DOI Heft:
No. 80 (November, 1899)
DOI Artikel:Baldry, Alfred Lys: Artists' treasures, [1]: Mr. E. A. Waterlow's collection
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19783#0109
A rtists Treasures
ARTISTS' TREASURES. No. I. that allows no change 01 direction. Others range
_Mr jr a WATER LOW'S over a w^er field, striving to summarise the art of
COLLECTION BY A L many schools and caring little for congruity of idea
BALDRY S° ^°n^aS °an ^>oast °^^e Possess'on °f works
by artists of note and popularity. A few only make
Among all the pursuits of the modern their collecting a reflection of a true aesthetic belief,
man there is none which reveals so plainly his and steer a middle course between specialism and
individual preferences and personal taste as his incoherence. They are guided by personal taste, by
ambition to surround himself with artistic objects, a desire to possess those things that have artistic
The desire to possess works of art is almost uni- excellence of a rare type; and they set more store
versal. In some form or other it influences every by beauty of result in the works they choose
civilised being, and to a greater or less degree it than by the fact that these works illustrate the
governs all classes of society. But at the same time achievement of famous craftsmen,
the manner in which it is expressed varies surpris- Of this last class of collectors perhaps the best
ingly. Some men collect on a regular system, and instances are to be found among artists themselves,
aim at something like a complete representation of Many of the men who follow art as a profession
one particular class of art effort. Their choice is take a keen pleasure in the acquisition of the pro-
subject to almost scientific rules, carefully limited, ductions of their fellow-workers, and are enthusias-
and narrowed by a rigid specialism into a groove tically interested in every kind of art that expresses
ARTISTS' TREASURES. No. I. that allows no change 01 direction. Others range
_Mr jr a WATER LOW'S over a w^er field, striving to summarise the art of
COLLECTION BY A L many schools and caring little for congruity of idea
BALDRY S° ^°n^aS °an ^>oast °^^e Possess'on °f works
by artists of note and popularity. A few only make
Among all the pursuits of the modern their collecting a reflection of a true aesthetic belief,
man there is none which reveals so plainly his and steer a middle course between specialism and
individual preferences and personal taste as his incoherence. They are guided by personal taste, by
ambition to surround himself with artistic objects, a desire to possess those things that have artistic
The desire to possess works of art is almost uni- excellence of a rare type; and they set more store
versal. In some form or other it influences every by beauty of result in the works they choose
civilised being, and to a greater or less degree it than by the fact that these works illustrate the
governs all classes of society. But at the same time achievement of famous craftsmen,
the manner in which it is expressed varies surpris- Of this last class of collectors perhaps the best
ingly. Some men collect on a regular system, and instances are to be found among artists themselves,
aim at something like a complete representation of Many of the men who follow art as a profession
one particular class of art effort. Their choice is take a keen pleasure in the acquisition of the pro-
subject to almost scientific rules, carefully limited, ductions of their fellow-workers, and are enthusias-
and narrowed by a rigid specialism into a groove tically interested in every kind of art that expresses