DOI Heft:
No. 1 (April, 1893)
DOI Artikel:Stevenson, Robert Alan Mowbray: The growth of recent art
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17188#0028
The Growth of Recent A rt
representatives of this movement and of its growth
and modification in England. But I can do no
more than indicate that Englishmen labour
earnestly although they began at the eleventh
hour. The rest of Europe enlisted long ago.
Our country and our popular artists were devoted
to pious or domestic stories told to amuse the
artless without care for pictorial style or truth.
The artistic few were agitated by movements
destined to die out. The sincerest of these were
the Pre-Raphaelite, The Walker, Pinwell and
Scotch schools ; and the splendid if reactionary
attempts of Rossetti, B. Jones, Leighton, Watts,
&c, to galvanise old traditions by the infusion of
their strong personalities. I must not forget the
John the Baptists of the early Academies and
Grosvenors who prepared people to understand
the coming change. Though I cannot mention
all, nevertheless, I will not omit J. C. Hook, Alma
Tadema, Whistler, Legros, H. Moore, Buxton
Knight, W. J. Hennessey, Mark Fisher, G. Bough-
ton, and a later batch, J. Reid, Leslie Thomson,
J. M. Swan, Picknell, Parton, Parsons, E. Ellis, A.
Lemon, Clausen, M. Hale, and J. Collier. I will go
no further or I touch the present day, when men
who see truly and broadly are become like locusts.
Though I cannot speak fully, I shall mention
some channels through which this spirit has been
propagated, either directly or, any way, at second
hand. Bonnat, Carolus Duran, Henner, Whistler,
and Legros have been the main cause of our
advance. Most of these men are well known
exhibitors in this country. There is a square
touch with melted edges which the public recog-
nise as a kind of badge of " the French School."
This has undoubtedly sprung from the mosaic
taught by Regnault, Duran, &c, modified by the
more fluid brush of Henner. It may be noted
that Henner used to visit at Duran's studio,
though I lay no stress on it, as this technique
under different aspects sprang up everywhere.
Sargent, Hale, Lemon, Bloomer, and others of
Carolus Duran's personal pupils who came over
later, handed on the tradition. There can be no
doubt that Sargent has formed many young English
painters. Moreover, Bastien Lepage's Les Foins,
Sara Bernhardt, and several portraits shown in
English galleries, educated Mr. Clausen and
painters who, like him, had not actually studied
abroad. We must not forget exhibitions of im-
pressionistic work by Monet and others, as well
as a show containing Sargent's El Juleo and
several portraits, together with wrork of the Gretz
school. This small section is perhaps responsible
for some of the recent developments of English
painting. Enfield, O'Meara, the Harrisons, and
others led the way; but Stott, of Oldham, with his
Bathers, made it a public thoroughfare. The
group considerably influenced younger men, as one
might note in the shows of the New English Art
Club. This society was the first definite expression
of a change of front in England, which, virtually,
had been long effected. Various tendencies have
operated on its exhibitions; among others, the new
Scotch or Glasgow school, which partly owes its
direction to the initiative of the late P. Chalmers
of Edinburgh, Mr. Whistler's personal pupils, and
the followers of Monet or Degas. More it is im-
possible to touch on here. I would, however,
induce people to inquire for themselves whether
modern art is a " fad " or something serious. Is it
as we sometimes hear " a baseless novelty," an
" ephemeral fashion," " wholly personal and ori-
ginal," an " utter eccentricity " ? I think it a
logical outcome of the past, read in the light of a
genuine change of feeling about nature. Our art
is no more "eccentric" than the art of any vital
period. Every one must learn somewhere and
build on some foundation. Again, there are not
more than two or three original men at any one
time, not two Whistlers or two Monets. The
majority are neither more original nor more
eccentric than those who, in their day, followed
Constable. On the other hand they are no more
to be despised as copyists.
R. A. M. Stevenson.
FROM A DRAWING BY AUBREY BEARDSLEY (30 X 7),'.TO BE GIVEN FULL SIZE IN A FUTURE NUMBER
10
representatives of this movement and of its growth
and modification in England. But I can do no
more than indicate that Englishmen labour
earnestly although they began at the eleventh
hour. The rest of Europe enlisted long ago.
Our country and our popular artists were devoted
to pious or domestic stories told to amuse the
artless without care for pictorial style or truth.
The artistic few were agitated by movements
destined to die out. The sincerest of these were
the Pre-Raphaelite, The Walker, Pinwell and
Scotch schools ; and the splendid if reactionary
attempts of Rossetti, B. Jones, Leighton, Watts,
&c, to galvanise old traditions by the infusion of
their strong personalities. I must not forget the
John the Baptists of the early Academies and
Grosvenors who prepared people to understand
the coming change. Though I cannot mention
all, nevertheless, I will not omit J. C. Hook, Alma
Tadema, Whistler, Legros, H. Moore, Buxton
Knight, W. J. Hennessey, Mark Fisher, G. Bough-
ton, and a later batch, J. Reid, Leslie Thomson,
J. M. Swan, Picknell, Parton, Parsons, E. Ellis, A.
Lemon, Clausen, M. Hale, and J. Collier. I will go
no further or I touch the present day, when men
who see truly and broadly are become like locusts.
Though I cannot speak fully, I shall mention
some channels through which this spirit has been
propagated, either directly or, any way, at second
hand. Bonnat, Carolus Duran, Henner, Whistler,
and Legros have been the main cause of our
advance. Most of these men are well known
exhibitors in this country. There is a square
touch with melted edges which the public recog-
nise as a kind of badge of " the French School."
This has undoubtedly sprung from the mosaic
taught by Regnault, Duran, &c, modified by the
more fluid brush of Henner. It may be noted
that Henner used to visit at Duran's studio,
though I lay no stress on it, as this technique
under different aspects sprang up everywhere.
Sargent, Hale, Lemon, Bloomer, and others of
Carolus Duran's personal pupils who came over
later, handed on the tradition. There can be no
doubt that Sargent has formed many young English
painters. Moreover, Bastien Lepage's Les Foins,
Sara Bernhardt, and several portraits shown in
English galleries, educated Mr. Clausen and
painters who, like him, had not actually studied
abroad. We must not forget exhibitions of im-
pressionistic work by Monet and others, as well
as a show containing Sargent's El Juleo and
several portraits, together with wrork of the Gretz
school. This small section is perhaps responsible
for some of the recent developments of English
painting. Enfield, O'Meara, the Harrisons, and
others led the way; but Stott, of Oldham, with his
Bathers, made it a public thoroughfare. The
group considerably influenced younger men, as one
might note in the shows of the New English Art
Club. This society was the first definite expression
of a change of front in England, which, virtually,
had been long effected. Various tendencies have
operated on its exhibitions; among others, the new
Scotch or Glasgow school, which partly owes its
direction to the initiative of the late P. Chalmers
of Edinburgh, Mr. Whistler's personal pupils, and
the followers of Monet or Degas. More it is im-
possible to touch on here. I would, however,
induce people to inquire for themselves whether
modern art is a " fad " or something serious. Is it
as we sometimes hear " a baseless novelty," an
" ephemeral fashion," " wholly personal and ori-
ginal," an " utter eccentricity " ? I think it a
logical outcome of the past, read in the light of a
genuine change of feeling about nature. Our art
is no more "eccentric" than the art of any vital
period. Every one must learn somewhere and
build on some foundation. Again, there are not
more than two or three original men at any one
time, not two Whistlers or two Monets. The
majority are neither more original nor more
eccentric than those who, in their day, followed
Constable. On the other hand they are no more
to be despised as copyists.
R. A. M. Stevenson.
FROM A DRAWING BY AUBREY BEARDSLEY (30 X 7),'.TO BE GIVEN FULL SIZE IN A FUTURE NUMBER
10