Studio: international art (13.1898)

Mr. Nico Jungrnanris Drawings

handiwork. But if this is only remotely like a Japan-
ese colour-print, the resemblance is more striking in
one of a crouching figure of an old man playing a
gaily tinted accordion, which will be reproduced
later. As a drawing by Mr.W. H. Bartlett of the same
model, in nearly the same attitude, has been repro-
duced lately in a popular journal, it is well to call
attention to the fact that Mr. Jungmann and Mr.
Bartlett painted in company. Indeed, one of our
illustrations is a very life-like portrait of Mr. Bart-
lett actually at work on a group of these peasants.
This extremely decorative panel, in water-colour on
paper, has much of the quality of fresco painting,
especially in the light which seems to radiate from
its surface. In the reproduction the values are
slightly altered, and the head appears darker than
it should be, whilst the flatness of the original is
lost somewhat. The broad and simple masses of
colour, all in a light key, are separated by black
outlines, at times almost as strong as those
of a stained-glass window (as, for instance,
in the contours of the chief figure), and
again so delicately grey, that their pre-
sence is scarcely suspected except after
close study. It would be difficult to
overpraise the striking and novel effect
of this work.

In another mood are the large studies
of heads, some in monochrome only,
others in vivid broken pigment, where
positive colours are laid on with such
skill that they sparkle harmoniously side
by side, their pure scarlets, vivid greens,
and rich purples blending together. The
faces themselves are remarkably well
observed. They seem veritable charts of
the wayfarer's life depicted by the hand
of time. Every line, every wrinkle helps
to add a new fact to the character of
these naive records of old age. The head
in full face, surmounted by a sailor's cap
(page 32), will give a good idea of the naive
manner of Mr. Jungmann's portraiture.

Many pictures of girls and matrons in
their white native headgear reveal as great
a sense of beauty as those done from old
sailors reveal a sense of character. The
winged cap, so transparent that in a side
view the face is partly visible through it,
has seldom been better set down than here.
The sketch for a noble Madonna-like
composition of a mother with a sleeping
child (of which the finished original is in
Brussels) is by my side as these lines arc-

written. It is purely an ideal conception, drawn
from imagination only, yet its drawing leaves few
points open for attack. Afterwards Mr. Jungmann
posed models in the same attitude, and elaborated
his study to that fine finish which he is able
to impart to his work without losing any of the
breadth and large handling that is in the pre-
liminary sketch.

In the absence of the actual pictures to support
the claim here advanced on their behalf, an
attempt to estimate them at their true worth may
sound exaggerated. Yet when in a studio one
afternoon, not long ago, Mr. Jungmann called to
show its occupant a portfolio of his sketches,
the admiration they aroused will not be readily
forgotten by those who were present. One of
the most notable of our younger British artists,
a well-known critic, an Oxford don of European
celebrity as a connoisseur, and several other art-

STUDY BY NH 0 JUNGM

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