DOI issue:
No. 65 (August, 1898)
DOI article:Wedmore, Frederick: Expressive ''line''
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21969#0205
Expressive Line
Two figures and a pedestal. Mother and child.
I said a dozen lines; but such is the spontaneity,
the continuity, and grace—it would be difficult
to say where each line stops and where each
line begins. The inspiration of the thing is Greek,
of course. But Flaxman was—or seems to be
sometimes—more Greek than the Greeks. The
second drawing is less strictly classical; though
of a classical theme, it is more florid. Its inspira-
tion is from the Renaissance of Italy, albeit it is
an illustration of the days and works of Hesiod.
It is entitled The Good Race, and under Blake’s
engraving of it, in the publication issued in 1817,
the words that are placed are:
‘ ‘ Genial Peace
Dwells in their borders, and their Youth increase.”
Both of the Flaxman drawings are done in Indian
ink, with the pen.
The two drawings by Forain
speak for themselves—full, per-
haps, of the only quality which
that artist displays more con-
stantly than Steinlen : for Stein-
len is a genius as great. The
Japanese drawing also speaks for
itself, and is sure, amongst the
younger people, of a public to
welcome it. My own words
may be reserved for the remain-
ing masters, Rembrandt and
Diirer, giants of whose power
no instructed person can pos-
sibly be doubtful • but giants
still of whom among the younger
school, brought up a little too
exclusively on the dexterity of
the Parisian studio, only one is
popularly recognised as among
the gods of art. For myself, the
more I study Diirer the more
am I uncertain whether in the
last resort it is to him or to Rem-
brandt we are to award the palm.
Both the Diirer and the Rem-
brandt that I have chosen in
illustration of the power of
simple economic line come
from the great collection of
Old Masters’ drawings which
it was the pride of Malcolm
of Poltalloch — the Duke of
Argyll’s great neighbour in Scot-
land, and the father of the first
178
peer—-to accumulate at that house of his abutting
on Park Lane, which has since been dismantled
and destroyed. Diirer’s drawings are, in method,
very various. Amongst them are some of the
first water-colours : amongst them two little draw-
ings in silver-point, serene and equable and firm :
amongst them, too, elaborate detailed studies.
But in illustration of the expressiveness of well-
selected line I could not choose any of these. I
chose instead a rather large scale drawing with
the reed pen—full of masculine imagination and
vigorous handwork. “ Memento mei ” are the
words printed decoratively at the side of it; it is an
early drawing, of 1505, and, in its presentation of
a King of Terrors, mounted, riding, it recalls, or
has some mental relation to, the famous print,
The Ktiight of Death. There it stands, awful,
weird, significant, beyond all praise, the creation
of a genius and a master.
FROM A DRAWING
BY KIOSAI
Two figures and a pedestal. Mother and child.
I said a dozen lines; but such is the spontaneity,
the continuity, and grace—it would be difficult
to say where each line stops and where each
line begins. The inspiration of the thing is Greek,
of course. But Flaxman was—or seems to be
sometimes—more Greek than the Greeks. The
second drawing is less strictly classical; though
of a classical theme, it is more florid. Its inspira-
tion is from the Renaissance of Italy, albeit it is
an illustration of the days and works of Hesiod.
It is entitled The Good Race, and under Blake’s
engraving of it, in the publication issued in 1817,
the words that are placed are:
‘ ‘ Genial Peace
Dwells in their borders, and their Youth increase.”
Both of the Flaxman drawings are done in Indian
ink, with the pen.
The two drawings by Forain
speak for themselves—full, per-
haps, of the only quality which
that artist displays more con-
stantly than Steinlen : for Stein-
len is a genius as great. The
Japanese drawing also speaks for
itself, and is sure, amongst the
younger people, of a public to
welcome it. My own words
may be reserved for the remain-
ing masters, Rembrandt and
Diirer, giants of whose power
no instructed person can pos-
sibly be doubtful • but giants
still of whom among the younger
school, brought up a little too
exclusively on the dexterity of
the Parisian studio, only one is
popularly recognised as among
the gods of art. For myself, the
more I study Diirer the more
am I uncertain whether in the
last resort it is to him or to Rem-
brandt we are to award the palm.
Both the Diirer and the Rem-
brandt that I have chosen in
illustration of the power of
simple economic line come
from the great collection of
Old Masters’ drawings which
it was the pride of Malcolm
of Poltalloch — the Duke of
Argyll’s great neighbour in Scot-
land, and the father of the first
178
peer—-to accumulate at that house of his abutting
on Park Lane, which has since been dismantled
and destroyed. Diirer’s drawings are, in method,
very various. Amongst them are some of the
first water-colours : amongst them two little draw-
ings in silver-point, serene and equable and firm :
amongst them, too, elaborate detailed studies.
But in illustration of the expressiveness of well-
selected line I could not choose any of these. I
chose instead a rather large scale drawing with
the reed pen—full of masculine imagination and
vigorous handwork. “ Memento mei ” are the
words printed decoratively at the side of it; it is an
early drawing, of 1505, and, in its presentation of
a King of Terrors, mounted, riding, it recalls, or
has some mental relation to, the famous print,
The Ktiight of Death. There it stands, awful,
weird, significant, beyond all praise, the creation
of a genius and a master.
FROM A DRAWING
BY KIOSAI