DOI issue:
No. 27 (June 1895)
DOI article:S., E. B.: Afternoons in studios: Henry Scott Tuke at Falmouth
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17294#0113
Henry Scott Tuke
Did I do so ? No ! [laughingly] the picture was
not very good—nor was the ring; so we each kept
our treasure."
" You showed some early work at the Nineteenth
Century Art Society, I think ? "
" Yes; at the first exhibition I had The Ship-
builders, the first picture I painted after my Paris
experience. I was one of the original members
of the New English Art Club, and have shown
there The Bathers—now at Melbourne—The First
Boat In, A Summer Day, and The Promise, in
addition to some smaller works.
" Your biggest things have been at the R.A.,
have they not ? "
" Most of them. But my first open-air nude—
Summer Time—was in the Grosvenor Gallery in
18S5. Two Corfu pictures, A Lemon Gatherer
and A Lemon Tree, were shown in the New Gallery
in 1893."
"One of your pictures, I think you said, is at
Munich ? "
" Yes ; it was bought for the Pinakothek in 1894—
it is Euchre, a group of sailors seated on the deck
of the old Julie, playing cards. All the figures
in it were painted from Falmouth men. Indeed,
for most of my work I rely chiefly on local models ;
although at times it is necessary to employ profes-
sionals, who have to be imported from London."
94
" You set most store by your nude, I believe ? "
" Yes; at the time I first took up the subject,
when Alexander Harrison was attacking the same
problem in the orchards of France, it seemed to
open up fresh vistas, and certainly gave new inte-
rest to the study of the undraped figure, to depict
it with the pure daylight upon it, instead of the
artificial lighting of the studio. Besides, as a
matter of personal taste, I much prefer working in
the open to the close air of a room, especially at
the temperature which it is necessary to maintain
when you are working from the life. Sometimes
one is tempted to inquire if the result compensates
for the extra labour involved, and the disappoint-
ments and inconveniences of the changeable
English climate. But I always return to my first
opinion, that the truth and beauty of flesh in sun-
light by the sea, is offered to you in a way impos-
sible to secure in pictures built up from hasty
sketches, at leisure, in one's studio. Because, how-
ever much you may work indoors afterwards,
whatever you add is with the outdoor impression
strong upon you."
" You work chiefly in oils, I believe ?"
"Yes, chiefly. I do a good many small sketches
in water-colour, and one that I own I should be
willing to stake my reputation upon, Leander,
shown at the Grosvenor Gallery, is in pastels. Black
Did I do so ? No ! [laughingly] the picture was
not very good—nor was the ring; so we each kept
our treasure."
" You showed some early work at the Nineteenth
Century Art Society, I think ? "
" Yes; at the first exhibition I had The Ship-
builders, the first picture I painted after my Paris
experience. I was one of the original members
of the New English Art Club, and have shown
there The Bathers—now at Melbourne—The First
Boat In, A Summer Day, and The Promise, in
addition to some smaller works.
" Your biggest things have been at the R.A.,
have they not ? "
" Most of them. But my first open-air nude—
Summer Time—was in the Grosvenor Gallery in
18S5. Two Corfu pictures, A Lemon Gatherer
and A Lemon Tree, were shown in the New Gallery
in 1893."
"One of your pictures, I think you said, is at
Munich ? "
" Yes ; it was bought for the Pinakothek in 1894—
it is Euchre, a group of sailors seated on the deck
of the old Julie, playing cards. All the figures
in it were painted from Falmouth men. Indeed,
for most of my work I rely chiefly on local models ;
although at times it is necessary to employ profes-
sionals, who have to be imported from London."
94
" You set most store by your nude, I believe ? "
" Yes; at the time I first took up the subject,
when Alexander Harrison was attacking the same
problem in the orchards of France, it seemed to
open up fresh vistas, and certainly gave new inte-
rest to the study of the undraped figure, to depict
it with the pure daylight upon it, instead of the
artificial lighting of the studio. Besides, as a
matter of personal taste, I much prefer working in
the open to the close air of a room, especially at
the temperature which it is necessary to maintain
when you are working from the life. Sometimes
one is tempted to inquire if the result compensates
for the extra labour involved, and the disappoint-
ments and inconveniences of the changeable
English climate. But I always return to my first
opinion, that the truth and beauty of flesh in sun-
light by the sea, is offered to you in a way impos-
sible to secure in pictures built up from hasty
sketches, at leisure, in one's studio. Because, how-
ever much you may work indoors afterwards,
whatever you add is with the outdoor impression
strong upon you."
" You work chiefly in oils, I believe ?"
"Yes, chiefly. I do a good many small sketches
in water-colour, and one that I own I should be
willing to stake my reputation upon, Leander,
shown at the Grosvenor Gallery, is in pastels. Black