DOI issue:
No. 33 (December, 1895)
DOI article:W., G.: The drawings in charcoal of Mr. Frank Mura: an appreciation$nElektronische Ressource
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17295#0171
Mr. Mura s Charcoal Drawings
a marvellous degree. Such an achievement need
not be a mere tour de force, like the Paganini
concerto on a single string, but should resemble
rather exquisite chamber music which is so per-
fectly proportioned in scale that you forget the loss
of full orchestral effects.
For Mr. Frank Mura's pictures are not trans-
lations of his own sketches in colour translated
to black and white, nor studies in the limited
material, intended to be developed later and more
powerfully in the full blast of the orchestral colour-
box ; they are masterpieces of their own sort, not
less, nor greater, than oil and water-colour, but
obedient to another standard of convention, and
bent on securing certain qualities all their own.
It seems almost absurd to introduce this draughts-
man as if he were a stranger, since he has for some
years settled down here, and has shown in our
galleries. Yet the opportunities for the display of
black and white in London are almost as few as
of hearing chamber music adequately performed.
Artists who appeal not to the multitude so much
as to their fellows, lay and professional, may be
well established in reputation so far as the con-
noisseur is concerned, and yet still half-unknown
to the multitude. Therefore a brief biography
may be pardoned. Mr. Frank Mura was born in
Alsace, but when he was four years old his family
migrated to New York, where at the age of sixteen
he entered the art schools of the National Academy
and studied from the cast and life. At twenty he
took up print-cutting and wall-paper designing. In
1884 he went to Munich, and studied art there in
very earnest fashion, for three years working at the
Academy, studying drawing under Heterich and
painting under Loeftz. In the International Ex-
hibition at Munich, he saw for the first time the
work of the Dutch painters, Maris, Mauve, Israels,
Eosboom, and the rest, which made so deep an
impression on him that they definitely moulded
gossip" from a charcoal drawing by frank mura
iS7
a marvellous degree. Such an achievement need
not be a mere tour de force, like the Paganini
concerto on a single string, but should resemble
rather exquisite chamber music which is so per-
fectly proportioned in scale that you forget the loss
of full orchestral effects.
For Mr. Frank Mura's pictures are not trans-
lations of his own sketches in colour translated
to black and white, nor studies in the limited
material, intended to be developed later and more
powerfully in the full blast of the orchestral colour-
box ; they are masterpieces of their own sort, not
less, nor greater, than oil and water-colour, but
obedient to another standard of convention, and
bent on securing certain qualities all their own.
It seems almost absurd to introduce this draughts-
man as if he were a stranger, since he has for some
years settled down here, and has shown in our
galleries. Yet the opportunities for the display of
black and white in London are almost as few as
of hearing chamber music adequately performed.
Artists who appeal not to the multitude so much
as to their fellows, lay and professional, may be
well established in reputation so far as the con-
noisseur is concerned, and yet still half-unknown
to the multitude. Therefore a brief biography
may be pardoned. Mr. Frank Mura was born in
Alsace, but when he was four years old his family
migrated to New York, where at the age of sixteen
he entered the art schools of the National Academy
and studied from the cast and life. At twenty he
took up print-cutting and wall-paper designing. In
1884 he went to Munich, and studied art there in
very earnest fashion, for three years working at the
Academy, studying drawing under Heterich and
painting under Loeftz. In the International Ex-
hibition at Munich, he saw for the first time the
work of the Dutch painters, Maris, Mauve, Israels,
Eosboom, and the rest, which made so deep an
impression on him that they definitely moulded
gossip" from a charcoal drawing by frank mura
iS7