DOI issue:
Vol. 4, No. 2 (April, 1914)
DOI article:Bradley, William Aspenwall: Some French etchers and sonneteers
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49981#0308
Altogether it will be seen that Sonnets et Eaux-fortes
has historical interest rather than artistic value of a
high order. The opportunity offered, it might seem, by
the ingenious plan of the publication, was by no means
improved to the füllest extent. Not that the artists them-
selves were entirely responsible for the failure of so inter-
esting an experiment. Some were, indeed, poor etchers,
without sufficient practice in the art or knowledge of
its principles, while others were not so much artists as
skillful craftsmen, incapable of important Creative effort.
But several were set tasks which, if not impossible,
were, at any rate, difficult and ill-adapted to the display
of the best possibilities of the medium. But the ultimate
reason for the slight and disappointing results is doubt-
less to be sought in the Obligation imposed upon the
artist to realize the idea of another rather than his own
— to become an Illustrator — and this in the most
intensely personal and spontaneous of mediums. It is
therefore not remarkable that, after all, those who suc-
ceeded best in the present undertaking were not always
the most accomplished etchers, or even the finest artists,
but often merely those who had a special talent for Illus-
tration, and were men of clever attainments rather than
of genius.
But if the artistic level of Sonnets et Eaux-fortes is not
high, its contents are at least varied and interesting, and
represent a wide ränge of tastes and talents. On the
whole, moreover, the prints are quite worthy of the
poems which they accompany, and the majorityof which
are anecdotal or descriptive trifies. There are few really
fine sonnets among them, and there is no particular
reason why the greater number should have been cast
in sonnet, rather than in any other, form. Some of the
206
has historical interest rather than artistic value of a
high order. The opportunity offered, it might seem, by
the ingenious plan of the publication, was by no means
improved to the füllest extent. Not that the artists them-
selves were entirely responsible for the failure of so inter-
esting an experiment. Some were, indeed, poor etchers,
without sufficient practice in the art or knowledge of
its principles, while others were not so much artists as
skillful craftsmen, incapable of important Creative effort.
But several were set tasks which, if not impossible,
were, at any rate, difficult and ill-adapted to the display
of the best possibilities of the medium. But the ultimate
reason for the slight and disappointing results is doubt-
less to be sought in the Obligation imposed upon the
artist to realize the idea of another rather than his own
— to become an Illustrator — and this in the most
intensely personal and spontaneous of mediums. It is
therefore not remarkable that, after all, those who suc-
ceeded best in the present undertaking were not always
the most accomplished etchers, or even the finest artists,
but often merely those who had a special talent for Illus-
tration, and were men of clever attainments rather than
of genius.
But if the artistic level of Sonnets et Eaux-fortes is not
high, its contents are at least varied and interesting, and
represent a wide ränge of tastes and talents. On the
whole, moreover, the prints are quite worthy of the
poems which they accompany, and the majorityof which
are anecdotal or descriptive trifies. There are few really
fine sonnets among them, and there is no particular
reason why the greater number should have been cast
in sonnet, rather than in any other, form. Some of the
206