DOI issue:
No. 137 (July, 1908)
DOI article:Baldry, Alfred Lys: Some etchings by Sir Charles Holroyd
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28255#0021
THE STUDIO
SOME ETCHINGS BY SIR
CHARLES HOLROYD. BY A.
LYS BALDRY.
The position which Sir Charles Holroyd holds
among our modern etchers, is proof enough
of the value of the work he has done during
past years, and of the mastery he has acquired
over the technicalities of a difficult craft. The
mechanism of etching needs to be closely studied
before its possibilities can be properly understood,
and before the artist can hope to express himself
with due conviction; uncertainty about executive
processes is impossible to
disguise, and makes his
performance inevitably in-
effective. Only the fully
equipped craftsman, whose
methods of working are
practical and well under
control, can attain that de-
cisiveness of statement by
which his personal view
of his artistic mission must
be impressed upon the
people to whom he de-
sires to appeal; if he
fumbles, or if he shows
that he is struggling with
a more or less unfamiliar
medium, his originality is
discounted, and he creates
a certain suspicion of his
capacity to set forth any-
thing new about the art of
which he is to imperfect an
exponent.
But with an aitist like
Sir Charles Holroyd, who
has taken all necessary
pains to gain completeness
of expression, who knows
by long experience how
his work should be done,
and who has the quiet con-
fidence in himself which
is created by consistent
investigation of practical
details, there is no difficulty
in accepting what he has to offer. There is nothing
tentative about his art, nothing which suggests that
he has any hesitation concerning the ideas he wishes
to put forward, or over the w’ay in which these ideas
should be given proper form. There are no secrets
in the mechanism of etching which have eluded
his enquiry, and no problems of practice which he
has been unable to solve ; his thoroughness as a
craftsman has come by steady and serious study, in
which he has felt his way step by step, and has
progressed regularly from one stage to another.
He had the advantage, at the outset, of close
association with an etcher who is recognised as
THE ladies’ GUEST HOUSE” (MONTE OUVETO SERIES)
BY SIR CHARLES HOLROYD
XXXV. No. 137.—July, 1908.
3
SOME ETCHINGS BY SIR
CHARLES HOLROYD. BY A.
LYS BALDRY.
The position which Sir Charles Holroyd holds
among our modern etchers, is proof enough
of the value of the work he has done during
past years, and of the mastery he has acquired
over the technicalities of a difficult craft. The
mechanism of etching needs to be closely studied
before its possibilities can be properly understood,
and before the artist can hope to express himself
with due conviction; uncertainty about executive
processes is impossible to
disguise, and makes his
performance inevitably in-
effective. Only the fully
equipped craftsman, whose
methods of working are
practical and well under
control, can attain that de-
cisiveness of statement by
which his personal view
of his artistic mission must
be impressed upon the
people to whom he de-
sires to appeal; if he
fumbles, or if he shows
that he is struggling with
a more or less unfamiliar
medium, his originality is
discounted, and he creates
a certain suspicion of his
capacity to set forth any-
thing new about the art of
which he is to imperfect an
exponent.
But with an aitist like
Sir Charles Holroyd, who
has taken all necessary
pains to gain completeness
of expression, who knows
by long experience how
his work should be done,
and who has the quiet con-
fidence in himself which
is created by consistent
investigation of practical
details, there is no difficulty
in accepting what he has to offer. There is nothing
tentative about his art, nothing which suggests that
he has any hesitation concerning the ideas he wishes
to put forward, or over the w’ay in which these ideas
should be given proper form. There are no secrets
in the mechanism of etching which have eluded
his enquiry, and no problems of practice which he
has been unable to solve ; his thoroughness as a
craftsman has come by steady and serious study, in
which he has felt his way step by step, and has
progressed regularly from one stage to another.
He had the advantage, at the outset, of close
association with an etcher who is recognised as
THE ladies’ GUEST HOUSE” (MONTE OUVETO SERIES)
BY SIR CHARLES HOLROYD
XXXV. No. 137.—July, 1908.
3