DOI Heft:
No. 74 (May 1899)
DOI Artikel:Some pictures by Byam Shaw
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19231#0283
Some Pictures by Byam Shaw
career but failed in after life to maintain his
standard, is entirely beside the mark. He is
honestly and obviously important now simply
because his canvases have greater merits than the
majority of those which are being produced by the
other members of his profession, and because he
has original ideas which he knows how to express
with rare intelligence and far more than ordinary
invention. The opportunities he has given us of
realising the significance of his point of view have
necessarily been comparatively few, for he has not
during the brief period of his practice as an ex-
hibiting painter had time to complete more than
a limited number of large canvases; and these
have been shown singly in various galleries, so that
there has been no chance of studying them in
instructive juxtaposition. Each one has been so
attractive that it has added to the popular anxiety
to know more of the artist, and to see in what
manner his development is likely to progress ; but
year by year, as new works have issued from his
studio, his previous successes have remained in
the public mind simply as memories, pleasant
enough, but not exactly detailed.
Therefore there is a particular advantage in the
exhibition of a series of his smaller paintings which
has been arranged at Messrs. Dowdeswell's gallery.
For the first time it is possible to see several
examples of Mr. Byam Shaw's work hung together,
and to judge by actual comparison of a number of
his productions how far his imagination will carry
him in the treatment of a variety of subjects. The
one-man show is a very severe test for a young
painter, and is calculated to reveal with a certain
brutal frankness any weak points there may be in
his artistic equipment. Mannerism in technique,
want of experience in executive devices, poverty
of thought, or inadequacy of purpose cannot be
concealed if they happen to be among his de-
ficiencies, and if he has given freer rein to his
A Woman's Protest (clough) [By permission of Afessrs. Dowdeswell & Dowdeswell)
260
by byam shaw
career but failed in after life to maintain his
standard, is entirely beside the mark. He is
honestly and obviously important now simply
because his canvases have greater merits than the
majority of those which are being produced by the
other members of his profession, and because he
has original ideas which he knows how to express
with rare intelligence and far more than ordinary
invention. The opportunities he has given us of
realising the significance of his point of view have
necessarily been comparatively few, for he has not
during the brief period of his practice as an ex-
hibiting painter had time to complete more than
a limited number of large canvases; and these
have been shown singly in various galleries, so that
there has been no chance of studying them in
instructive juxtaposition. Each one has been so
attractive that it has added to the popular anxiety
to know more of the artist, and to see in what
manner his development is likely to progress ; but
year by year, as new works have issued from his
studio, his previous successes have remained in
the public mind simply as memories, pleasant
enough, but not exactly detailed.
Therefore there is a particular advantage in the
exhibition of a series of his smaller paintings which
has been arranged at Messrs. Dowdeswell's gallery.
For the first time it is possible to see several
examples of Mr. Byam Shaw's work hung together,
and to judge by actual comparison of a number of
his productions how far his imagination will carry
him in the treatment of a variety of subjects. The
one-man show is a very severe test for a young
painter, and is calculated to reveal with a certain
brutal frankness any weak points there may be in
his artistic equipment. Mannerism in technique,
want of experience in executive devices, poverty
of thought, or inadequacy of purpose cannot be
concealed if they happen to be among his de-
ficiencies, and if he has given freer rein to his
A Woman's Protest (clough) [By permission of Afessrs. Dowdeswell & Dowdeswell)
260
by byam shaw