DOI Heft:
Nr. 44 (November 1896)
DOI Artikel:Jope-Slade, Robert: A man of Liverpool and his art
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17298#0102
A Man of Liverpool and his A rt
their proper place—many a casual epigram in short, the desire, ambition, and scheme of a
brightens them ; but you must strain every nerve man's life.
in attention as you listen. It is with iterated in- At Munich the appreciation of English art has
sistence, at every point and pause in our conver- grown amazingly during the last decade. Certain
sation, that he tells me that Japan is all in all to leaders of what is known for convenience as the
him, aught else immaterial. He does not seem to Newlyn School, though now a mere historic phrase,
have been very much influenced by such examples the Pre-Raphaelites, the Glasgow School, Albert
Moore, Lord Leighton, and
Burne-Jones are deities in
the new Munich mytho-
logy ; but one of the most
favoured of all is Robert
Fowler, and from Munich
he has been exhaustively
monographed, an honour
which he shares with
Watts and Burne-Jones.
At the Champs de Mars,
of late years, his can-
vases have attracted atten-
tion., and his name now is
seldom absent from the
catalogue.
Mr. Fowler's own con-
ception of himself is inter-
esting ; he sits, he says, like
a spider in his corner,
spins his web, the gossa-
mer threads of its fantasy
capturing new art ideas
east and west, north and
south, wherever man reads
or writes, paints or sings,
thinks, breathes, or has his
being, especially in Nippon.
It is not by misadventure
that I omitted in my de-
scription of the work-room
the noble piano which do-
minates the outer chamber.
"under the hollow-hung ocean green" The painter is absolutely
FROM A PAINTING BY ROBERT FOWLER, R.I. . , , , r ...
. , „ . _ _ , idolatrous of music, it is
(In possession of Ernest Secgcr, Esq.) . .
the joy of joys, and mistress
of his life. Though he has
of modern mysticism as Femand Khnopff, and never touched the ebonies and ivories, nor any
others of that school, but he speaks with enthusiasm contrivance for the production of harmonious and
of such pictures as the Belgian's Sphinx and dulcet sound, he is a splendid judge both of
Animalism and the Angel, and I think they composition and execution; and rarely alone, espe-
have counted for something in his evolution, cially on Fridays,, he draws to his painting-room
Before an end is made of the conversation, I much that there is of genius and youth, in
have learned the intricate mechanism, the dis- whatever form expressed, in Liverpool; especially
content with the done, the eagerness about the the great but as yet unknown musician, vocal or
to-do, the sentiment of latent poetry, the sub- instrumental; and if the truth were known, there is
lying symbolism, something uncanny and eerie, many an artist—I use the word in its broadest
90
their proper place—many a casual epigram in short, the desire, ambition, and scheme of a
brightens them ; but you must strain every nerve man's life.
in attention as you listen. It is with iterated in- At Munich the appreciation of English art has
sistence, at every point and pause in our conver- grown amazingly during the last decade. Certain
sation, that he tells me that Japan is all in all to leaders of what is known for convenience as the
him, aught else immaterial. He does not seem to Newlyn School, though now a mere historic phrase,
have been very much influenced by such examples the Pre-Raphaelites, the Glasgow School, Albert
Moore, Lord Leighton, and
Burne-Jones are deities in
the new Munich mytho-
logy ; but one of the most
favoured of all is Robert
Fowler, and from Munich
he has been exhaustively
monographed, an honour
which he shares with
Watts and Burne-Jones.
At the Champs de Mars,
of late years, his can-
vases have attracted atten-
tion., and his name now is
seldom absent from the
catalogue.
Mr. Fowler's own con-
ception of himself is inter-
esting ; he sits, he says, like
a spider in his corner,
spins his web, the gossa-
mer threads of its fantasy
capturing new art ideas
east and west, north and
south, wherever man reads
or writes, paints or sings,
thinks, breathes, or has his
being, especially in Nippon.
It is not by misadventure
that I omitted in my de-
scription of the work-room
the noble piano which do-
minates the outer chamber.
"under the hollow-hung ocean green" The painter is absolutely
FROM A PAINTING BY ROBERT FOWLER, R.I. . , , , r ...
. , „ . _ _ , idolatrous of music, it is
(In possession of Ernest Secgcr, Esq.) . .
the joy of joys, and mistress
of his life. Though he has
of modern mysticism as Femand Khnopff, and never touched the ebonies and ivories, nor any
others of that school, but he speaks with enthusiasm contrivance for the production of harmonious and
of such pictures as the Belgian's Sphinx and dulcet sound, he is a splendid judge both of
Animalism and the Angel, and I think they composition and execution; and rarely alone, espe-
have counted for something in his evolution, cially on Fridays,, he draws to his painting-room
Before an end is made of the conversation, I much that there is of genius and youth, in
have learned the intricate mechanism, the dis- whatever form expressed, in Liverpool; especially
content with the done, the eagerness about the the great but as yet unknown musician, vocal or
to-do, the sentiment of latent poetry, the sub- instrumental; and if the truth were known, there is
lying symbolism, something uncanny and eerie, many an artist—I use the word in its broadest
90