DOI Heft:
No. 59 (February, 1898)
DOI Artikel:S., E. B.: Some drawings by Mr. Nico Jungmann
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18391#0043
Mr. Nico Jungrnantis Drawings
workers, were all equally delighted by their " prettified" in the process—they are memorable,
novelty, their dexterous handling, and their high In them we have the peasant at his work ennobled
decorative value. They are not pictures in the as Jean Francois Millet ennobled him, not by
popular sense for their incident is simple, they meretricious sentiment, not by academic problems
owe nothing to anecdote and little to sentiment; of handicraft, nor by any attempt to impart classic
but as decoration of the best sort a single one elegance such as Fred Walker or George Mason
would add distinction to any room. Like the bestowed on their country folk. In saying this
matchless drawings by Holbein now at Windsor much no reflection is cast on diametrically opposed
Castle, and the masterpieces of Japan, they are methods. Mr. Jungmann sees Nature through his
self-contained works of art. In their own idiom own temperament, he expresses his impression in
they express what Charles Keene expressed in a convention that recalls, as we have said, both the
his way, what Rembrandt set down in etching, or mural fresco and the colour-print. The result
what many another master has said in his own is unlike either, and wholly his own ; but that he
tongue. The frank delight they arouse is not of a has proved that to-day an individual can express old
sort that might attract the average picture lover, truths at once truly and newly can be doubted by
but to those who can appreciate virtuosity with- no unprejudiced person who has studied his work
out affectation—a transcript of life, idealised by at first hand. It is to be hoped that before long
its maker to be a work of art, and in no way the project for a " one man show" devoted to his
work will be carried through.
Then, even the most jaded art
critic will find something novel
awaiting him. There is always a
domestic, straightforward charm
about Dutch art and Dutch handi-
craft which is equally unlike the
elegance of France, the elaborate
sentimentality of Germany and
the anecdotal themes of Great
Britain. Yet its realism is often
turned to pure romance, and what
merely pleased at first is elevated
to something more on better ac-
quaintance. Mr. Jungmann has
found a field of his own, and the
soil under his cultivation has
already yielded a promising crop.
He dreams of greater things, and
will do them. This prophecy is
safe, after an hour's conversation
with him, during which you catch
his point of view, realise his modest
estimate of the work he has done,
and become infected by his be-
lief in the possibilities which he
sees in purely decorative treatment
stripped of conventional formal-
ism, and in an art which can be
employed so cunningly that the
lesser artifice of the chosen treat-
ment can be forgotten, and only
its fidelity to nature accompanied
by sound artistry remembered
permanently.
on THE WALL, VOLLENDAM" PROM A STUDY BY NICO JUNGMANN E. B. S.
3°
workers, were all equally delighted by their " prettified" in the process—they are memorable,
novelty, their dexterous handling, and their high In them we have the peasant at his work ennobled
decorative value. They are not pictures in the as Jean Francois Millet ennobled him, not by
popular sense for their incident is simple, they meretricious sentiment, not by academic problems
owe nothing to anecdote and little to sentiment; of handicraft, nor by any attempt to impart classic
but as decoration of the best sort a single one elegance such as Fred Walker or George Mason
would add distinction to any room. Like the bestowed on their country folk. In saying this
matchless drawings by Holbein now at Windsor much no reflection is cast on diametrically opposed
Castle, and the masterpieces of Japan, they are methods. Mr. Jungmann sees Nature through his
self-contained works of art. In their own idiom own temperament, he expresses his impression in
they express what Charles Keene expressed in a convention that recalls, as we have said, both the
his way, what Rembrandt set down in etching, or mural fresco and the colour-print. The result
what many another master has said in his own is unlike either, and wholly his own ; but that he
tongue. The frank delight they arouse is not of a has proved that to-day an individual can express old
sort that might attract the average picture lover, truths at once truly and newly can be doubted by
but to those who can appreciate virtuosity with- no unprejudiced person who has studied his work
out affectation—a transcript of life, idealised by at first hand. It is to be hoped that before long
its maker to be a work of art, and in no way the project for a " one man show" devoted to his
work will be carried through.
Then, even the most jaded art
critic will find something novel
awaiting him. There is always a
domestic, straightforward charm
about Dutch art and Dutch handi-
craft which is equally unlike the
elegance of France, the elaborate
sentimentality of Germany and
the anecdotal themes of Great
Britain. Yet its realism is often
turned to pure romance, and what
merely pleased at first is elevated
to something more on better ac-
quaintance. Mr. Jungmann has
found a field of his own, and the
soil under his cultivation has
already yielded a promising crop.
He dreams of greater things, and
will do them. This prophecy is
safe, after an hour's conversation
with him, during which you catch
his point of view, realise his modest
estimate of the work he has done,
and become infected by his be-
lief in the possibilities which he
sees in purely decorative treatment
stripped of conventional formal-
ism, and in an art which can be
employed so cunningly that the
lesser artifice of the chosen treat-
ment can be forgotten, and only
its fidelity to nature accompanied
by sound artistry remembered
permanently.
on THE WALL, VOLLENDAM" PROM A STUDY BY NICO JUNGMANN E. B. S.
3°