International studio (27.1905/1906(1906))

IV. Lee Hankey

THE ART OF WILLIAM LEE
HANKEY, R. I. BY A. LYS
BALDRY.
Among the qualities which are important as
factors in the success of an artist’s work must
•certainly be counted charm of Sentiment. That
this particular quality is difficult to dehne can
readily be admitted. It is in a sense intangible
.and elusive, it is scarcely capable of exact analysis,
and its manifestations cannot be controlled by the
•ordinary rules of technical practice. But its
presence or absence in a picture can always be
perceived by people who possess any degree of
sensitiveness, and it has much to do with the üxing
of the place which an artist is to occupy in the
record of the achievement of his own times. The
man who can infuse into his work the right degree
■of sentiment, who can give to his pictures a fitting
■atmosphere of delicate Suggestion, gains most
securely the attention of
bis public, and emphasises
in the best manner his
right to rank among the
men who are fulhlling their
artistic mission with capa-
city and intelligence.
Of course there is a very
marked difference between
sentiment such as this and
mere sentimentality. The
sentimental picture is
usually a poor thing that
appeals only to a section of
the public which is content
with trivialities, to people
who are uneducated in art
and who have never taken
the trouble to train their
msthetic perceptions. It is
an expression of an utterly
wrong idea of the functions
of art, because it implies a
desire on the part of the
artist to cater merely for the
unintelligent and to surren-
der his own liberty of action
to satisfy a demand for
subjects which are sickly in
motive and foolish in Sug-
gestion. It leads, moreover,
to carelessness or even in-
competence in practice, for

himself to production of this Order has no incentive
to strive after the refinements of craftsmanship. His
clients care only for the silly little story which he has
to teil, and are quite indifferent to the manner of his
delivery, so long as he puts things with sufficient
prettiness and inoffensive artificiality. Indeed, the
weaker he is, within reason, the better they like
him | they cannot grasp a great idea, and they have
a positive abhorrence of everything which inspires
a wish on the artist’s part to make them exert their
mental powers. If he set before them things
treated with decision and stamped with strong
conviction, they would feel that he was asking them
to understand something to which they were un-
accustomed, and they would resent such a demand
as a betrayal of their confidence.
But happily the seeker after sentiment has not to
look for his supporters among people who are stupid
or small-minded. His art is not narrowed down by
petty restrictions, and he is not forced to confine

BY W. LEE HANKEY
291

the painter who commits

“ALL MERRY THINGS ARE NOW AT REST

XXVII. No. 108.—February, 1906.