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#0172
Mr. Murds Charcoal Drawings
"THE SHEPHERDESS" FROM A CHARCOAL DRAWING BY FRANK MURA
(By permission of J. S. Forbes, Esq.)
his style. After a short time in America, and a in The Shepherdess allow the eye to pass over wide-
year in Holland devoted to the study of the old spreading fields, onward, farther and farther, as in
Dutch masters, he came to London in 1891, and Nature. The feeling of space thus given is so
has since made his permanent home in Hampstead. delightful in the charcoal drawing, that one regrets
So much for the man himself, who may be fairly the unavoidable reduction which has altered the
called cosmopolitan, and yet is as English in subtle tones so that you do not feel this sense of
manner as if he were a native of these isles. But great flat surfaces of grass or undergrowth. Nor
art is not concerned with parishes, and is ready to in On the Memel do you realise the buoyancy of
welcome a new-comer from any land, so long as he the craft which in the original are obviously float-
can show his right to be accepted as an artist, ing on the water, and so evidently poised upon yet
And that honourable title is surely Mr. Mura's by in it that you wonder whether any painter in any
right; if you adduce in proof merely the reproduc- medium had presented this particular fact quite so
tions given here his claim would be allowed. Yet irresistibly before. In this same drawing, the flat
these cannot of course convey all the charm of expanse of water carries the eye through the moist
their originals, for great reduction and the absence atmosphere into far-reaching vistas. The sky
of the dull texture of the drawing has combined recedes far away, and you feel the presence of
to lessen their beauty. clouds, not on it, but hovering between earth and
To analyse their charm at great length would be heaven. When one compares such a treatment
a most pleasant matter; but space will not permit with the conventional clouds—obvious silhouettes
of the detailed appreciation they deserve. Some of white paint against blue—or with the conven-
qualities that appeal most strongly in the originals tional boat, which suggests nothing below the
fail to discover themselves at first glance in the water, no cubical dimension, but just something
reproductions. Notably the very remarkable effect firmly floating on the rigid surface of something
of the planes of the middle and far distance, which shiny and liquid—then you are ready to think that
158
"THE SHEPHERDESS" FROM A CHARCOAL DRAWING BY FRANK MURA
(By permission of J. S. Forbes, Esq.)
his style. After a short time in America, and a in The Shepherdess allow the eye to pass over wide-
year in Holland devoted to the study of the old spreading fields, onward, farther and farther, as in
Dutch masters, he came to London in 1891, and Nature. The feeling of space thus given is so
has since made his permanent home in Hampstead. delightful in the charcoal drawing, that one regrets
So much for the man himself, who may be fairly the unavoidable reduction which has altered the
called cosmopolitan, and yet is as English in subtle tones so that you do not feel this sense of
manner as if he were a native of these isles. But great flat surfaces of grass or undergrowth. Nor
art is not concerned with parishes, and is ready to in On the Memel do you realise the buoyancy of
welcome a new-comer from any land, so long as he the craft which in the original are obviously float-
can show his right to be accepted as an artist, ing on the water, and so evidently poised upon yet
And that honourable title is surely Mr. Mura's by in it that you wonder whether any painter in any
right; if you adduce in proof merely the reproduc- medium had presented this particular fact quite so
tions given here his claim would be allowed. Yet irresistibly before. In this same drawing, the flat
these cannot of course convey all the charm of expanse of water carries the eye through the moist
their originals, for great reduction and the absence atmosphere into far-reaching vistas. The sky
of the dull texture of the drawing has combined recedes far away, and you feel the presence of
to lessen their beauty. clouds, not on it, but hovering between earth and
To analyse their charm at great length would be heaven. When one compares such a treatment
a most pleasant matter; but space will not permit with the conventional clouds—obvious silhouettes
of the detailed appreciation they deserve. Some of white paint against blue—or with the conven-
qualities that appeal most strongly in the originals tional boat, which suggests nothing below the
fail to discover themselves at first glance in the water, no cubical dimension, but just something
reproductions. Notably the very remarkable effect firmly floating on the rigid surface of something
of the planes of the middle and far distance, which shiny and liquid—then you are ready to think that
158