DOI issue:
No. 31 (October, 1896)
DOI article:Baldry, Alfred Lys: The Herkomer School
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17295#0023
ways to his fellow-instructors. By the collation of despot. Had he been an art master of the con-
these expressed opinions, the nature of the theories ventional type, his " school " would have begun
which he is at Bushey putting into such a practi- and ended with the block of class-rooms ; it would
cal form, can be arrived at with some certainty. certainly never have assumed the form which it
And we find in these theories a curiously systematic now has.
order, an admirable sequence of ideas and balance Another important factor in its success has been
of causes and effects. The foundation of all sue- the judgment with which the system of the class-
cessful art is, he holds, the capacity to see; there- rooms has been planned ; the consideration, that
fore the foundation of all art teaching is the training is to say, which has been given in the arrangement
of the pupil to see with the
eyes and mind of the artist,
the developing of a faculty
which cannot be put into any
nature which does not already
possess it, but which may, for
lack of proper education,
become misapplied or even
remain dormant. But given
the possession of the faculty
by the student, the function
of the master is to influence
it through that student's cha-
racter. This means that the
master must have intimate
personal knowledge of each
of his pupils, and must under-
stand, even in small details,
how each one's peculiarities
of temperament act and react
upon the work which he is
doing.
The teacher must have an
actual power to guide his
pupil away from the pitfalls
which an immature character
puts in his way, and must be
to the aspiring beginner not
merely an educator, but a
support. The success of the
teacher in developing the
mind that is entrusted to his
care depends, indeed, largely study of head by d. a. wehrschmidx
upon his own character, upon
his own power to influence other natures, and upon of the Bushey scheme to methods of progressive
the manner in which he has formed his own beliefs. study. The sequence of these methods is not that
If he has the capacity to teach, he has also the to which the art student in this country is accus
ability to gain the confidence of his pupils, and the tomed, for Professor Herkomer holds that the real
personality which will attract them as followers and interests of the would-be artist are best served by
friends when their training period is past. With- setting him, as soon as he has passed the purely
out this personality Professor Herkomer might elementary stage of freehand and still-life drawing,
have laboured in vain at his Bushey "experiment," to work from life both in colour and in black and
and would scarcely have seen its significant growth white. The dreary process of drawing for years
from school to colony, and from colony to a kind from antique figures is no part of the system in
of art kingdom, in which he rules as a benevolent which he believes ; study from life is made instead
these expressed opinions, the nature of the theories ventional type, his " school " would have begun
which he is at Bushey putting into such a practi- and ended with the block of class-rooms ; it would
cal form, can be arrived at with some certainty. certainly never have assumed the form which it
And we find in these theories a curiously systematic now has.
order, an admirable sequence of ideas and balance Another important factor in its success has been
of causes and effects. The foundation of all sue- the judgment with which the system of the class-
cessful art is, he holds, the capacity to see; there- rooms has been planned ; the consideration, that
fore the foundation of all art teaching is the training is to say, which has been given in the arrangement
of the pupil to see with the
eyes and mind of the artist,
the developing of a faculty
which cannot be put into any
nature which does not already
possess it, but which may, for
lack of proper education,
become misapplied or even
remain dormant. But given
the possession of the faculty
by the student, the function
of the master is to influence
it through that student's cha-
racter. This means that the
master must have intimate
personal knowledge of each
of his pupils, and must under-
stand, even in small details,
how each one's peculiarities
of temperament act and react
upon the work which he is
doing.
The teacher must have an
actual power to guide his
pupil away from the pitfalls
which an immature character
puts in his way, and must be
to the aspiring beginner not
merely an educator, but a
support. The success of the
teacher in developing the
mind that is entrusted to his
care depends, indeed, largely study of head by d. a. wehrschmidx
upon his own character, upon
his own power to influence other natures, and upon of the Bushey scheme to methods of progressive
the manner in which he has formed his own beliefs. study. The sequence of these methods is not that
If he has the capacity to teach, he has also the to which the art student in this country is accus
ability to gain the confidence of his pupils, and the tomed, for Professor Herkomer holds that the real
personality which will attract them as followers and interests of the would-be artist are best served by
friends when their training period is past. With- setting him, as soon as he has passed the purely
out this personality Professor Herkomer might elementary stage of freehand and still-life drawing,
have laboured in vain at his Bushey "experiment," to work from life both in colour and in black and
and would scarcely have seen its significant growth white. The dreary process of drawing for years
from school to colony, and from colony to a kind from antique figures is no part of the system in
of art kingdom, in which he rules as a benevolent which he believes ; study from life is made instead