International studio (14.1901)

Stanhope Forbes, A.R.A.

himself most persistently is, “ How would such a
one probably act under such and such circum-
stance ? ” and no artistic opportunism will make
him swerve from the course dictated by the
answer. This gives his work a sense of sincerity
that appeals to everyone—indeed, his is an art
that is very wide-reaching and unusual in the
appeal it makes both to the public and to the
artist, for a rare combination of sincerity and force
in the treatment of subjects of everyday occurrence
brings his work home to everyone. The simple
public, that have no views except the conviction
that they know what they like, are attracted to
these scenes which are within their constant
experience; while the artist, who may possibly
have views very different from those of Mr. Forbes,
is still constrained to admire the force and dexterous
simplicity of his method. This is the explanation
of a popularity which is not often accorded to
men of exceptional abilities during their lifetime.

A criticism written to-day and one written
twelve years back would necessarily be different,
even if Mr. Forbes had not changed in the interim,
because the relation of a man to his environment
is just that which enables us to know him. Any-
one old enough to remember the Fish Sale on the

Cornish Beach, at the Academy of 1885, and
young enough to appreciate its virtues, startling
among the surroundings of that date, will under-
stand what I mean. The fresh vitality of it seemed
like a wholesome breeze from the sea breathed in
a studio reeking with oil and turpentine, while its
brilliant new technique fell upon the younger
painters as a revelation.

Then the Newlyn artists came to be a name,
and the technique was copied and caricatured, and
finally abandoned, and other men and other
methods rose and fell, and fashions and reactions
had their invariable rhythmic ebb and flow, till, in
a few years, what had been almost a startling
innovation had grown to be a normal, if not a
somewhat antiquated, feature in the minds of still
younger men; and so things pass and must ever
pass. But those sterling qualities that have gone
to the making of The Fish Sale, The Village
Philharmonic, The Health of the Bride, The
Forging of the Anchor, etc., these remain; to wit,
keen observation, and vehement concentration, an
artistic conscience always making for truth, an
unerring eye and a powerful grasp of essentials;
these remain, and leave their mark year by year on
the art of England and the world.

“A BED ROOM IN HOLLAND”

BY STANHOPE A. FORBES, A R.A.

84

(By permission of L. Duporest, Esq.)