DOI Artikel:
Gibson, Frank W.: David Muirhead, landscape and figure painter
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43451#0118
David Muirhead
landscape are, they all have a definite personal
spirit.
Although Mr. Muirhead is generally better
known by his landscapes to many, he deservedly
merits recognition also as a figure painter. One
of his most successful works is the picture called
The Lost Piece of Money, here reproduced, which
was seen at the New English Art Club some few
years ago. The colour is subdued but rich, with
its deep reds and greys ; the composition, which
is skilfully planned and conceived, deservedly
attracted much notice when it was shown. A
somewhat similar work is The Sisters, which was
seen at a later exhibition and in which the quiet
dignity and perfect naturalness of the figures give
the picture a haunting beauty.
His latest essay of this kind is the picture called
Night Piece, here reproduced in colour; it was ex-
hibited at the New English Art Club this summer,
and is destined by the generosity of Mr. Edmund
Davis to adorn the new Salle Anglaise at the Musee
du Luxembourg in Paris ; it is a work that Mr.
Muirhead has conceived with Pre-Raphaelitish
intensity.
An exhibition of nearly fifty of his works at the
Chenil Gallery in 1907 clearly revealed the beauty
of his landscapes, so admirable in their design and
cool schemes of colour, also showing at the same
time the thoughtful tenderness of sentiment in his
beautiful figure paintings.
It is always interesting to learn how different
artists have worked, and by what means they have
built up their pictures. Some painters have worked
entirely out of doors, almost finishing their pictures
on the spot. Others, again, have worked in the
studio from the slightest notes, aided by memory.
Mr. Muirhead employs both methods : the picture
called The Fen Bridge was painted entirely in the
studio, chiefly from memory and with only the
slightest sketch to help: him, as the effect was but
a fleeting one lasting only a few minutes. The
Mill at Ceres, on the other hand, was painted out-
side, and very little wras done to it when it was
brought back into the studio, but the effect was
one which lasted some hours each day, and for
many days in the summer.
Mr. Muirhead thinks that the effect settles pretty
much his method of working. If it is transitory
he makes many sketches and notes and then works
upon them in the studio. If it is a recurring effect
he works on the spot as much as he can ; but
sometimes he paints a landscape which is entirely
composed, but then he works for some certain feeling
and not for any realistic effect. F. W. G.
104
landscape are, they all have a definite personal
spirit.
Although Mr. Muirhead is generally better
known by his landscapes to many, he deservedly
merits recognition also as a figure painter. One
of his most successful works is the picture called
The Lost Piece of Money, here reproduced, which
was seen at the New English Art Club some few
years ago. The colour is subdued but rich, with
its deep reds and greys ; the composition, which
is skilfully planned and conceived, deservedly
attracted much notice when it was shown. A
somewhat similar work is The Sisters, which was
seen at a later exhibition and in which the quiet
dignity and perfect naturalness of the figures give
the picture a haunting beauty.
His latest essay of this kind is the picture called
Night Piece, here reproduced in colour; it was ex-
hibited at the New English Art Club this summer,
and is destined by the generosity of Mr. Edmund
Davis to adorn the new Salle Anglaise at the Musee
du Luxembourg in Paris ; it is a work that Mr.
Muirhead has conceived with Pre-Raphaelitish
intensity.
An exhibition of nearly fifty of his works at the
Chenil Gallery in 1907 clearly revealed the beauty
of his landscapes, so admirable in their design and
cool schemes of colour, also showing at the same
time the thoughtful tenderness of sentiment in his
beautiful figure paintings.
It is always interesting to learn how different
artists have worked, and by what means they have
built up their pictures. Some painters have worked
entirely out of doors, almost finishing their pictures
on the spot. Others, again, have worked in the
studio from the slightest notes, aided by memory.
Mr. Muirhead employs both methods : the picture
called The Fen Bridge was painted entirely in the
studio, chiefly from memory and with only the
slightest sketch to help: him, as the effect was but
a fleeting one lasting only a few minutes. The
Mill at Ceres, on the other hand, was painted out-
side, and very little wras done to it when it was
brought back into the studio, but the effect was
one which lasted some hours each day, and for
many days in the summer.
Mr. Muirhead thinks that the effect settles pretty
much his method of working. If it is transitory
he makes many sketches and notes and then works
upon them in the studio. If it is a recurring effect
he works on the spot as much as he can ; but
sometimes he paints a landscape which is entirely
composed, but then he works for some certain feeling
and not for any realistic effect. F. W. G.
104