DOI Kapitel:
Essays
DOI Kapitel:Ruchatz, Jens: Künstler von der Kamera interviewt. Serielle Konstellationen in der Zeitschrift und das fotografische Porträt im Zeitalter der Celebrity
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70035#0140
Jens Ruch atz
Künstler von der Kamera interviewt.
Serielle Konstellationen in der Zeitschrift und
das fotografische Porträt im Zeitalter der Celebrity
Eine Doppelseite der Zeitschrift The Strand aus dem Jahr 1892 (Abb. 1). Den Blick
auf sich zieht das große Bild, das auf der linken Seite abgedruckt ist. Ein Mann steht
vor einer Staffelei, eine Palette in der Hand. Dass es sich um einen Atelierraum
handeln muss, wird durch mehrere im Hintergrund auf den Boden abgestellte, noch
ungerahmte Leinwände unterstrichen. Welchen Maler man hier sieht, verrät die Über-
schrift: „Sir Frederick Leighton".1 Die nachgestellte Abkürzung „P. R. A." informiert,
dass Leighton amtierender Präsident der Royal Academy ist. Aufgrund seiner he-
rausgehobenen Position sind Porträts von ihm so häufig in Zeitschriften erschienen,
dass nicht wenige Zeitgenossen ihn auch ohne die Namensangabe erkannt haben
Illustrated Interviews.
No_ XIV.—SIR FREDERICK LEIGHTON, P.R-A.
HO? a sound reaches me here,
<av.- Ji cf :;i 1 • .
‘v; Fnkir.k lxioh-..i>.
awe stood tor s. moment in
the garden cf l.is beautiful
house m the Hullin.I Park-
road. Kensington. Ir seemed t -be a l-’t
W:.rld of <-wi. There wa- nothing
whoever rodirurb one; dum^.tf. on _t us
day of sui.shinc, when the r.owers abou.
the lawn were ’.coking their brightest and
brr-t. th;: great trees an;; tiny trading iv\
greener to-day than ever before. Weknew
the children were playing in the street, a few
. ards away, but their tr.erry snouts.-r.n napps
Ian >br-..r could r. nt be h< are The snrrenne. ■
ings of the home or the President: of lh<-
Rovr.l Academy almost suggested ’he secret
• ■f the peaceful effect which stems to come
over otic when looking at tnar.y of hispxf.nc-
We crossed the lawn, walked down a
long leafy passage covered with ivy, and
once again entered the house. I do not
think there is another home in the land so
beautiful as Sir Frederick’s. It is the home
of an artist, who must needs have every,
thing about the place to harmonise as the
colours he lays upon his canvases.
Sir Frederick is justly proud of his house.
He does not care even to look back upon
his own life, a life which has been one of
remarkable brilliancy, a life which he has
lived with a purpose; he is to-day at the
head of his profession, a profession for which
he was destined on his. first birthday. . Not
only has his genius been conveyed through
the channel of his.brush and palette, but as
a scholar and a thinker he impresses to the
highest degree those whose good fortune it
is th enjoy his friendship or acquaintance.
Neither will he criticise the efforts of his
brother artists save in terms of praise :
neither will he speak of the life which he
personifies—Art—a subject too great, he
says, to be faithfully treated in the’»pace in
which I was to chronicle the events of the
day which T passed with him. He turns
•rom his life, his brother artists, and art
itself to his home. He loves his home.
His house was not designed in a day or
built in a year. It has been the work of
years ; bit by bit it has become more beau-
tiful ; its owner has watched it grow up
almost as a father does his boy.
The house itself stands in a spot sur-
■ rounded by many eminent painters ; Luke
Fildes, R.A.,Val Prinsep, A.R.A., G. A.
Watts, R.A. ; whilst near at hand, in one
of the studios adjoining, the younger Rich-
• mond, the eminent portrait painter, is
■ working. . Outside, the house, which is
- of red brick, is striking in its simplicity ;
it was built for Sir Frederick by Mr.
Aitchison twenty-six years ago, and here
the President of the Royal Academy has
lived ■ and worked ever since. Possibly
the unimpressive aspect of the exterior was
designed with a view of surprising the
visitor when he once entered the place.
The interior positively surpasses descrip-
tion. I had the great privilege of being
taken from room to room by Sir Frederick
Height or. : object alter object was taken
up and talked about. and it would be qmte
impossible to refer separately to all the
artistic treasures of which he is the pn<
Abb. 1: Doppelseite mit Porträt Frederick Leightons, aus: Harry How: Illustrated Interviews.
XIV. - Sir Frederick Leighton, P. R. A., in: The Strand 4 (1892), Nr. 20, S. 126-137, hier S. 126 f.
133
Künstler von der Kamera interviewt.
Serielle Konstellationen in der Zeitschrift und
das fotografische Porträt im Zeitalter der Celebrity
Eine Doppelseite der Zeitschrift The Strand aus dem Jahr 1892 (Abb. 1). Den Blick
auf sich zieht das große Bild, das auf der linken Seite abgedruckt ist. Ein Mann steht
vor einer Staffelei, eine Palette in der Hand. Dass es sich um einen Atelierraum
handeln muss, wird durch mehrere im Hintergrund auf den Boden abgestellte, noch
ungerahmte Leinwände unterstrichen. Welchen Maler man hier sieht, verrät die Über-
schrift: „Sir Frederick Leighton".1 Die nachgestellte Abkürzung „P. R. A." informiert,
dass Leighton amtierender Präsident der Royal Academy ist. Aufgrund seiner he-
rausgehobenen Position sind Porträts von ihm so häufig in Zeitschriften erschienen,
dass nicht wenige Zeitgenossen ihn auch ohne die Namensangabe erkannt haben
Illustrated Interviews.
No_ XIV.—SIR FREDERICK LEIGHTON, P.R-A.
HO? a sound reaches me here,
<av.- Ji cf :;i 1 • .
‘v; Fnkir.k lxioh-..i>.
awe stood tor s. moment in
the garden cf l.is beautiful
house m the Hullin.I Park-
road. Kensington. Ir seemed t -be a l-’t
W:.rld of <-wi. There wa- nothing
whoever rodirurb one; dum^.tf. on _t us
day of sui.shinc, when the r.owers abou.
the lawn were ’.coking their brightest and
brr-t. th;: great trees an;; tiny trading iv\
greener to-day than ever before. Weknew
the children were playing in the street, a few
. ards away, but their tr.erry snouts.-r.n napps
Ian >br-..r could r. nt be h< are The snrrenne. ■
ings of the home or the President: of lh<-
Rovr.l Academy almost suggested ’he secret
• ■f the peaceful effect which stems to come
over otic when looking at tnar.y of hispxf.nc-
We crossed the lawn, walked down a
long leafy passage covered with ivy, and
once again entered the house. I do not
think there is another home in the land so
beautiful as Sir Frederick’s. It is the home
of an artist, who must needs have every,
thing about the place to harmonise as the
colours he lays upon his canvases.
Sir Frederick is justly proud of his house.
He does not care even to look back upon
his own life, a life which has been one of
remarkable brilliancy, a life which he has
lived with a purpose; he is to-day at the
head of his profession, a profession for which
he was destined on his. first birthday. . Not
only has his genius been conveyed through
the channel of his.brush and palette, but as
a scholar and a thinker he impresses to the
highest degree those whose good fortune it
is th enjoy his friendship or acquaintance.
Neither will he criticise the efforts of his
brother artists save in terms of praise :
neither will he speak of the life which he
personifies—Art—a subject too great, he
says, to be faithfully treated in the’»pace in
which I was to chronicle the events of the
day which T passed with him. He turns
•rom his life, his brother artists, and art
itself to his home. He loves his home.
His house was not designed in a day or
built in a year. It has been the work of
years ; bit by bit it has become more beau-
tiful ; its owner has watched it grow up
almost as a father does his boy.
The house itself stands in a spot sur-
■ rounded by many eminent painters ; Luke
Fildes, R.A.,Val Prinsep, A.R.A., G. A.
Watts, R.A. ; whilst near at hand, in one
of the studios adjoining, the younger Rich-
• mond, the eminent portrait painter, is
■ working. . Outside, the house, which is
- of red brick, is striking in its simplicity ;
it was built for Sir Frederick by Mr.
Aitchison twenty-six years ago, and here
the President of the Royal Academy has
lived ■ and worked ever since. Possibly
the unimpressive aspect of the exterior was
designed with a view of surprising the
visitor when he once entered the place.
The interior positively surpasses descrip-
tion. I had the great privilege of being
taken from room to room by Sir Frederick
Height or. : object alter object was taken
up and talked about. and it would be qmte
impossible to refer separately to all the
artistic treasures of which he is the pn<
Abb. 1: Doppelseite mit Porträt Frederick Leightons, aus: Harry How: Illustrated Interviews.
XIV. - Sir Frederick Leighton, P. R. A., in: The Strand 4 (1892), Nr. 20, S. 126-137, hier S. 126 f.
133