DOI Artikel:
West, W. K.: Cecil King, R.B.A.: a painter of cities
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43455#0051
Cecil King, R.B.A.
and recording the essentials which give vitality to a
scene or a subject and by ignoring those unim-
portant things which, if they were insisted upon,
would confuse the impression of truth that he
wishes his picture to convey. It is by showing
fully and sincerely the right character of his sub-
ject, by making other people see it as he saw it,
and by presenting it with all its salient charac-
teristics properly related one to the other, that he
believes the sense of reality can be made most
apparent; and he works always with this intention
in his mind.
In all the work he has done so far the most
and his readiness to attack the most difficult
problems of practice; but something, too, is prob-
ably due to the variety and breadth of his early
experiences. The comprehensiveness of his train-
ing, it may fairly be assumed, accounts in part for
the rapidity of his development as an artist and for
the way in which he has made a place for himself
in the front rank at an age when most artists are
still fighting hard for the first signs of recognition.
Young as he is, he occupies an assured position,
and he is accepted without question as having a
special claim to the consideration of all serious
students of modern art.
striking quality has been a remarkable acuteness
Born at Gunnersbury in 1881, he was educated
of observation which makes
motive chosen curiously
convincing. There is
never any doubt about
his meaning: he does
not hesitate or fumble
with his record of what
is before him ; he makes
up his mind before he
starts about what he is
going to do, and he does
it in all good faith. If
he fails, it is not because
he has been uncertain in
his intention but simply
because technical things
have not gone quite as
he hoped and proposed
they should; if he suc-
ceeds—as he usually
does—it is because his
mind and hand have been
in happy agreement and
because the mechanical
difficulties of painting,
with which every artist,
no matter how long his
experience, has to
struggle, have not ham-
pered his freedom of
expression.
The certainty and
directness of his art, its
confidence and its frank-
ness of purpose, are
qualities which come
without doubt from his
temperamental charac-
his rendering of the
at Haileybury and after leaving school he studied for
teristics, fr o m his
keenness of perception
“in the market-place oe Bruges” water-colour by cecil king, r.b.a.
36
and recording the essentials which give vitality to a
scene or a subject and by ignoring those unim-
portant things which, if they were insisted upon,
would confuse the impression of truth that he
wishes his picture to convey. It is by showing
fully and sincerely the right character of his sub-
ject, by making other people see it as he saw it,
and by presenting it with all its salient charac-
teristics properly related one to the other, that he
believes the sense of reality can be made most
apparent; and he works always with this intention
in his mind.
In all the work he has done so far the most
and his readiness to attack the most difficult
problems of practice; but something, too, is prob-
ably due to the variety and breadth of his early
experiences. The comprehensiveness of his train-
ing, it may fairly be assumed, accounts in part for
the rapidity of his development as an artist and for
the way in which he has made a place for himself
in the front rank at an age when most artists are
still fighting hard for the first signs of recognition.
Young as he is, he occupies an assured position,
and he is accepted without question as having a
special claim to the consideration of all serious
students of modern art.
striking quality has been a remarkable acuteness
Born at Gunnersbury in 1881, he was educated
of observation which makes
motive chosen curiously
convincing. There is
never any doubt about
his meaning: he does
not hesitate or fumble
with his record of what
is before him ; he makes
up his mind before he
starts about what he is
going to do, and he does
it in all good faith. If
he fails, it is not because
he has been uncertain in
his intention but simply
because technical things
have not gone quite as
he hoped and proposed
they should; if he suc-
ceeds—as he usually
does—it is because his
mind and hand have been
in happy agreement and
because the mechanical
difficulties of painting,
with which every artist,
no matter how long his
experience, has to
struggle, have not ham-
pered his freedom of
expression.
The certainty and
directness of his art, its
confidence and its frank-
ness of purpose, are
qualities which come
without doubt from his
temperamental charac-
his rendering of the
at Haileybury and after leaving school he studied for
teristics, fr o m his
keenness of perception
“in the market-place oe Bruges” water-colour by cecil king, r.b.a.
36