DOI Heft:
No. 123 (May, 1907)
DOI Artikel:Baldry, Alfred Lys: Some medallions by Mr. A. Bruce-Joy, R.H.A.
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28251#0215
Some Medallions by Mr.
In this aim—one that is the logical outcome of
his studious temperament—he has been markedly
successful, and the principle he has followed has
served him well in all the many phases of his
practice. It has helped him to carry out trium-
phantly such weighty undertakings as his colossal
statues of Gladstone, John Bright, and Lord
Frederick Cavendish; it has enabled him to realise
to the utmost the delicate fantasy of that best-
known of all his ideal figures, The First Flight, and
it has made possible the tragic expression and
passion of his dramatic statue, The Forsaken. In
fact, it has guided him invariably in his every-day
production—in those simpler and more obvious
performances which every sculptor must undertake
at times—and in his bolder excursions into unusual
w. BRUCE-JOY, ESQ., M.D. BY A. BRUCE-JOY
directions; it has dignified his less important
things, and it has given spirit and subtlety to those
m which his imagination and power of personality
have had their fullest opportunity. Best of all, it
has kept him from waste of energy in trying to do
what-was-foreign to his temperament, and from the
consequent disappointment which must come to
every artist who allows experiment to lead him
beyond the ultimate bounds of taste and good
judgment.
Assuredly this controlling influence is very de-
finitely to be perceived in the series of his little
portrait medallions which is illustrated here. In
sculpture on this minute scale the risk of falling
into triviality is always present; to pass from dainti-
ness into mere prettiness is dangerously easy, and,
even with the^ best intentions, the sculptor who is
not sure of himself is only too likely to lose breadth
A. B rue e-Joy, R.H.A.
SIR GEORGE GABRIEL STOKES, F.R.S.
BY A. BRUCE-JOY
in his striving for exquisiteness of finish. But
Mr. Bruce-Joy has in these medallions the same
largeness of effect and the same refinement of
actuality which can be admired in his colossal
statues. In each instance he has seen the thing as
a whole, and in his management of detail he has
exercised admirable discretion. Nothing jars or
seems unduly insisted upon; there is no pedantic
display of knowledge, no clever extravagance of
manner; the treatment throughout is that which
EMILY BRUCE-JOY BY A. BRUCE-JOY
201
In this aim—one that is the logical outcome of
his studious temperament—he has been markedly
successful, and the principle he has followed has
served him well in all the many phases of his
practice. It has helped him to carry out trium-
phantly such weighty undertakings as his colossal
statues of Gladstone, John Bright, and Lord
Frederick Cavendish; it has enabled him to realise
to the utmost the delicate fantasy of that best-
known of all his ideal figures, The First Flight, and
it has made possible the tragic expression and
passion of his dramatic statue, The Forsaken. In
fact, it has guided him invariably in his every-day
production—in those simpler and more obvious
performances which every sculptor must undertake
at times—and in his bolder excursions into unusual
w. BRUCE-JOY, ESQ., M.D. BY A. BRUCE-JOY
directions; it has dignified his less important
things, and it has given spirit and subtlety to those
m which his imagination and power of personality
have had their fullest opportunity. Best of all, it
has kept him from waste of energy in trying to do
what-was-foreign to his temperament, and from the
consequent disappointment which must come to
every artist who allows experiment to lead him
beyond the ultimate bounds of taste and good
judgment.
Assuredly this controlling influence is very de-
finitely to be perceived in the series of his little
portrait medallions which is illustrated here. In
sculpture on this minute scale the risk of falling
into triviality is always present; to pass from dainti-
ness into mere prettiness is dangerously easy, and,
even with the^ best intentions, the sculptor who is
not sure of himself is only too likely to lose breadth
A. B rue e-Joy, R.H.A.
SIR GEORGE GABRIEL STOKES, F.R.S.
BY A. BRUCE-JOY
in his striving for exquisiteness of finish. But
Mr. Bruce-Joy has in these medallions the same
largeness of effect and the same refinement of
actuality which can be admired in his colossal
statues. In each instance he has seen the thing as
a whole, and in his management of detail he has
exercised admirable discretion. Nothing jars or
seems unduly insisted upon; there is no pedantic
display of knowledge, no clever extravagance of
manner; the treatment throughout is that which
EMILY BRUCE-JOY BY A. BRUCE-JOY
201