DOI Heft:
No. 144 (February, 1908)
DOI Artikel:Goodrich, Henry W.: Robert Reid and his work
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28256#0387
A^t'u/ A*c/t/
EAST WINDOW, FAIRHAVEN CHURCH
with Christia.n history would necessarily say, " Here
was a great man, whose character and iife helped
humanity."
The ciearstory windows, four on the north side
and five on the south, high in the church, depict
the Beatitudes. Each window contains three pan-
eis, and each panei, with two or three exceptions,
contains a singie heroic hgure. These hgures form
a magnificent freize just beiow the ceiling, high in
the waii of the nave. Here, again, the use of deco-
rative treatment is simple, iarge and effective.
Quarrei may, perhaps, be had with some of the detaii
of draperies or faces in the singie hgures; or it might
be said that the introduction of modern figures
among ancient and historic types detracts some-
what from the dignity of the treatment of the ciear-
story space. Nevertheiess, the scheme, as a whoie, is
free and simple, and the
iarge, windows give great
dignity and ampiitude to
the body of the church, a
resuitwhich couid nothave
been reached had any at-
tempt been-made to crowd
the space. There is a
feeiing of iight and air
and spaciousness, without
monotony, arising from the
unityof the treatment of aii
the spaces.
Of course, one cannot
heip having the feeling that
a highly ornate G o t h i c
building, with elaborate
Gothic traceries, with in-
tricate carvings of wood
and castings of bronze and
with these exceiient win-
dows, is out of piace for a
Unitarian Church, or any
church in which no cere-
moniai rituai is empioyed.
Perhaps the architect felt
itwhen he did notattempt
to orient the church, or the
artist when he did not fol-
iow the strict canons of
glass-staining, after the
manner of the Fourteenth
and Fifteenth centuries;
nevertheiess, the question
of Rtness for particuiar
use being put aside, one
feeis that the resuit, con-
sidered in itseif aione, is beautifui, and that is the
best thing we can ask.
Since the compietion of the Fairhaven windows
Mr. Reid's work has consisted iargely of pictures
painted out of doors, at Medheid, Mass., and Som-
ers Center, N. Y. There are a few figure subjects,
indoors, iike the Fire, but hgures out of
doors and landscape have mostly attracted him.
The highest point in his career up to the present has
been reached in these pictures; they reveai the sub-
tie and deiicate beauty of nature in the spring and
summer months and are painted with authority,
with sureness of craftsmanship and with a style
which is distinctly his own. They are not oniy fine
and important in themselves, but they promise
much for the future, and you feel that he has not
even yet grown to the fuil stature of his capacity.
BY ROBKRT REID
CXXII
EAST WINDOW, FAIRHAVEN CHURCH
with Christia.n history would necessarily say, " Here
was a great man, whose character and iife helped
humanity."
The ciearstory windows, four on the north side
and five on the south, high in the church, depict
the Beatitudes. Each window contains three pan-
eis, and each panei, with two or three exceptions,
contains a singie heroic hgure. These hgures form
a magnificent freize just beiow the ceiling, high in
the waii of the nave. Here, again, the use of deco-
rative treatment is simple, iarge and effective.
Quarrei may, perhaps, be had with some of the detaii
of draperies or faces in the singie hgures; or it might
be said that the introduction of modern figures
among ancient and historic types detracts some-
what from the dignity of the treatment of the ciear-
story space. Nevertheiess, the scheme, as a whoie, is
free and simple, and the
iarge, windows give great
dignity and ampiitude to
the body of the church, a
resuitwhich couid nothave
been reached had any at-
tempt been-made to crowd
the space. There is a
feeiing of iight and air
and spaciousness, without
monotony, arising from the
unityof the treatment of aii
the spaces.
Of course, one cannot
heip having the feeling that
a highly ornate G o t h i c
building, with elaborate
Gothic traceries, with in-
tricate carvings of wood
and castings of bronze and
with these exceiient win-
dows, is out of piace for a
Unitarian Church, or any
church in which no cere-
moniai rituai is empioyed.
Perhaps the architect felt
itwhen he did notattempt
to orient the church, or the
artist when he did not fol-
iow the strict canons of
glass-staining, after the
manner of the Fourteenth
and Fifteenth centuries;
nevertheiess, the question
of Rtness for particuiar
use being put aside, one
feeis that the resuit, con-
sidered in itseif aione, is beautifui, and that is the
best thing we can ask.
Since the compietion of the Fairhaven windows
Mr. Reid's work has consisted iargely of pictures
painted out of doors, at Medheid, Mass., and Som-
ers Center, N. Y. There are a few figure subjects,
indoors, iike the Fire, but hgures out of
doors and landscape have mostly attracted him.
The highest point in his career up to the present has
been reached in these pictures; they reveai the sub-
tie and deiicate beauty of nature in the spring and
summer months and are painted with authority,
with sureness of craftsmanship and with a style
which is distinctly his own. They are not oniy fine
and important in themselves, but they promise
much for the future, and you feel that he has not
even yet grown to the fuil stature of his capacity.
BY ROBKRT REID
CXXII