DOI Heft:
No. 59 (February, 1898)
DOI Artikel:Baldry, Alfred Lys: The work of E. Borough Johnson
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18391#0021
The IVoi'k of E. Borough Johnson
which rarely failed to find purchasers as they ap- tricks of execution, and uses no devices designed to
peared upon the walls of the various exhibitions in conceal, under an affectation of mastery, actual
'London and the provinces. More recently he has want of study of necessary details. The: charac
moved again from Bushey to a studio in Chelsea; teristic of his executive style is its precision, an
and has added to his artistic responsibilities by exactness of statement which is partly the outcome
undertaking the duties of art professor at Bedford of his early training and partly an expression of his
College. By these varieties of experience he has inclination towards close observation of form rather
made himself secure against the danger of becoming, than colour. He learns thoroughly every detail of
by the want of material for proper comparison, his subject before he attempts to put it into pic-
limited in his views or narrow in his judgment of torial shape; and although in the actual painting
art ; and he has given himself the mental training he by no means relaxes his attention to facts, and
which is most likely to help him in developing works always with the model before him, he makes
those branches of his capacity that promise to lead beforehand a large number of careful studies from
him to the best results. life. He prepares himself, in fact, for his labour on
In his technical methods he is equally free from the picture by mastering in preliminary drawings
any inclination to be stereotyped. He affects no everything which he feels is likely to give him cause
for thought; and he
trusts to no happy acci-
dents to save him from
difficulties which he
knows can be minimised
by judicious precautions.
His whole process is a
deliberate one, exacting
enough in its demands
upon his time and energy,
but the only manner of
work which is possible to
him, because by it alone
can he gain the complete-
ness of realism which is
the motive and special
aim of his art. In his
choice of a medium he
is habitually catholic.
His more important pic-
tures have necessarily
been oil paintings, but he
works largely in water-
colours as well, and is an
etcher of no mean skill.
As a black - and - white
draughtsman he has
especial power, and he
has gained, with work
done at various times for
The Graphic, The Picto-
rial florid, and Black
and White, a position of
some prominence as an
illustrator. The excep-
tional ability of his pencil
drawings has been before
PORTRAIT OF MISS MARGARET DOCKERILL BY K. BOROUGH JOHNSON reCOglHSed 111 these pagCS,
8
which rarely failed to find purchasers as they ap- tricks of execution, and uses no devices designed to
peared upon the walls of the various exhibitions in conceal, under an affectation of mastery, actual
'London and the provinces. More recently he has want of study of necessary details. The: charac
moved again from Bushey to a studio in Chelsea; teristic of his executive style is its precision, an
and has added to his artistic responsibilities by exactness of statement which is partly the outcome
undertaking the duties of art professor at Bedford of his early training and partly an expression of his
College. By these varieties of experience he has inclination towards close observation of form rather
made himself secure against the danger of becoming, than colour. He learns thoroughly every detail of
by the want of material for proper comparison, his subject before he attempts to put it into pic-
limited in his views or narrow in his judgment of torial shape; and although in the actual painting
art ; and he has given himself the mental training he by no means relaxes his attention to facts, and
which is most likely to help him in developing works always with the model before him, he makes
those branches of his capacity that promise to lead beforehand a large number of careful studies from
him to the best results. life. He prepares himself, in fact, for his labour on
In his technical methods he is equally free from the picture by mastering in preliminary drawings
any inclination to be stereotyped. He affects no everything which he feels is likely to give him cause
for thought; and he
trusts to no happy acci-
dents to save him from
difficulties which he
knows can be minimised
by judicious precautions.
His whole process is a
deliberate one, exacting
enough in its demands
upon his time and energy,
but the only manner of
work which is possible to
him, because by it alone
can he gain the complete-
ness of realism which is
the motive and special
aim of his art. In his
choice of a medium he
is habitually catholic.
His more important pic-
tures have necessarily
been oil paintings, but he
works largely in water-
colours as well, and is an
etcher of no mean skill.
As a black - and - white
draughtsman he has
especial power, and he
has gained, with work
done at various times for
The Graphic, The Picto-
rial florid, and Black
and White, a position of
some prominence as an
illustrator. The excep-
tional ability of his pencil
drawings has been before
PORTRAIT OF MISS MARGARET DOCKERILL BY K. BOROUGH JOHNSON reCOglHSed 111 these pagCS,
8