DOI Heft:
Nr. 229 (March 1916)
DOI Artikel:Phillips, Duncan: The romance of a painter's mind
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43461#0104
The Romance of a Painter s Mind
which aspire not merely to vibrate to the eye
with chords of colour, but to model forms out of
colour. If they were entirely successful their
importance could scarcely be over-estimated.
They are by no means entirely successful. We
are still too conscious of the paint. Their appeal
must be to those who believe with Browning
that “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp.”
They aspire greatly, and when they fail it is
with a splendour which far outshines the success
of smaller men. For these paintings are animated
by an idealism which gains in beauty by contrast
to the facile and rather cynical materialism of so
many other painters of to-day.
The amazing versatility of Tack, even in the
extremely difficult and exacting medium which he
now employs, will be revealed at the Kraushaar
exhibition. There is to be a massive symbolic com-
position, The Voice—a symbol of the ideal in
man which exhilarates arid inspires. Over the
crags of the world, up into the splendour of a
sky ablaze with light and hope, a primitive
dreamer strides responsive to his dream. The
portraits will no doubt interest the critics, for the
broken colour is overlaid upon a foundation of
old-fashioned brush work. Even the landscapes
have symbolical intention. The Valley is not
any ordinary valley for all its smiling resemblance
to all the lovely valleys we have known—it is
that little space of sun and shade of cloud-
shadow and bird-song between the mighty
Silences of Birth and Death. Some purists might
protest that Tack is too literary—that he cares
more for his dream than for his drawing—for the
indulgence of his mood’s caprice than for the
coherence of his technical expression. But it is
far better to have too much to say than too little.
And there is no doubt that Tack has blazed a
trail for emotional decoration which others may
follow to greater heights. Scorning the easy
paths of small accomplishment, undaunted and
splendidly serious, he strides forward.
MOMENTS MUSICALE BY AUGUSTUS VINCENT TACK
XXIV
which aspire not merely to vibrate to the eye
with chords of colour, but to model forms out of
colour. If they were entirely successful their
importance could scarcely be over-estimated.
They are by no means entirely successful. We
are still too conscious of the paint. Their appeal
must be to those who believe with Browning
that “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp.”
They aspire greatly, and when they fail it is
with a splendour which far outshines the success
of smaller men. For these paintings are animated
by an idealism which gains in beauty by contrast
to the facile and rather cynical materialism of so
many other painters of to-day.
The amazing versatility of Tack, even in the
extremely difficult and exacting medium which he
now employs, will be revealed at the Kraushaar
exhibition. There is to be a massive symbolic com-
position, The Voice—a symbol of the ideal in
man which exhilarates arid inspires. Over the
crags of the world, up into the splendour of a
sky ablaze with light and hope, a primitive
dreamer strides responsive to his dream. The
portraits will no doubt interest the critics, for the
broken colour is overlaid upon a foundation of
old-fashioned brush work. Even the landscapes
have symbolical intention. The Valley is not
any ordinary valley for all its smiling resemblance
to all the lovely valleys we have known—it is
that little space of sun and shade of cloud-
shadow and bird-song between the mighty
Silences of Birth and Death. Some purists might
protest that Tack is too literary—that he cares
more for his dream than for his drawing—for the
indulgence of his mood’s caprice than for the
coherence of his technical expression. But it is
far better to have too much to say than too little.
And there is no doubt that Tack has blazed a
trail for emotional decoration which others may
follow to greater heights. Scorning the easy
paths of small accomplishment, undaunted and
splendidly serious, he strides forward.
MOMENTS MUSICALE BY AUGUSTUS VINCENT TACK
XXIV