DOI Heft:
Nr. 164 (October, 1910)
DOI Artikel:Taylor, J.: A Glasgow painter: William Wells, R.B.A.
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19867#0370
William Wells, R.B.A.
- i
«
"ganzey bay" (oil)
power of application, and when, with modest
enough savings, he took a six months' holiday in
pastoral solitude, the old love returned, and with a
mind fresh and open he began again that close
communion with Nature which his temperament
craved for. The success of Wells when he
resumed painting was as sudden as that of Meryon
when he took up etching ; the public was bewildered
by his manner and method, by what seemed a
new net to capture sunlight. But what appears
sudden success on the part of an artist is really
the fruition of slow growth. Sometimes it is
accompanied by an element of danger; the full
cup is difficult to carry. In 'the case of Wells the
demands made seemed likely to interfere with his
production by forcing it, for during the five years
that followed his release from scenic art, his
painting time was limited to the Spring and
Summer months, the remainder of the year being
demanded by a series of phenomenally successful
" one-man shows."
Hence we have no studies from him of the rich
tints of late autumn or the grey tones of winter,
by william wells
which his individualistic treatment would invest
with fresh interest and charm.
What might have narrowed the outlook of some,
broadened that of Wells, for he does not attempt
to deny that his scenic experience quickened his
sense of distance and taught him to avoid the
niggling so fatal to broad effect.
He loves a level plain, with far-receding horizon,
and overhead a vast space of cloud-flecked sky,
and he can impress on the narrowest limit of
canvas immeasurable distance, as Constable could
indicate the beauty of level fields by a single
stroke of the brush.
But his variety of subject shows that Wells is
no one-idea man. The Bracken Hill is quite
another composition, with sharp contrast between
foreground and sky, no middle-distance, while the
figure is the centre of interest. There is no
experimentalism in the Wells' figures, no apology
for their intrusion, no indecision on the part of the
artist as to their right to be there; they are
spontaneous presentments, as much a necessary
part of the picture as the foreground; they are so
269
(In the possession of W. B, Lang, Esq.)
- i
«
"ganzey bay" (oil)
power of application, and when, with modest
enough savings, he took a six months' holiday in
pastoral solitude, the old love returned, and with a
mind fresh and open he began again that close
communion with Nature which his temperament
craved for. The success of Wells when he
resumed painting was as sudden as that of Meryon
when he took up etching ; the public was bewildered
by his manner and method, by what seemed a
new net to capture sunlight. But what appears
sudden success on the part of an artist is really
the fruition of slow growth. Sometimes it is
accompanied by an element of danger; the full
cup is difficult to carry. In 'the case of Wells the
demands made seemed likely to interfere with his
production by forcing it, for during the five years
that followed his release from scenic art, his
painting time was limited to the Spring and
Summer months, the remainder of the year being
demanded by a series of phenomenally successful
" one-man shows."
Hence we have no studies from him of the rich
tints of late autumn or the grey tones of winter,
by william wells
which his individualistic treatment would invest
with fresh interest and charm.
What might have narrowed the outlook of some,
broadened that of Wells, for he does not attempt
to deny that his scenic experience quickened his
sense of distance and taught him to avoid the
niggling so fatal to broad effect.
He loves a level plain, with far-receding horizon,
and overhead a vast space of cloud-flecked sky,
and he can impress on the narrowest limit of
canvas immeasurable distance, as Constable could
indicate the beauty of level fields by a single
stroke of the brush.
But his variety of subject shows that Wells is
no one-idea man. The Bracken Hill is quite
another composition, with sharp contrast between
foreground and sky, no middle-distance, while the
figure is the centre of interest. There is no
experimentalism in the Wells' figures, no apology
for their intrusion, no indecision on the part of the
artist as to their right to be there; they are
spontaneous presentments, as much a necessary
part of the picture as the foreground; they are so
269
(In the possession of W. B, Lang, Esq.)