DOI issue:
Nr. 173 (July, 1911)
DOI article:Baldry, Alfred Lys: The paintings of William Nicholson
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43447#0042
William Nicholson
inclined to tolerate. His art is neither in accord-
ance with slavish precedent nor has it any air of
making purposely a protest against things of which
he disapproves.
What it has most of all is an atmosphere of
scholarly sincerity, the atmosphere that comes from
sane and intelligent study of tradition by a man
who is quite prepared to adopt from his pre-
decessors all that is likely to help him in working
out logically the ideas that he has in his mind. It
is thoroughly modern in the sense that it belongs
to the period in which it has been produced and
does not pretend to take no interest in the great
legacy of art which we moderns have inherited from
the past. It has no primitive affectations, no
wilfully artificial reversions to a condition of sham
cesthetic innocence, and no professions of being
anything else but the expression of the feelings of
an artist who is inspired by the sentiment of his
surroundings. But while it bears the stamp of
learning and of studious investigation, and while it
is controlled by disciplined taste, it shows quite
plainly what instinctive preferences and what
temperamental inclinations govern his production
in all its phases. Learning has not made him a
fancy of the public is a point which does not occur
to him as at all worth considering; he is working
as his taste and experience incline him to work and
as his reason dictates, and that is, in his view, all
that ought to be expected of him.
Certainly, judging by results, he is amply justified
in the position he has taken up. His pictures are
extraordinarily convincing in their character and
quality, and they have a clear significance which
makes them supremely interesting to all students
of modern art developments. This significance
comes partly from the originality of his outlook but
partly as well from the certainty with which he
attacks and overcomes serious problems of practice.
In his outlook he is essentially a realist who sees
things as they are and does not seek to soften
away by any false or sentimental idealisation the facts
that seem to be worth artistic treatment; but his
realism is so guided by his aesthetic understanding
and his infallible sense of style that the actuality
of his pictures is never brutal and assuredly never
commonplace. Even in the slightest of his motives
there is never a trace of superficiality and never a
hint that it has not commended itself to him by the
possession of some important pictorial possibilities.
pedant and study has not in
any way decreased his recep-
tivity or his responsiveness to
the right kind of impressions.
With this soundness of
mental qualification Mr.
Nicholson has also the
courage to choose the techni-
cal methods which are agree-
able to him personally, rather
than to conform to any of
the systems which happen to
be in vogue. He paints in a
way that is peculiar to him-
self, and uses his materials
in the manner that seems to
fit best with the atmosphere
and character of his work;
and having consciously or
unconsciously adopted this
manner because he finds it
expressive, he shows no dis-
position to dally with other
processes of production. It
is sufficient for him to do
what he wants to do in the
way that he thinks best.
Whether that way will please
other artists or will suit the
6
“ THE LANDLORD ’ BY WILLIAM NICHOLSON
(By permission oj The Stafford Gallery)
inclined to tolerate. His art is neither in accord-
ance with slavish precedent nor has it any air of
making purposely a protest against things of which
he disapproves.
What it has most of all is an atmosphere of
scholarly sincerity, the atmosphere that comes from
sane and intelligent study of tradition by a man
who is quite prepared to adopt from his pre-
decessors all that is likely to help him in working
out logically the ideas that he has in his mind. It
is thoroughly modern in the sense that it belongs
to the period in which it has been produced and
does not pretend to take no interest in the great
legacy of art which we moderns have inherited from
the past. It has no primitive affectations, no
wilfully artificial reversions to a condition of sham
cesthetic innocence, and no professions of being
anything else but the expression of the feelings of
an artist who is inspired by the sentiment of his
surroundings. But while it bears the stamp of
learning and of studious investigation, and while it
is controlled by disciplined taste, it shows quite
plainly what instinctive preferences and what
temperamental inclinations govern his production
in all its phases. Learning has not made him a
fancy of the public is a point which does not occur
to him as at all worth considering; he is working
as his taste and experience incline him to work and
as his reason dictates, and that is, in his view, all
that ought to be expected of him.
Certainly, judging by results, he is amply justified
in the position he has taken up. His pictures are
extraordinarily convincing in their character and
quality, and they have a clear significance which
makes them supremely interesting to all students
of modern art developments. This significance
comes partly from the originality of his outlook but
partly as well from the certainty with which he
attacks and overcomes serious problems of practice.
In his outlook he is essentially a realist who sees
things as they are and does not seek to soften
away by any false or sentimental idealisation the facts
that seem to be worth artistic treatment; but his
realism is so guided by his aesthetic understanding
and his infallible sense of style that the actuality
of his pictures is never brutal and assuredly never
commonplace. Even in the slightest of his motives
there is never a trace of superficiality and never a
hint that it has not commended itself to him by the
possession of some important pictorial possibilities.
pedant and study has not in
any way decreased his recep-
tivity or his responsiveness to
the right kind of impressions.
With this soundness of
mental qualification Mr.
Nicholson has also the
courage to choose the techni-
cal methods which are agree-
able to him personally, rather
than to conform to any of
the systems which happen to
be in vogue. He paints in a
way that is peculiar to him-
self, and uses his materials
in the manner that seems to
fit best with the atmosphere
and character of his work;
and having consciously or
unconsciously adopted this
manner because he finds it
expressive, he shows no dis-
position to dally with other
processes of production. It
is sufficient for him to do
what he wants to do in the
way that he thinks best.
Whether that way will please
other artists or will suit the
6
“ THE LANDLORD ’ BY WILLIAM NICHOLSON
(By permission oj The Stafford Gallery)