DOI Heft:
Notizen
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70258#0131
Notizen
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three; so that I am quite of a different opinion on that matter.« Mac Coll,
einer der eifrigsten Kritiker des Chantrey Trust, erklärt nicht ohne Stolz »I have
thrown out that suggestion myself, namely, that the best single purchaser would
be the director of de British side or the modern side of de National Gallery. That
would relieve the purchases of any possible taint of interest. It would put the
purchases in the hands of a completely unbiassed person, let us hope, in the hands
of a man who, the presumption is would not be interested in one society more than
another. « Mit derselben Entschiedenheit spricht es Roger Fry aus »You are very
strongly in favour of the one — man system of purchase? — Certainly. I do not say
the one man would not be very wise to take the advice of others, but I should like
to have one man absolutely responsible for purchases. I think it is the only way of
getting purchases in any branch.« Während Frederik Brown, John Holmes,
Francis Bate, John P. Heseltine ohne ausführliche Begründung doch in voller
Klarheit denselben Standpunkt vertreten, macht Sir W. Martin Conway, der frühere
Slade Professor of Fine Art zu Cambridge, ihn zum Kern seiner Kritik:
»I think the method of purchase, which was decreed by the will, is one that
never could lead to the formation of a collection consisting of works of the
highest merit. I do not think that a system of purchase by a committee can
ever be anything but an impossible system. I believe that a committee can
never arrive at anything more than a kind of low average .I think that
if by any means the existing purchasing body had the right or duty to delegate
their powers to an individual, and if the purchase was made on his recommen-
dation, and if on the picture so purchased there was put a label »purchased
under the recommendation of so-and-so,« and if, the picture was hung in the
gallery with the name on henceforward, so that he had absolute personal respon-
sability for the choice of the picture in the sight of the public, and not merely
in the sight of the people appointing him. I believe that immediately the
collection would be made in a very different manner.« Und mit derselben schla-
genden Kürze später: »Te point is this: A committee for business is one
thing, a committee for taste is another. Taste is absolutely an individual thing.
The moment that comes in, a committee becomes impossible; you must have a
man. A committee never willingly parts with authority to an individual, and
therefore it makes rules which are unwise.«
»You must have a man!« Es kann kein Zweifel darüber bestehen, daß die
Untersuchungen der sieben Lords dem Kommissionsverfahren der Chantrey-Ankäufe
einen vernichtenden Schlag beigebracht, dem moralischen Prinzip, wenn diese
Bezeichnung erlaubt ist, hier zum Durchbruch verholfen haben. Der moralische
Gedanke von der persönlichen Verantwortlichkeit, den Martin Conway in seiner
ganzen Wucht hingestellt und der psychologisch-ästhetische von der Überlegenheit
des persönlichen Geschmackes wiegen alle Bedenken auf, die man über die
123
three; so that I am quite of a different opinion on that matter.« Mac Coll,
einer der eifrigsten Kritiker des Chantrey Trust, erklärt nicht ohne Stolz »I have
thrown out that suggestion myself, namely, that the best single purchaser would
be the director of de British side or the modern side of de National Gallery. That
would relieve the purchases of any possible taint of interest. It would put the
purchases in the hands of a completely unbiassed person, let us hope, in the hands
of a man who, the presumption is would not be interested in one society more than
another. « Mit derselben Entschiedenheit spricht es Roger Fry aus »You are very
strongly in favour of the one — man system of purchase? — Certainly. I do not say
the one man would not be very wise to take the advice of others, but I should like
to have one man absolutely responsible for purchases. I think it is the only way of
getting purchases in any branch.« Während Frederik Brown, John Holmes,
Francis Bate, John P. Heseltine ohne ausführliche Begründung doch in voller
Klarheit denselben Standpunkt vertreten, macht Sir W. Martin Conway, der frühere
Slade Professor of Fine Art zu Cambridge, ihn zum Kern seiner Kritik:
»I think the method of purchase, which was decreed by the will, is one that
never could lead to the formation of a collection consisting of works of the
highest merit. I do not think that a system of purchase by a committee can
ever be anything but an impossible system. I believe that a committee can
never arrive at anything more than a kind of low average .I think that
if by any means the existing purchasing body had the right or duty to delegate
their powers to an individual, and if the purchase was made on his recommen-
dation, and if on the picture so purchased there was put a label »purchased
under the recommendation of so-and-so,« and if, the picture was hung in the
gallery with the name on henceforward, so that he had absolute personal respon-
sability for the choice of the picture in the sight of the public, and not merely
in the sight of the people appointing him. I believe that immediately the
collection would be made in a very different manner.« Und mit derselben schla-
genden Kürze später: »Te point is this: A committee for business is one
thing, a committee for taste is another. Taste is absolutely an individual thing.
The moment that comes in, a committee becomes impossible; you must have a
man. A committee never willingly parts with authority to an individual, and
therefore it makes rules which are unwise.«
»You must have a man!« Es kann kein Zweifel darüber bestehen, daß die
Untersuchungen der sieben Lords dem Kommissionsverfahren der Chantrey-Ankäufe
einen vernichtenden Schlag beigebracht, dem moralischen Prinzip, wenn diese
Bezeichnung erlaubt ist, hier zum Durchbruch verholfen haben. Der moralische
Gedanke von der persönlichen Verantwortlichkeit, den Martin Conway in seiner
ganzen Wucht hingestellt und der psychologisch-ästhetische von der Überlegenheit
des persönlichen Geschmackes wiegen alle Bedenken auf, die man über die