DOI Heft:
No. 30 (September, 1895)
DOI Artikel:S., E. B.: A painter in the arctic regions: an interview with Mr. Frank Wilbert Stokes
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17294#0233
A Painter in the Arctic Regions
"The atmosphere inside the huts must be doubt made the result still more impressive,
frightful, is it not ?" To those who saw Mr. Stokes' exhibition, it
"Well, it is bad until you grow accustomed to will always live as a vivid record of things only
it. We had, during our second visit, very good dreamt of before—a record of wonder and novelty,
quarters, a regularly built encampment with two that is by infinitely subtle differences of colour and
wooden houses, my studio, and a covered pro- atmosphere nearer akin to the light of romance
menade for exercise. You will see a sketch of it in which never yet shone on sea or land, than that
The Camp of'the North Greenland Expedition." on any other landscapes one remembers. Those
And so with modest annotations to the already who did not enjoy the pleasure of seeing these
excellent catalogue, Mr. Stokes made his pictures unique sketches and pictures many times, may
even more interesting. Although quite apart from think the eulogy strained, but of all the thousands
their subject, these paintings are good enough to of pictures seen by the present writer in 1895,
establish a reputation. The artist is singularly these alone make the year an annus mirabilis, for
modest in his recital; indeed, he displays the they imparted an entirely new sensation,
quiet absence of pride, which often distinguishes E. B. S.
those whose achievements are patent _
_ IJUIIU. I.II .11111.11 .....—IWll............Ill I • --~"- ir»—
to all men. 1 he engravings, from five
delightful originals, have lost much of |M
their glamour. Seen in paint, they
brought the solitude of the far North,
its mystery of colour, and its apparent
quiet, into the heart of noisy London.
The superb beauty of the Arctic skies,
even under normal conditions, with the
high light of the ice always accentuat-
ing their tone; the chromatic wonder
of the Aurora in its own birthplace, the
novel schemes of colour in blues and
greens which are like those in aqua-
marines, emeralds, and sapphires, made
the gallery a feast for the eye as well as
for the imagination. To see topo-
graphical subjects rendered with the
distinguished technique that is the
glory of the best modern school, is in
itself a pleasant novelty. It is hard to
get the public to accept two distinct
points of view, and it is to be feared
that the very interest of the anecdotal
side of the picture caused grave injus-
tice to be done to their intrinsic merit.
With the one exception of Mr. William
Stott of Oldham, no one, in England
at all events, has painted snow, and the
sky above it, as Mr. Stokes has done.
Some lines by Mr. Bliss Carman—" A
white eternity aglow with silent dawn,
still-aired and passionless "—express
the keynote of these delightful impres-
sions. The accomplished technique ' 1...... "-. , • i
that has portrayed the poetry of the r. >
one tract as yet untrod by man—the jsrx.f,
one secret of the world-sphinx which **Mi~lW^^
he has not guessed save in part—no "the brothers beggarstaff " by phil may
214
"The atmosphere inside the huts must be doubt made the result still more impressive,
frightful, is it not ?" To those who saw Mr. Stokes' exhibition, it
"Well, it is bad until you grow accustomed to will always live as a vivid record of things only
it. We had, during our second visit, very good dreamt of before—a record of wonder and novelty,
quarters, a regularly built encampment with two that is by infinitely subtle differences of colour and
wooden houses, my studio, and a covered pro- atmosphere nearer akin to the light of romance
menade for exercise. You will see a sketch of it in which never yet shone on sea or land, than that
The Camp of'the North Greenland Expedition." on any other landscapes one remembers. Those
And so with modest annotations to the already who did not enjoy the pleasure of seeing these
excellent catalogue, Mr. Stokes made his pictures unique sketches and pictures many times, may
even more interesting. Although quite apart from think the eulogy strained, but of all the thousands
their subject, these paintings are good enough to of pictures seen by the present writer in 1895,
establish a reputation. The artist is singularly these alone make the year an annus mirabilis, for
modest in his recital; indeed, he displays the they imparted an entirely new sensation,
quiet absence of pride, which often distinguishes E. B. S.
those whose achievements are patent _
_ IJUIIU. I.II .11111.11 .....—IWll............Ill I • --~"- ir»—
to all men. 1 he engravings, from five
delightful originals, have lost much of |M
their glamour. Seen in paint, they
brought the solitude of the far North,
its mystery of colour, and its apparent
quiet, into the heart of noisy London.
The superb beauty of the Arctic skies,
even under normal conditions, with the
high light of the ice always accentuat-
ing their tone; the chromatic wonder
of the Aurora in its own birthplace, the
novel schemes of colour in blues and
greens which are like those in aqua-
marines, emeralds, and sapphires, made
the gallery a feast for the eye as well as
for the imagination. To see topo-
graphical subjects rendered with the
distinguished technique that is the
glory of the best modern school, is in
itself a pleasant novelty. It is hard to
get the public to accept two distinct
points of view, and it is to be feared
that the very interest of the anecdotal
side of the picture caused grave injus-
tice to be done to their intrinsic merit.
With the one exception of Mr. William
Stott of Oldham, no one, in England
at all events, has painted snow, and the
sky above it, as Mr. Stokes has done.
Some lines by Mr. Bliss Carman—" A
white eternity aglow with silent dawn,
still-aired and passionless "—express
the keynote of these delightful impres-
sions. The accomplished technique ' 1...... "-. , • i
that has portrayed the poetry of the r. >
one tract as yet untrod by man—the jsrx.f,
one secret of the world-sphinx which **Mi~lW^^
he has not guessed save in part—no "the brothers beggarstaff " by phil may
214