DOI Heft:
Nr. 156 (February 1910)
DOI Artikel:Hind, Charles Lewis: Charles Ricketts: a commentary on his activities
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19868#0452
Charles Ricketts
works of this nature, so charming and sensitive to armour, the swaying ladder, the dim cross against
those who take the trouble to seek them out, is the angry sky, the sense of movement and tragedy,
that in a large gallery they are apt to be overlooked affect me aesthetically and stir me emotionally ;
by the cursory visitor. Mr. Ricketts exhibited but they do not arouse any religious instinct,
four at a recent exhibition of the International This picture originated in an artistic, not in a
Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers. Like literary impulse. I happen to know that he saw
his pictures, these plastic impressions are never that angry, tempest-driven sky on a night walk,
inspired by modern life—his mind works for ever and said to his companion—"Look, there's the
in the past on myth, legend, and scenes from the background for my Calvary."
sacred story. He loves a centaur or a mermaid, The pictures painted by Mr. Ricketts are so
anything fabulous and strange ; but I think his different from the productions of most of his con-
deepest feeling is evoked by some poignant episode temporaries that Philistia, which likes the normal,
from the New Testament. One of the four shown may be pardoned for disliking the feeling of
at the International was The Good Samaritan, discomfort that they provoke. But those who like
inspired by the passage " And set him on his own them, like them very much. His rhythmic figures,
beast, and brought him to an inn," which afforded his prepossession for the silhouette, his love of a
an opportunity to present the slow, dragging move- flying banner or a flaming torch, his memories of
ment of the burdened animal. Then there was admirations in art of an older day, the recondite
Faust and Chiron, the centaur Chiron of Greek learning of some of his subjects, and the uneasy
mythology renowned for his wisdom and skill in arrangement of some of his compositions—such
medicine, hunting, music and prophecy ; and Io things are not the furniture of a popular painter;
and the Sea Nymphs, and the ever new, ever but when these attributes fuse into a dramatic
pathetic, long-drawn agony of Paolo and Francesca. conception, the result is memorable, as in The
Of others, too, in other places I
have vivid recollection, an Orpheus
and Eurydice, a Christ before the
people known as The Tragic Man,
a modern version of the Laocoon,
and a delightful fancy called
Centaur and Baby Faun. The
standing bronze citizen in frock
coat, the bust of philanthropist or
shipowner in marble, Mr. Ricketts
does not attempt. He cultivates
his own garden, an antique garden,
shut off from the modern world.
The themes of his pictures are
also inspired by history, legend
and myth. Again he seeks the
sacred story, and again it is with
those episodes that he is the most
impressive. But he does not paint
a Betrayal or a Calvary in the
spirit of a mediseval craftsman
working under the guidance of the
Church with set purpose. He is
quite sincere ; but a Crucifixion is
to him, I imagine, a theme, not of
grief and remembrance, but a sub-
ject for decorative treatment. Its
effect upon the observer can be
anything and everything. Those
flying blue and rose banners in
his Calvary, the centurion's blue « heuodorus expelled from the temple." by charles ricketts
262
works of this nature, so charming and sensitive to armour, the swaying ladder, the dim cross against
those who take the trouble to seek them out, is the angry sky, the sense of movement and tragedy,
that in a large gallery they are apt to be overlooked affect me aesthetically and stir me emotionally ;
by the cursory visitor. Mr. Ricketts exhibited but they do not arouse any religious instinct,
four at a recent exhibition of the International This picture originated in an artistic, not in a
Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers. Like literary impulse. I happen to know that he saw
his pictures, these plastic impressions are never that angry, tempest-driven sky on a night walk,
inspired by modern life—his mind works for ever and said to his companion—"Look, there's the
in the past on myth, legend, and scenes from the background for my Calvary."
sacred story. He loves a centaur or a mermaid, The pictures painted by Mr. Ricketts are so
anything fabulous and strange ; but I think his different from the productions of most of his con-
deepest feeling is evoked by some poignant episode temporaries that Philistia, which likes the normal,
from the New Testament. One of the four shown may be pardoned for disliking the feeling of
at the International was The Good Samaritan, discomfort that they provoke. But those who like
inspired by the passage " And set him on his own them, like them very much. His rhythmic figures,
beast, and brought him to an inn," which afforded his prepossession for the silhouette, his love of a
an opportunity to present the slow, dragging move- flying banner or a flaming torch, his memories of
ment of the burdened animal. Then there was admirations in art of an older day, the recondite
Faust and Chiron, the centaur Chiron of Greek learning of some of his subjects, and the uneasy
mythology renowned for his wisdom and skill in arrangement of some of his compositions—such
medicine, hunting, music and prophecy ; and Io things are not the furniture of a popular painter;
and the Sea Nymphs, and the ever new, ever but when these attributes fuse into a dramatic
pathetic, long-drawn agony of Paolo and Francesca. conception, the result is memorable, as in The
Of others, too, in other places I
have vivid recollection, an Orpheus
and Eurydice, a Christ before the
people known as The Tragic Man,
a modern version of the Laocoon,
and a delightful fancy called
Centaur and Baby Faun. The
standing bronze citizen in frock
coat, the bust of philanthropist or
shipowner in marble, Mr. Ricketts
does not attempt. He cultivates
his own garden, an antique garden,
shut off from the modern world.
The themes of his pictures are
also inspired by history, legend
and myth. Again he seeks the
sacred story, and again it is with
those episodes that he is the most
impressive. But he does not paint
a Betrayal or a Calvary in the
spirit of a mediseval craftsman
working under the guidance of the
Church with set purpose. He is
quite sincere ; but a Crucifixion is
to him, I imagine, a theme, not of
grief and remembrance, but a sub-
ject for decorative treatment. Its
effect upon the observer can be
anything and everything. Those
flying blue and rose banners in
his Calvary, the centurion's blue « heuodorus expelled from the temple." by charles ricketts
262