DOI Heft:
No. 73 (April 1899)
DOI Artikel:Baldry, Alfred Lys: Some sketches by Alfred Parsons, A.R.A.
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19231#0170
Some Sketches by Alfred Parsons, A.R.A.
skill in any of these methods of statement to rust
since for want of use. As a contributor to British
and American magazines he is widely popular ; he
is now an Associate of the Royal Water-Colour
Society, to which he has just been elected after
many years' membership of the Royal Institute;
and he has, on the strength of his claim to recog-
nition as a painter of important canvases, been
chosen as an Associate of the Royal Academy.
All this is valuable testimony to the thoroughness
of his preparation for the profession he follows so
successfully, and proves with what acuteness he
estimated from the first his chances of acceptance.
He has justified himself fully and completely, and
may well feel satisfied not only with his decision to
work out his own destiny, but also with his dis-
cretion in choosing the right manner to train him-
self without dependence upon any assistance from
schools or professors.
His method of working is one that he has tested
by endless comparisons, and has proved to be
suited to his purposes. It involves a considerable
amount of preparation, for his pictures are not now
painted on the spot or out of doors, but are com-
posed from sketches and studies. The subject is
selected and set down in a vivid sketch, or even a
series of sketches under different effects, and
minute and detailed studies are afterwards made
of the salient features simply as working drawings.
The finished work is then carried out in the studio
156
by the help of the material collected. In this way
the first impression received directly from nature
is retained, and none of those involuntary changes
of conviction, which are apt to occur when an
artist spends a long period in out-of-door work
upon a large picture, are possible. It follows that
Mr. Parsons puts into his sketches the plainest
avowal of his artistic belief: not only must they be
direct inspirations, suggestions frankly accepted
from Nature, and significant especially as records
of her subtleties, but they must summarise all that
is to give meaning and vitality to a large picture.
They must contain, within their limitations of
scale and brevities of expression, a very clear
meaning and a very adequate amount of informa-
tion. But it is exactly because they have these
qualities that his slighter efforts are so interesting.
They explain his motives and assert the principles
of his art; and they reveal indisputably the acute-
ness of his judgment. Wherever he may sit down
to work, whether in America, Japan, the Riviera,
or in the rural districts of the British Isles, he
gives us emphatically the character of the scene
before him, and preserves its distinctive and par-
ticular charm ; and whatever may be the medium
he is using he never fails to retain the true spirit
of his subject. He is a landscape painter of the
best type, but he has certainly gained his rank in
the art world by virtue of his ability to sketch in
the right way.
skill in any of these methods of statement to rust
since for want of use. As a contributor to British
and American magazines he is widely popular ; he
is now an Associate of the Royal Water-Colour
Society, to which he has just been elected after
many years' membership of the Royal Institute;
and he has, on the strength of his claim to recog-
nition as a painter of important canvases, been
chosen as an Associate of the Royal Academy.
All this is valuable testimony to the thoroughness
of his preparation for the profession he follows so
successfully, and proves with what acuteness he
estimated from the first his chances of acceptance.
He has justified himself fully and completely, and
may well feel satisfied not only with his decision to
work out his own destiny, but also with his dis-
cretion in choosing the right manner to train him-
self without dependence upon any assistance from
schools or professors.
His method of working is one that he has tested
by endless comparisons, and has proved to be
suited to his purposes. It involves a considerable
amount of preparation, for his pictures are not now
painted on the spot or out of doors, but are com-
posed from sketches and studies. The subject is
selected and set down in a vivid sketch, or even a
series of sketches under different effects, and
minute and detailed studies are afterwards made
of the salient features simply as working drawings.
The finished work is then carried out in the studio
156
by the help of the material collected. In this way
the first impression received directly from nature
is retained, and none of those involuntary changes
of conviction, which are apt to occur when an
artist spends a long period in out-of-door work
upon a large picture, are possible. It follows that
Mr. Parsons puts into his sketches the plainest
avowal of his artistic belief: not only must they be
direct inspirations, suggestions frankly accepted
from Nature, and significant especially as records
of her subtleties, but they must summarise all that
is to give meaning and vitality to a large picture.
They must contain, within their limitations of
scale and brevities of expression, a very clear
meaning and a very adequate amount of informa-
tion. But it is exactly because they have these
qualities that his slighter efforts are so interesting.
They explain his motives and assert the principles
of his art; and they reveal indisputably the acute-
ness of his judgment. Wherever he may sit down
to work, whether in America, Japan, the Riviera,
or in the rural districts of the British Isles, he
gives us emphatically the character of the scene
before him, and preserves its distinctive and par-
ticular charm ; and whatever may be the medium
he is using he never fails to retain the true spirit
of his subject. He is a landscape painter of the
best type, but he has certainly gained his rank in
the art world by virtue of his ability to sketch in
the right way.