International studio (21.1903/1904(1904))

an almost inexplicable charm to both his landscapes
and his hgure subjects. But what there was of
realism in his earlier works has been refined away,
more and more, until now he has come to be an
exponent of fantasies which are almost entirely
independent of reality and scarcely referable, even
remotely, to the facts of nature. He is to-day
a painter of visions, a dreamer whose mind
is so full of fanciful inventions that he is no
longer able to receive impressions from the life
about him. He lives in mental isolation in a
Strange world which he has created for himself,
and he is content to remain unaffected by the
ordinary influences of present-day existence.
His attitude, it must
be admitted, is logical
enough. Any touch of
modernity would intro-
duce a hint of artifi-
ciality into his mys-
ticism, and would seem
to suggest that his
artistic manner is a
mere pose, and not
the sincere avowal of a
creed which he has de-
liberately and intelli-
gently adopted. For
him isolation is right,
because he has a fund
of inspiration upon
which he can draw
constantly. without any
fear that he will ex-
haust its possibilities.
There is no fear that
he will formulate his
ideas and use a com-
monplace Convention
to save him from the
trouble of thinking out
suitable modes of ex-
pressing his imagin-
ings. What there is of
Convention in his art
is not more than that
instinctive preference
for certain ways of
treating facts which
can always be seen in
the work of an artist
of strong individuality.
It shows in his choice
of a particular facial
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type, and of a particular physical character in his re-
presentation of the figure; it is seen in his love of
vague dehnition and of tone arrangements which
suggest rather than explain the forms and masses
with which his pictures are built up; it can be per-
ceived plainly in his abstract System of colour.
But these are all evidences of the working of
his temperament; they are not parts of a scheme
to evade the difhculties of his craft, or to gain
popularity by harping persistently on a single
string. Few artists have sacrificed less to the
desire to gain a following, or have disregarded
more consistently the devices by which Pro-
fessional success has usually to be engineered.


ETCHING BY MATTHEW MARtS