DOI Heft:
Nr. 105 (November, 1905)
DOI Artikel:Bayes, Walter: The paintings and etchings of D. Y. Cameron
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26961#0021
THE STUDIO
The paintings and etch-
INGS OF D. Y. CAMERON. BY
WALTER BAYES.
In the heedless fashion of youth, the present
writer has sometimes been guilty of gibing at the
dass of artide to which, on the face of it, this
essay would seem to belong—the artide, to wit,
that is devoted to the exaltation of some particular
artist and is illustrated by photographs of his works
kindly supplied by that artist for purposes of such
glorification. I have darkly
hinted that the subjects
of these appreciations are
frequently not real people
at all, but inventions
foisted on the unwary
editor by needy and un-
scrupulous writers, and
have pointed out that,
even when their objective
existence is unquestion-
able, they stand small
chance of unbiassed criti-
cism under such an
arrangement. Doubly
necessary, then, is it for
me to approach my pre-
sent task warily and with
some appreciation of its
true raison d’etre—so as
to avoid, as far as may be,
the worst abuses incident
to this form of artistic
scribbiing.
That these articles have
such a raisoti cTetre (apart
from artists’ and writers’
appetites for praise and
pence) is evident, I think,
from the attitude of the
public, who not only buy
them, but also, I believe,
read the letterpress. Cast-
ing about, as it is always
safe to do, for some selfish
motive in this so extra-
ordinary behaviour, one
is struck by this fact,
XXVII. No. 105. —November, 1905.
that the readers of these artistic magazines
(as apart from the public that buys them just
as picture-books) are artists and art students, art
aspirants in one form or another, and that they
read them in the touching hope (for at bottom are
we not all children?) of Unding out “how it is
done.” Here is this man Cameron in a very
enviable position. He sells his work more readily
than we ours. He is admired: damning one
another, we unite to quite an extraordinary degree
in praising him. “ How did he manage it ? ”
“iNTERIOR OF ST. MARK’S, VENICE ” BY D. Y. CAMERON
(The property of John Stevenson, Esq.)
3
The paintings and etch-
INGS OF D. Y. CAMERON. BY
WALTER BAYES.
In the heedless fashion of youth, the present
writer has sometimes been guilty of gibing at the
dass of artide to which, on the face of it, this
essay would seem to belong—the artide, to wit,
that is devoted to the exaltation of some particular
artist and is illustrated by photographs of his works
kindly supplied by that artist for purposes of such
glorification. I have darkly
hinted that the subjects
of these appreciations are
frequently not real people
at all, but inventions
foisted on the unwary
editor by needy and un-
scrupulous writers, and
have pointed out that,
even when their objective
existence is unquestion-
able, they stand small
chance of unbiassed criti-
cism under such an
arrangement. Doubly
necessary, then, is it for
me to approach my pre-
sent task warily and with
some appreciation of its
true raison d’etre—so as
to avoid, as far as may be,
the worst abuses incident
to this form of artistic
scribbiing.
That these articles have
such a raisoti cTetre (apart
from artists’ and writers’
appetites for praise and
pence) is evident, I think,
from the attitude of the
public, who not only buy
them, but also, I believe,
read the letterpress. Cast-
ing about, as it is always
safe to do, for some selfish
motive in this so extra-
ordinary behaviour, one
is struck by this fact,
XXVII. No. 105. —November, 1905.
that the readers of these artistic magazines
(as apart from the public that buys them just
as picture-books) are artists and art students, art
aspirants in one form or another, and that they
read them in the touching hope (for at bottom are
we not all children?) of Unding out “how it is
done.” Here is this man Cameron in a very
enviable position. He sells his work more readily
than we ours. He is admired: damning one
another, we unite to quite an extraordinary degree
in praising him. “ How did he manage it ? ”
“iNTERIOR OF ST. MARK’S, VENICE ” BY D. Y. CAMERON
(The property of John Stevenson, Esq.)
3