DOI Heft:
No. 85 (March, 1904)
DOI Artikel:Bate, Percy H.: The work of George Henry, R. S. A.: a review and an appreciation
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26964#0015
777 ^77/7' 77<?///(y, 77..S'.x7
an expressive phrase of the painter's, " tore the eyes
out of him"), alternated with the production of
posters and the designing of domestic stained-
glass. The sense of the value of pattern, the
charm of colour used in masses, and the beauty of
simplicity of treatment taught by this 'prentice
work, have never left him, but have rather grown
stronger with every phase of his development.
Any influence that he felt in these early days was
that of French art, in its sane but unconventional
phases. This influence, of course, reached him at
secondhand, from painters who had been abroad ;
but it was confirmed by his first visit to Paris, a
visit which (though ostensibly not that of a student,
but of a tourist) resulted in the crystallisation of
theories that had been, until then, more or less
loosely held.
Before alluding to the most potent influence
that has affected Henry's art, that of Japan, a few
early pictures that call for at least a passing
notice must be spoken of. Early in his career he
turned his attention to decorative work, and exe-
cuted some panels in that style; an attempt re-
peated with much success when he was one of four
Glasgow painters commissioned to decorate the
walls of the Banqueting-room in the City Cham-
bers. In the easel pictures of his youthful days
he was always striving to use full, solid colour, even
going the length of omitting all admixture of white
in his pigments, and by this employment of deep
and sumptuous colour he endeavoured to render,
at once by symbol and by interpretation, the pro-
found richness of nature and her abounding
fecundity. ^4 GWZwqy Za7M&rw,% a very remark-
able work in which he certainly achieved much
that he wished for, is to a certain extent the
culmination of this en-
deavour.
This GW/hwap' ZawZ-
was a new note in
landscape art, and was
highly appreciated by the
discerning; and having
accomplished so much,
Henry devoted himself
to an attempt to render
nature in another fashion,
as seen in yVaaM and
In
these, by means of strong
contrasts, he sought, as
so many painters have
sought in different ways,
to render direct sunlight.
He employed dark, purply
shadows in the fore-
ground, to accentuate the
value of the clear yellow
sunlight that Hooded the
rest of the picture; and
while he sought to give
truth to the landscape, he
was not unmindful (he is
too keen an observer for
that) of the claims and
artistic value of rustic
character. It was in Kirk
cudbrightshire, which is-
the scene of the GWAwqy
Z<27zZ.M%^, and a favourite
painting ground, that
Henry and Hornel first met;
"THE MIRROR" BY GEORGE HENRY, R.S.A.
an expressive phrase of the painter's, " tore the eyes
out of him"), alternated with the production of
posters and the designing of domestic stained-
glass. The sense of the value of pattern, the
charm of colour used in masses, and the beauty of
simplicity of treatment taught by this 'prentice
work, have never left him, but have rather grown
stronger with every phase of his development.
Any influence that he felt in these early days was
that of French art, in its sane but unconventional
phases. This influence, of course, reached him at
secondhand, from painters who had been abroad ;
but it was confirmed by his first visit to Paris, a
visit which (though ostensibly not that of a student,
but of a tourist) resulted in the crystallisation of
theories that had been, until then, more or less
loosely held.
Before alluding to the most potent influence
that has affected Henry's art, that of Japan, a few
early pictures that call for at least a passing
notice must be spoken of. Early in his career he
turned his attention to decorative work, and exe-
cuted some panels in that style; an attempt re-
peated with much success when he was one of four
Glasgow painters commissioned to decorate the
walls of the Banqueting-room in the City Cham-
bers. In the easel pictures of his youthful days
he was always striving to use full, solid colour, even
going the length of omitting all admixture of white
in his pigments, and by this employment of deep
and sumptuous colour he endeavoured to render,
at once by symbol and by interpretation, the pro-
found richness of nature and her abounding
fecundity. ^4 GWZwqy Za7M&rw,% a very remark-
able work in which he certainly achieved much
that he wished for, is to a certain extent the
culmination of this en-
deavour.
This GW/hwap' ZawZ-
was a new note in
landscape art, and was
highly appreciated by the
discerning; and having
accomplished so much,
Henry devoted himself
to an attempt to render
nature in another fashion,
as seen in yVaaM and
In
these, by means of strong
contrasts, he sought, as
so many painters have
sought in different ways,
to render direct sunlight.
He employed dark, purply
shadows in the fore-
ground, to accentuate the
value of the clear yellow
sunlight that Hooded the
rest of the picture; and
while he sought to give
truth to the landscape, he
was not unmindful (he is
too keen an observer for
that) of the claims and
artistic value of rustic
character. It was in Kirk
cudbrightshire, which is-
the scene of the GWAwqy
Z<27zZ.M%^, and a favourite
painting ground, that
Henry and Hornel first met;
"THE MIRROR" BY GEORGE HENRY, R.S.A.