DOI Heft:
Nr. 119 (February 1903)
DOI Artikel:A young sculptor: Mr. Reginald F. Wells and his rustic art
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19878#0030
A Young Sculptor
How often have such
words been spoken to the
really able students whom
the London schools have
turned out from time to
time ! And how disastrous
the results have been in
most cases ! It would be
invidious to bring forward
examples, but many young
men of great ability, fresh
from the schools, have been
encouraged by rash flattery
and bad advice to give
up serious and thorough
work for years, merely in
order that they might
repeat the same tiresome
facility in clever sketches
full of faults. There is
a manner of sketching
which may be described
"the storm cloud" from the pastel by frank brangwyn as the "Behold, I-have-
arrived manner " ; and
those who encourage it in
judges as a sculptor of original enterprise and merit, the young have much to answer for, as it breeds
who is winning for himself a position among the first- habits of carelessness and vices of style which are
rate makers of statuettes. Modest, patient, deter-
mined, thorough and self-reliant, he has won his good
start fairly; and as he is living in the country, alone
with his favourite subjects, he has a fair chance of de-
veloping his gifts without the least hindrance from the
many dangers which, in great cities, besetyoung artists.
Among those dangers there is one that Mr. Wells
would certainly have met with had he remained in
London : he would have been " taken up" by
some clique of impulsive young painters and
sculptors, and for a time he would have been the
wonder and the pet of an admiring little coterie.
All the superlatives of praise would have been
lavished on even his slightest efforts, and it is
probable that he would have been encouraged to
shrink away from the frequent mishaps which
attend the translation of clever sketches into com-
pleted works of art. " Stick to your modelled
sketches, my boy," his admirers would probably
have said to him. " It is in such virile studies as
you make that a man's personality shows itself to
the greatest advantage. Do not mind what the
outside fools say to you about a more refined
vigour of treatment and greater ' finish.' Greater
1 finish ' might make you more popular in bourgeois
circles, but it would stand against you among the apt to settle into permanence. Yet, somehow,
few that know." there are groups of artists who are always ready to
a baby by reginald f. wells
(By permission of Mr. E. Van Wisselingh)
How often have such
words been spoken to the
really able students whom
the London schools have
turned out from time to
time ! And how disastrous
the results have been in
most cases ! It would be
invidious to bring forward
examples, but many young
men of great ability, fresh
from the schools, have been
encouraged by rash flattery
and bad advice to give
up serious and thorough
work for years, merely in
order that they might
repeat the same tiresome
facility in clever sketches
full of faults. There is
a manner of sketching
which may be described
"the storm cloud" from the pastel by frank brangwyn as the "Behold, I-have-
arrived manner " ; and
those who encourage it in
judges as a sculptor of original enterprise and merit, the young have much to answer for, as it breeds
who is winning for himself a position among the first- habits of carelessness and vices of style which are
rate makers of statuettes. Modest, patient, deter-
mined, thorough and self-reliant, he has won his good
start fairly; and as he is living in the country, alone
with his favourite subjects, he has a fair chance of de-
veloping his gifts without the least hindrance from the
many dangers which, in great cities, besetyoung artists.
Among those dangers there is one that Mr. Wells
would certainly have met with had he remained in
London : he would have been " taken up" by
some clique of impulsive young painters and
sculptors, and for a time he would have been the
wonder and the pet of an admiring little coterie.
All the superlatives of praise would have been
lavished on even his slightest efforts, and it is
probable that he would have been encouraged to
shrink away from the frequent mishaps which
attend the translation of clever sketches into com-
pleted works of art. " Stick to your modelled
sketches, my boy," his admirers would probably
have said to him. " It is in such virile studies as
you make that a man's personality shows itself to
the greatest advantage. Do not mind what the
outside fools say to you about a more refined
vigour of treatment and greater ' finish.' Greater
1 finish ' might make you more popular in bourgeois
circles, but it would stand against you among the apt to settle into permanence. Yet, somehow,
few that know." there are groups of artists who are always ready to
a baby by reginald f. wells
(By permission of Mr. E. Van Wisselingh)