DOI Heft:
No. 33 (December, 1895)
DOI Artikel:W., G.: The drawings in charcoal of Mr. Frank Mura: an appreciation$nElektronische Ressource
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17295#0168
Mr. Murds Charcoal Drawings
face once the ideal of a South Kensington drawing his followers first set down for all the world to
from the antique, it can express in the hands of delight in, and that in slightly different manner
a master the other and truer extreme of high finish, have become the legend of the Dutch Romanti-
A finish that regards things seen in atmosphere, and cists also. Constable, it is true, had preceded
tenderly loses all those rigid definitions which arc both, and with certain reservations one might even
not apparent to any normal vision, but are supplied trace the same spirit in the background of many
by internal knowledge of the planes and contours otherwise rigidly conventional pictures by the old
of objects looked at bit by bit with almost micro- masters. To us, however, who are busy with con
scopic intensity of gaze. temporary art, the view of Nature that the Barbizon
But the material, be it what it may, is never in school enjoyed is a pleasure that never astonishes
itself artistic. Given an artist, and with a stump of and never surfeits. The dignity of reticence, the
a worn-out brush, or direct statement of
even with a burnt those essential factors
^ fu
"a street in whitechapel "
some early work by from a charcoal drawing by frank mura actually there- Cer-
Mr. Theodore Roussel, tain poets — to wit,
known chiefly to his Matthew Arnold and
friends (since I believe he has never exhibited any), W. E. Henley—have mastered the witchery of
one might search in vain, so far as resident artists rhythm and accent, and have shown themselves so
are concerned, for another instance of the stick of sensitive in the choice of the exact phrase, that for
burnt wood wielded so deftly, that the most skilful a long time you do not observe the absence of
brush could not surpass its easy range of expression, rhyme. Of course, in itself, this is neither ad-
In classing Mr. Mura's work with the school of mirable nor reprehensible. The doggerel bard and
the French and Dutch Romanticists, one does so the master are both justified in using rhyme, as
with no hidden depreciation, for he is no mere the dauber or the great artist are fully entitled to
imitator in theme or technique. But the poetry of employ the full palette that awaits them. Yet, all
common life, of quiet everyday romance—the deli- the same, the dexterous achievement that wins
cate perception of the beauty of the ordinary effects equal effect with simple details, not only pleases
of the open air—these were the secrets Corot and aesthetically, but also satisfies you intellectually to
154
face once the ideal of a South Kensington drawing his followers first set down for all the world to
from the antique, it can express in the hands of delight in, and that in slightly different manner
a master the other and truer extreme of high finish, have become the legend of the Dutch Romanti-
A finish that regards things seen in atmosphere, and cists also. Constable, it is true, had preceded
tenderly loses all those rigid definitions which arc both, and with certain reservations one might even
not apparent to any normal vision, but are supplied trace the same spirit in the background of many
by internal knowledge of the planes and contours otherwise rigidly conventional pictures by the old
of objects looked at bit by bit with almost micro- masters. To us, however, who are busy with con
scopic intensity of gaze. temporary art, the view of Nature that the Barbizon
But the material, be it what it may, is never in school enjoyed is a pleasure that never astonishes
itself artistic. Given an artist, and with a stump of and never surfeits. The dignity of reticence, the
a worn-out brush, or direct statement of
even with a burnt those essential factors
^ fu
"a street in whitechapel "
some early work by from a charcoal drawing by frank mura actually there- Cer-
Mr. Theodore Roussel, tain poets — to wit,
known chiefly to his Matthew Arnold and
friends (since I believe he has never exhibited any), W. E. Henley—have mastered the witchery of
one might search in vain, so far as resident artists rhythm and accent, and have shown themselves so
are concerned, for another instance of the stick of sensitive in the choice of the exact phrase, that for
burnt wood wielded so deftly, that the most skilful a long time you do not observe the absence of
brush could not surpass its easy range of expression, rhyme. Of course, in itself, this is neither ad-
In classing Mr. Mura's work with the school of mirable nor reprehensible. The doggerel bard and
the French and Dutch Romanticists, one does so the master are both justified in using rhyme, as
with no hidden depreciation, for he is no mere the dauber or the great artist are fully entitled to
imitator in theme or technique. But the poetry of employ the full palette that awaits them. Yet, all
common life, of quiet everyday romance—the deli- the same, the dexterous achievement that wins
cate perception of the beauty of the ordinary effects equal effect with simple details, not only pleases
of the open air—these were the secrets Corot and aesthetically, but also satisfies you intellectually to
154