Studio: international art (2.1894)

Etchings by Col. Goff and Mr. C. J. Watson

vividly before us, yet in the reticence of its detail
it is typical of his discriminating choice.

Colonel Goff's Ponte Vecchio is worked in an
entirely different manner. Here the brutal force
of the etched line—surely the strongest known in
Art—is employed with easy mastery so that the
force of the subject is not its most striking
characteristic. As a study in the arrangement of
its masses of black, and as a decorative panel, it
delights one. Whichever way you regard it, it
fulfils an important end of Art by pleasing the

PONTE DEL CAVALLO, VENICE. FROM AN ETCHING BY
C. J. WATSON

spectator. In the Rialto we find a mystery and
glamour lacking in the Ponte Vecchio; but if one
attributes the charm of either etching to its subject,
a glance at the Old Chain Pier, Brighton, proves
that it is the artist who has imparted the charm ;
for in this impression of a distinctly prosaic place,
the same impalpable romance is felt. You care
not if barrel-organs grind out street ditties and
the hum of modern life is near. Without any de-
parture from truth, the subject is here brought into
the domain of Art by no trick of unreal lighting
or adjuncts, but by the power of selection.

If the foolish habit of labelling artists in groups
as though they were botanical specimens were
44

imperative, we might say that the school wherein
Mr. Whistler, and Mr. Frank Short, have worked
in divers ways is the one in which Mr. Watson and
Colonel Goff have also elected to work. Yet
without any comparison of the merits of these four
artists we may claim that the work of each is as
absolutely distinct from the others as are pictures
by Corot, Millet, Daubigny, and Rousseau. It is
with a satisfied thrill of pride that in this Art we
can fearlessly place English etchers in the front
rank of all countries, and without any attempt to
set the names of others beside the master, who,
although living, is as far above criticism as his
great predecessor Rembrandt, one may recognise
the same artistic restraint, the same sustained
effort to obey the lawful canons of the Art, and the
same contempt for " tricky" effects and careless
work.

Even Philistia is silent before Mr. Whistler's
etchings. For once those who know, and those
who repeat what other people know, on the one
hand, or those who exploit their own opinions to
show their foolishness, on the other, are agreed. It
is just because the two etchers now exhibiting at
Mr. Dunthorne's Gallery are careless of popular
applause, and work out their own ideas in their
own manner, that one can so unreservedly praise
them j not for the quality of their work, that from
alien mouths is dangerously near impertinence,
but for their loyal recognition of the claims of
original etching to a high place in the Arts, and
their avoidance of that dangerous class known to
cognoscenti as "dealers' plates," which has proved
the destruction of many a promising artist in
copper. No other art displays more fully the delight
of the worker in his work. When you study these
prints you almost, follow the emotions of the
artist, as you realise the fine rapture with which
the daring line swept across that blank space, and
the careful breathless anxiety that traced this
dainty thread. Boldness and caution in close
ally, knowledge and experimental hazarding, are the
qualities a fine etcher needs ; and a great general
gains his fame by not dissimilar virtues.

One point that makes an etching peculiarly
lovable may be noticed. Of all the Arts (except
lithography, which may be coupled with it in
this respect), no other is so liberal in its favours.
One man alone can own a painting, the rest of
the world must be content with feeble para-
phrases. A good etching may co-exist in a large
number of proofs, which are all, so to speak,
originals, equally worthy, if not of exactly the
same market value. Given such a craftsman