Studio: international art (22.1901)

J. M. Swan, A.R.A.

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'thirst" (By permission ofMessrs. Boussod, Valadon £? Co.) by j. m. swan, a.r.a.

life. Here Mr. Swan found himself in a par- induced to forget the ultimate object of his studies,

ticularly congenial atmosphere, for not only did and might dull his creative faculty by dwelling too

his keen love of animals add an extra interest to closely upon pure matters of fact. But from this

his work, but he had also the pleasure of being possibility he was saved by the watchful care of

associated with a master who, despite his own Fremiet himself. Rapid exercises in expression

predilections for a marked and definite style, did were required of him, and he was called upon more

not seek to impose upon his pupils his own dis- than once to embody the things he had learned in

tinctive characteristics. By Fremiet the young some piece of imaginative work that would test his

Englishman was taught not the mannerisms of an power of using his knowledge to ffive strength and

artist who could see nothing beyond the bounds coherence to his invention.

laid down by purely personal limitations, but the However, when he left Paris and returned to

broad rules of practice that would guide him to England to take his place among the artists of our

look at nature with his own eyes, and to use in school, he came with a memory stored to the

interpreting her the peculiar faculties with which utmost with just the right kind of information. He

he was endowed. He received valuable direction had supplemented the actual teaching of Fremiet

that helped him to conserve his energies by avoid- by prolonged study of the works of Barye, and had

ing digressions into experiments that, for all their found in the wonderful productions of that famous

fascination, gave no promise of solid results. In artist an alliance between the formalities of science

this way, at all events, he was kept from the and the fancies of art that he could accept as

temptation to wander into those blind alleys of wholly suited to his own sympathies. He had

knowledge in which many men have been lost for investigated comparative anatomy too, with Gervais

want of courage to return to the starting-point and as his teacher, and had gone to Duval—one of the

begin their journey over again. chief authorities on the subject—to perfect his

It was partly as a result of Fremiet's teaching knowledge of the bones and muscles of the human

that Mr. Swan devoted himself to the careful frame. On all points he was prepared to hold his

anatomical investigations with which he occupied own. He had nothing to fear in the way of com-

a large part of his time during his stay in Paris and petition, and he knew that he had justified his

during the earlier years of his subsequent life in confidence in his power to profit by the advantages

England. From the example and precepts of his which were offered to him in the French schools,
master he realised the vital importance of accurate Yet, when he settled in London, he did not

study of structure and of the underlying forms by immediately launch out into great activity either as

which the surface modelling, both in human figures a painter or a sculptor. He continued, indeed, for

and in animals, is determined. This realisation a while to add to his experiences by further

accorded so well with his own instinctive desire for anatomical work in London hospitals, and he

analysis and scientific inquiry, that he needed little availed himself fully of the chances that were

persuasion to induce him to delve much deeper afforded to him at the Zoological Gardens of

into the technicalities of anatomy than is at all becoming acquainted with the habits in life of the

usual with even the most enthusiastic students of animals whose construction he had learned bone

art. There was, indeed, some danger at first that by bone and muscle by muscle. The Gardens

he might, by the very elaboration of his science, be became, as it were, his studio, where a succession

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