DOI Heft:
Nr. 43 (October 1896)
DOI Artikel:White, Gleeson: The work of Charles J. Watson
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17298#0024
The Work of C. J. Watson
—a fish sale, a scandal, or a tragedy, is of no
moment; the weird loneliness of man, in opposi-
tion to Nature, seems to me its theme, and in its
nervous rendering the picture is fascinating with a
hidden terror for which the incident itself cannot
be held responsible.
Were further proof needed of the range of Mr.
Watson's art, the deck of a steamboat with its
arrested life might well supply it. For surely, as
regards passengers, there are no moments in life
■
■
■
"PLACE THIERS, LIS1EUX "
all, the sum total of direct evidence upon any
subject.
The three drawings in lead pencil here repro-
duced speak for themselves. In Leiden, the deli-
cate, evanescent beauty of each line must needs
suffer by reproduction. Good as the block is—
and it is by way of establishing a record of its sort—
it would not justify the praise which the original
demands as its right. And In the Luxembourg
Gardens, and the Place Thiers, Lisieux, must also
'■ ! i+w*M IB f 0
—
FROM A DRAWING IN LEAD PENCIL BY C. J. WATSON, R E.
which seem so entirely entractes between action as
those spent upon a vessel in mid-passage. Unless
inal de mer supplies a new problem which no man
who is personally interested ever solved, one is con-
tent " merely to be " at such times. Care may be
waiting to overtake you by the next boat, care may
be lurking at the port, to pounce on you as you
land; but for the hour the sea has control, and
you feel face to face with simple, adequate Nature,
with all worries forgotten, and only bodily appetite
left to link you to the common life ashore. Here,
again, is only a personal impression of Mr. Watson's
picture, just the record of a single voyager's ex-
perience ; but that his painting brings back more
vividly than could anything except the actual cir-
cumstances the thousand and one delightful
memories of the sea—is a proof of one person's
recognition of its absolute truth, and that is, after
12
be left to speak for themselves as compositions,
only, without showing the qualities of the originals
which are peculiarily fine. Indeed, one can recall
very few pencil drawings by masters of any period,
beside which these might not be placed as equals.
They possess the rare distinction which consists
in saying the most in the fewest possible words.
There was an anecdote in one of the photographic
journals lately, of a Scotch farmer who, as he
watched the late President at work, said : " Man,
did ye ever try photography ? It's a lot quicker,
and it's a deal liker the place." Now, people who
regard literal imitation as the supreme achievement
of realism, should study such drawings as these
carefully and patiently. All that the best photo-
graphy misses, even at the hands of its most artistic
exponents, is here. Yet the farmer of the anec-
dote, and possibly others better informed, would no
—a fish sale, a scandal, or a tragedy, is of no
moment; the weird loneliness of man, in opposi-
tion to Nature, seems to me its theme, and in its
nervous rendering the picture is fascinating with a
hidden terror for which the incident itself cannot
be held responsible.
Were further proof needed of the range of Mr.
Watson's art, the deck of a steamboat with its
arrested life might well supply it. For surely, as
regards passengers, there are no moments in life
■
■
■
"PLACE THIERS, LIS1EUX "
all, the sum total of direct evidence upon any
subject.
The three drawings in lead pencil here repro-
duced speak for themselves. In Leiden, the deli-
cate, evanescent beauty of each line must needs
suffer by reproduction. Good as the block is—
and it is by way of establishing a record of its sort—
it would not justify the praise which the original
demands as its right. And In the Luxembourg
Gardens, and the Place Thiers, Lisieux, must also
'■ ! i+w*M IB f 0
—
FROM A DRAWING IN LEAD PENCIL BY C. J. WATSON, R E.
which seem so entirely entractes between action as
those spent upon a vessel in mid-passage. Unless
inal de mer supplies a new problem which no man
who is personally interested ever solved, one is con-
tent " merely to be " at such times. Care may be
waiting to overtake you by the next boat, care may
be lurking at the port, to pounce on you as you
land; but for the hour the sea has control, and
you feel face to face with simple, adequate Nature,
with all worries forgotten, and only bodily appetite
left to link you to the common life ashore. Here,
again, is only a personal impression of Mr. Watson's
picture, just the record of a single voyager's ex-
perience ; but that his painting brings back more
vividly than could anything except the actual cir-
cumstances the thousand and one delightful
memories of the sea—is a proof of one person's
recognition of its absolute truth, and that is, after
12
be left to speak for themselves as compositions,
only, without showing the qualities of the originals
which are peculiarily fine. Indeed, one can recall
very few pencil drawings by masters of any period,
beside which these might not be placed as equals.
They possess the rare distinction which consists
in saying the most in the fewest possible words.
There was an anecdote in one of the photographic
journals lately, of a Scotch farmer who, as he
watched the late President at work, said : " Man,
did ye ever try photography ? It's a lot quicker,
and it's a deal liker the place." Now, people who
regard literal imitation as the supreme achievement
of realism, should study such drawings as these
carefully and patiently. All that the best photo-
graphy misses, even at the hands of its most artistic
exponents, is here. Yet the farmer of the anec-
dote, and possibly others better informed, would no