so house can well be put
many of the younger forward as an example
artists of to-day, most to all young painters,
certainly did not They could learn a
appeal to him. He lesson from his prac-
wished rather to set tice and could see, if
down simply and they studied his
straightforwardly just methods, how much
what was necessary to more important it is
present convincingly to use paint as a
the subject that was means to an end than
in his mind, and he to make it the chief
did not want to divert consideration in a pic-
attention from that study in chalk by j. w. waterhouse, r.a. tqrial exercise- the
subject by attempting dazzling piece of
sleight-of-hand performances in his brushwork. craftsmanship is not a pleasant thing to live
So long as his craftsmanship was sound, so long with ; there comes a time when its very bril-
as it served its purpose efficiently in giving liancy begins to be irritating, and then follows
form to his ideas, he was content to let it remain the discovery that beneath the cleverly handled
simple and straightforward and to depend upon surface of the picture there is nothing to jus-
its very undemonstrativeness for his pictorial tify its existence. Of much more permanent
effect. interest is the piece of painting which does

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