Studio: international art (10.1897)

The Work of Byam Shaw

Church blessing the pair before they set out on the
voyage together. In another, the man, holding out
his hand to a drowning comrade, while the woman
keeps the boat steady. In another, the Lovers
floating quietly in the haven, which is Heaven,
welcomed by spirits of departed friends who have
awaited their coming. Another shows the Lover
watching his beloved during illness, with Christ
sitting by his side and holding his hand (this sub-
ject being the theme of The Comforter, Mr. Byam
Shaw's latest painting this year). In yet another
the wife is seen nursing her child, the while the
husband harnesses Pegasus to his plough. And in
one more, the man and woman are before the
Judge, who forgives the man because of her prayers.
Throughout, the idea has been to show that the
woman takes no part in the anxiety of the moment,
trusting herself entirely to the man, on whom she
has bestowed all her Love. The actual incident of
the painting, whence its title, is intended to depict
a moment of doubt and anxiety, when the future
that looms ahead is full of dread.

But, although all this subsidiary allegory com-
ments as it were on the central theme, it does not
intrude itself on a spectator's notice. From the
many studies—some of which are here reproduced
—one can see that it is a theme which Mr. Byam
Shaw took most seriously, and for which he grudged
no effort. Of course it is quite open to agree with
them who say painting and literature are distinct
forms of expression. Yet the painted parable has
always been dear to the Anglo-Saxon, and if it be
well painted there seems no reason why we should
not enjoy it. It is quite possible to appreciate
works of art conceived from entirely contradictory
principles. But it is folly to declare that either one
is the only way. There are bests and bests so many;
and granted that anything is the best of its sort,
and that the sort is not unworthy, it is needless to
limit one's pleasure by declining to enjoy all the
bests, except the particular one that chances to
appeal to your own temperament most directly.

Space forbids even bare mention of the black-
and-white work, by which Mr. Byam Shaw seems
destined to make a notable reputation. An early
drawing, Death and the Maiden, and the very
graceful book plate, here reproduced, prepared one
for the delicacy and charming intention of his later
work in pure pen drawing. In these drawings are
observable singular facility of invention, and a dis-
tinct avoidance of the orthodox grouping which in
the work of weaker members of the decorative
school has become so hackneyed. But in classing
Mr. Byam Shaw with decorative illustrators, it

must not be supposed that he relies on the thick line
of early woodcuts. This method is far more akin
to that of Mr. Howard Pyle of The Wonder Clock.
He is likely to be recognised before long as one of
our foremost illustrators of ideal and imaginative
themes. A book which is to be published in the
autumn bids fair to fully support this assertion.
A joyous use of riotous but never discordant
colour is the common characteristic in his paint-
ings, or rather a quality common to the purely
fanciful subjects. In Jlfrs. John Shaw a very
dignified scheme of most sober hue is employed,
and in The Comforter, a certain unconventional
scheme of colour enforces the unconventional
setting by which the painter paints the sometimes
forgotten fact—that the Christ is the comforter
not of the poor only but also of the rich. Whether
applause or hostile criticism will eventually pre-
dominate with regard to this picture remains to be
seen, but at any rate it cannot be denied that in it
a great theme is simply and reverently handled.
Another picture—Love's Bauble—full of gaiety and
vivid colour, shows the painter true to the mood
which evolved The Queen of Hearts, a very charm-
ing composition, here illustrated, which has not yet
been exhibited in London. This, a brilliant pattern
in red and white, is typical of Mr. Shaw's daring use
of pure pigment; unluckily its balance of colour
cannot be expressed in black-and-white; but that
it is in the picture, those who saw it in certain
provincial galleries will readily affirm. Experiments
in technique only—taking little thought of the
subject—do not seem to appeal to him so much
as intense effort to express his theme clearly, the
while he embroiders it with pleasant conceits and
not too abstruse symbolism. But in portraiture
these are set aside and the interest is centred
entirely on the sitter, with no distracting details
of accessories or of legerdemain in brush-work.

Mr. Byam Shaw is loyal in praise of his first
master, Mr. J. A. Nister, by whose introduction he
had the pleasure of receiving warm encouragement
from Sir John Millais. He has since been evidently
a disciple of Mr. Waterhouse, no less than of
Rossetti, yet he has already shown distinctly in-
dividual expression ; and with youth and energy on
his side, his career holds great promise, which the
record of his past helps to strengthen. For at his
age, to have done so much so well inspires one
with a belief that he will do still better in the
near future ; of none of his contemporaries would
one be justified in forecasting a more brilliant
career.

Gleeson White.
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