DOI Heft:
Nr. 126 (August 1907)
DOI Artikel:Baldry, Alfred Lys: The paintings of Mr. Charles Sims
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28252#0105
Charles Sims
The paintings of mr.
CHARLES SIMS. BY A. LYS
BALDRY.
Of all the faculties which are necessary for the
complete equipment of an artist who desires to
break away from the ordinary conventions, none is
more important than the imaginative capacity. The
power to imagine is not given to many people, and
it is not one which can be acquired by any educa-
tional process ; it is innate, in the sense that it is a
purely temperamental characteristic, and a part of
that general mental endowment by which a man is
•enabled to make his individuality effective. The
artist who possesses it is, under proper conditions,
capable of really memorable achievement, because
he thinks for himself, and does not depend upon
others for that small measure of inspiration which
Is to be acquired at second hand. He chooses his
own direction and follows it logically and consist-
ently, understanding well enough where it will lead
him ultimately, and knowing how he intends to
profit by the opportunities which come to him.
If the imaginative man desires to make the
fullest possible use of his natural faculty and to
turn it to the best account in artistic practice, it is
necessary for him to cultivate his powers both of
observation and expression. Shrewdness of obser-
vation is indispensable to him, because it is the
foundation upon which all imaginative effort is
based. Indeed, imagination is actually a conse-
quence of that constant study of realities which is
carried on consciously or unconsciously by every
or'ginal art worker, and it depends for its freshness
and individuality upon an intimate acquaintance
with the facts of nature. No man can imagine
anything which is completely non-existent, or for
which there is no warrant in nature; the most he
can do is to invent new combinations of the details
he has collected, or to give by a touch of fantasy
an unaccustomed aspect to familiar things. But
the degree of success he attains is due directly
to the amount and character of his observation,
to the extent of his enquiry into the more subtle
possibilities of the motives which offer them-
selves to him for pictorial treatment. If his view
BY CHARLES SIMS
89
■“ PLAYMATES ”
XXXII. No. 126.—August, 1907.
The paintings of mr.
CHARLES SIMS. BY A. LYS
BALDRY.
Of all the faculties which are necessary for the
complete equipment of an artist who desires to
break away from the ordinary conventions, none is
more important than the imaginative capacity. The
power to imagine is not given to many people, and
it is not one which can be acquired by any educa-
tional process ; it is innate, in the sense that it is a
purely temperamental characteristic, and a part of
that general mental endowment by which a man is
•enabled to make his individuality effective. The
artist who possesses it is, under proper conditions,
capable of really memorable achievement, because
he thinks for himself, and does not depend upon
others for that small measure of inspiration which
Is to be acquired at second hand. He chooses his
own direction and follows it logically and consist-
ently, understanding well enough where it will lead
him ultimately, and knowing how he intends to
profit by the opportunities which come to him.
If the imaginative man desires to make the
fullest possible use of his natural faculty and to
turn it to the best account in artistic practice, it is
necessary for him to cultivate his powers both of
observation and expression. Shrewdness of obser-
vation is indispensable to him, because it is the
foundation upon which all imaginative effort is
based. Indeed, imagination is actually a conse-
quence of that constant study of realities which is
carried on consciously or unconsciously by every
or'ginal art worker, and it depends for its freshness
and individuality upon an intimate acquaintance
with the facts of nature. No man can imagine
anything which is completely non-existent, or for
which there is no warrant in nature; the most he
can do is to invent new combinations of the details
he has collected, or to give by a touch of fantasy
an unaccustomed aspect to familiar things. But
the degree of success he attains is due directly
to the amount and character of his observation,
to the extent of his enquiry into the more subtle
possibilities of the motives which offer them-
selves to him for pictorial treatment. If his view
BY CHARLES SIMS
89
■“ PLAYMATES ”
XXXII. No. 126.—August, 1907.