mceRnAcionAL
BRIGHTON, 1905 BY CHARLES CONDER
us believe. The use of silk as a
medium, the romantic quality
of his themes and his ethereal
use of color are all in a sense
artificial; but they were his by
reason of their peculiar fitness
for what he wanted to do rather
than because it was fashionable
to be artificial and bizarre. He
had no particular eagerness to
shock anyone; he was not bored
into painting as others of the
day were bored into writing or
drawing or talking—in fact he
found it difficult to put down
the flood of fancies that strug-
gled in him for expression. His
work was lyrical and fragile, but
perfectly healthy and free from
the morbidity of Beardslejr and
Wilde.
The phrase makers have
called Conder the "English Watteau"—a mean- standable if not eminently practical—he added
ingless paradox. English is just what Watteau color combinations that, in spite of their subtlety,
could never have been; and French is certainly could be enjoyed by the most uneducated taste,
something that Conder could never be called. Just as the fan shape freed him from the necessity
Others who feel that an artist's inspiration must for accurate drawing, so it freed the average spec-
be accounted for as though it were a crime for tator from the consciousness of looking at "art."
which the motive must be discovered, say that But whether one knows what art is or whether
Beardsley influenced Conder. As a matter of fact one merely knows what one likes, Conder's fans
if there was any influencing done, it was Conder have at least a sensuous appeal. They give rise to
who furnished occasional bits of design for Beards- an impulse to touch and smell as well as to sec;
ley's drawings. Conder had none of Beardsleys' to take in their fragile beauty through more than
self-consciousness and certainly none of the morbid one sense; they are not only drowsy with color
and heavy quality that makes even his most that charms the eye, but they are sleek and fra-
cheerful themes seem funereal. The only possible grant as well.
characteristic of Conder's work that might deserve Conder's was not a spectacular personality,
the epithet "decadent" is that his paintings on He was a devoted husband, a good business man,
silk and his fans seem to preach the voluptuous- a hard wprker, a genial companion, an excellent
ness of doing nothing. friend; and he was unlike his fellow artists in that
It must be remembered that during these he had no desire to seek until he had found the
years William Morris and his followers were trying most startling method of expressing himself,
to convince the world that art and utility should Because of these things, he is probably the least
not be divorced; that art was not just something known among the figures of the nineties. Although
to be hung on the wall, but that it might be he dashed around Europe with bolts of fine silk
expressed in tables and chairs, in the printing of under his arm, to be ready for any impulse to
books and in the garments that one wore. The work, it was not done as a pose but merely
New English Art Club, founded in protest against because without his chosen medium he knew that
the conventions of the Royal Academy, added its he was, compared to the masters whom he so
voice to the Arts and Craftcrs, not to the extent deeply reverenced, nothing but a fumbler.
of glorifying applied art, but in protest against Most of the work of the nineties must be
the accepted theory that a picture to be great judged, if it is to be understood and enjoyed, in
must tell a story. Conder, more than any other the light of an acquaintance with the fin de siecle
artist of his time, most successfully embodied spirit and fashions. But to enjoy Conder's work
these two protests, though not consciously. To this is not necessary. The beauty of his fans is
the utility of the fan—a utility at least under- obvious because they were conceived in sincerity.
APRIL I925
forty-one
BRIGHTON, 1905 BY CHARLES CONDER
us believe. The use of silk as a
medium, the romantic quality
of his themes and his ethereal
use of color are all in a sense
artificial; but they were his by
reason of their peculiar fitness
for what he wanted to do rather
than because it was fashionable
to be artificial and bizarre. He
had no particular eagerness to
shock anyone; he was not bored
into painting as others of the
day were bored into writing or
drawing or talking—in fact he
found it difficult to put down
the flood of fancies that strug-
gled in him for expression. His
work was lyrical and fragile, but
perfectly healthy and free from
the morbidity of Beardslejr and
Wilde.
The phrase makers have
called Conder the "English Watteau"—a mean- standable if not eminently practical—he added
ingless paradox. English is just what Watteau color combinations that, in spite of their subtlety,
could never have been; and French is certainly could be enjoyed by the most uneducated taste,
something that Conder could never be called. Just as the fan shape freed him from the necessity
Others who feel that an artist's inspiration must for accurate drawing, so it freed the average spec-
be accounted for as though it were a crime for tator from the consciousness of looking at "art."
which the motive must be discovered, say that But whether one knows what art is or whether
Beardsley influenced Conder. As a matter of fact one merely knows what one likes, Conder's fans
if there was any influencing done, it was Conder have at least a sensuous appeal. They give rise to
who furnished occasional bits of design for Beards- an impulse to touch and smell as well as to sec;
ley's drawings. Conder had none of Beardsleys' to take in their fragile beauty through more than
self-consciousness and certainly none of the morbid one sense; they are not only drowsy with color
and heavy quality that makes even his most that charms the eye, but they are sleek and fra-
cheerful themes seem funereal. The only possible grant as well.
characteristic of Conder's work that might deserve Conder's was not a spectacular personality,
the epithet "decadent" is that his paintings on He was a devoted husband, a good business man,
silk and his fans seem to preach the voluptuous- a hard wprker, a genial companion, an excellent
ness of doing nothing. friend; and he was unlike his fellow artists in that
It must be remembered that during these he had no desire to seek until he had found the
years William Morris and his followers were trying most startling method of expressing himself,
to convince the world that art and utility should Because of these things, he is probably the least
not be divorced; that art was not just something known among the figures of the nineties. Although
to be hung on the wall, but that it might be he dashed around Europe with bolts of fine silk
expressed in tables and chairs, in the printing of under his arm, to be ready for any impulse to
books and in the garments that one wore. The work, it was not done as a pose but merely
New English Art Club, founded in protest against because without his chosen medium he knew that
the conventions of the Royal Academy, added its he was, compared to the masters whom he so
voice to the Arts and Craftcrs, not to the extent deeply reverenced, nothing but a fumbler.
of glorifying applied art, but in protest against Most of the work of the nineties must be
the accepted theory that a picture to be great judged, if it is to be understood and enjoyed, in
must tell a story. Conder, more than any other the light of an acquaintance with the fin de siecle
artist of his time, most successfully embodied spirit and fashions. But to enjoy Conder's work
these two protests, though not consciously. To this is not necessary. The beauty of his fans is
the utility of the fan—a utility at least under- obvious because they were conceived in sincerity.
APRIL I925
forty-one