DOI Heft:
Nr. 106 (December, 1905)
DOI Artikel:Wood, T. Martin: The illustrated books and paintings of W. Graham Robertson
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26961#0143
IV. Graham Robertson
The illustrated books and
PAINTINGS OF W. GRAHAM
ROBERTSON.
An appreciation of Mr. Robertson’s work as an
illustrator will serve, perhaps, the best purpose if
directed towards an understanding of the habits of
his thought as betrayed in his choice of subject.
His technique is a quite friendly and simple one,
that leaves a door open for our imagination.
The illustrations which we have chosen are from
his French Songs of Old Canada, Old English
Songs and Dances, and the delightful play in verse
which he wrote for children, called A Mask of
May Morning.
To distinguish between real illustration and false
is often difficult enougb, but it is one of the things to
be demandedof criticism. To tryand put itsimply,
it is real illustration when the artist can show how
the book that he illustrates has affected him—when
he can show himselfartist enough to breathe within
the atmosphere which another’s art has imposed
upon him, receiving inspiration from it by the same
process of mind as he
would receive his inspiration
from nature. It may be
rare for an artist to be
imaginative enough for
this; but modern publishers
make it rarer, by insisting
on a meaningless slavery to
fact—by nailing the artist
down to the letter, instead
of allowing the letter, with
him as with other readers,
to serve only for the impart-
ing of the spirit. Missing
the spirit, illustration falls
into disrepute with the
reader. So it is with some-
thing that is more than an
ordinary pleasure that we
surrender to some extent
our interpretation of a book
to an artist who possesses so
thoroughly as Mr. Graham
Robertson the receptive
temperament of the true
illustrator. In his books
of old songs the gracious-
ness of the past is made
ours as truly as it was theirs
who lived within its grace.
Through the medium of “the silver mirror” by w. graham robertson
XXVII. No. 106.—December, 1905.
his illustrations, thoughts freighted with old Senti-
ment come to us as ships from a long journey
having set sail in an older world.
Mr. Graham Robertson is possessed of that
mysterious ability, which some artists show in their
slightest effort, of unlocking our mind to romantic
adventure.
Before we turned to the words which inspired
the little drawing La Belle Rose, we had arrived at
its meaning. It is certainly slight and of extra-
ordinary simplicity, yet we would point to it as an
example of finished illustration. It conveyed to us
all that we afterwards learnt from the song which it
illustrates. The lonely house in the cold moon.
light, the still trees, the silent shadows—the hori-
zontal lines varied in sky and roof, somewhat in
imitation of engravings of the period, all help
towards the spirit of the song, and make for us a
scene for its vague happiness.
The slightest of the illustrations we repro-
duce; this one serves our purpose to point out
that in such a slight thing there is often exhibited
power to lead our thought through the gate of
99
The illustrated books and
PAINTINGS OF W. GRAHAM
ROBERTSON.
An appreciation of Mr. Robertson’s work as an
illustrator will serve, perhaps, the best purpose if
directed towards an understanding of the habits of
his thought as betrayed in his choice of subject.
His technique is a quite friendly and simple one,
that leaves a door open for our imagination.
The illustrations which we have chosen are from
his French Songs of Old Canada, Old English
Songs and Dances, and the delightful play in verse
which he wrote for children, called A Mask of
May Morning.
To distinguish between real illustration and false
is often difficult enougb, but it is one of the things to
be demandedof criticism. To tryand put itsimply,
it is real illustration when the artist can show how
the book that he illustrates has affected him—when
he can show himselfartist enough to breathe within
the atmosphere which another’s art has imposed
upon him, receiving inspiration from it by the same
process of mind as he
would receive his inspiration
from nature. It may be
rare for an artist to be
imaginative enough for
this; but modern publishers
make it rarer, by insisting
on a meaningless slavery to
fact—by nailing the artist
down to the letter, instead
of allowing the letter, with
him as with other readers,
to serve only for the impart-
ing of the spirit. Missing
the spirit, illustration falls
into disrepute with the
reader. So it is with some-
thing that is more than an
ordinary pleasure that we
surrender to some extent
our interpretation of a book
to an artist who possesses so
thoroughly as Mr. Graham
Robertson the receptive
temperament of the true
illustrator. In his books
of old songs the gracious-
ness of the past is made
ours as truly as it was theirs
who lived within its grace.
Through the medium of “the silver mirror” by w. graham robertson
XXVII. No. 106.—December, 1905.
his illustrations, thoughts freighted with old Senti-
ment come to us as ships from a long journey
having set sail in an older world.
Mr. Graham Robertson is possessed of that
mysterious ability, which some artists show in their
slightest effort, of unlocking our mind to romantic
adventure.
Before we turned to the words which inspired
the little drawing La Belle Rose, we had arrived at
its meaning. It is certainly slight and of extra-
ordinary simplicity, yet we would point to it as an
example of finished illustration. It conveyed to us
all that we afterwards learnt from the song which it
illustrates. The lonely house in the cold moon.
light, the still trees, the silent shadows—the hori-
zontal lines varied in sky and roof, somewhat in
imitation of engravings of the period, all help
towards the spirit of the song, and make for us a
scene for its vague happiness.
The slightest of the illustrations we repro-
duce; this one serves our purpose to point out
that in such a slight thing there is often exhibited
power to lead our thought through the gate of
99