International studio (59.1916)

Some Pastels by George Sheringham

SOME PASTELS BY MR. GEORGE
SHERINGHAM.
There is a great deal of nonsense written
about pastel by critics who have not taken the
trouble to study the medium—in criticisms of
exhibitions of pastel paintings it is common to see
this or that type of work praised as correct and
legitimate and other types dismissed as departures
from technical propriety or as misapplications of
the process. Such attempts to limit the scope of
pastel and to fetter with conventions the freedom
of the artists who use it in their work are the more
to be deplored because they are inspired by the
ill-informed opinions of the critics themselves and
are founded neither upon knowledge of the history
of the medium nor upon understanding of its
capacities : dogmatism of this sort is as harmful
as it is misleading.
For, really, there are no rules which can be laid
down for the management of pastel. It is a
medium which can be applied in almost any way
which suits the personality of the artist, and which

can be handled in whatever manner may fit best
the intention of his art or the character of the
work on which at the moment he may happen to
be engaged. It can be carried far and elaborately
finished, or it can be treated slightly and sketchily
to suggest the facts of the subject chosen ; it can
be used broadly and in masses like a painting
medium or with the line method of a drawing ; and
there is hardly any class of subject which cannot
be realised and expressed with its assistance.
No better illustration of the adaptability of
pastel to a particular purpose could be desired
than is afforded in the works by Mr. George
Sheringham which are reproduced here. These
decorative fantasies depend essentially for their
effect upon the right adjustment of lines and
masses and upon the well-considered placing of
colour spaces; they demand little in the way of
realistic representation of fact, and require no
high degree of surface finish and no elaboration
of execution for elaboration’s sake. Their charm
lies in their daintiness of suggestion and in what
may be called their speculative interest; in the


“ the pond ”
LIX. No. 235.—September 1916

BY GEORGE SHERINGHAM

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