DOI issue:
Nr. 119 (February 1903)
DOI article:A young sculptor: Mr. Reginald F. Wells and his rustic art
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19878#0032
A Young Sculptor
"A WOOD-CUTTER" BY REGINALD F. WELLS
(By Permission of Mr. E. Van Wisselitigh)
made by repeating their large statues in reduced
copies ; so little are they aware that a statuette is a
separate and distinct form of art, as remarkable in
sculpture as a short story is in literature. Indeed,
when considered in its relation to large statuary, it
is found to have much in common with the essen-
tial difference of aim separating the short story
from the novel. As few good novelists have been
successful in short stories, so few good sculptors
have been equally successful in statuettes and
statues ; and, again, as a fine short story is not an
abridged novel, so a fine statuette is not a statue
reduced in size. The one is a piece of literature,
conceived as a short story and worked out
in perfect accord with that conception; the
other is a piece of sculpture, conceived as
a statuette and carried out as for its own
sake. The statuette is an epigram in sculpture,
and the short story is an epigram in the art of
narration; and notice also that the best subjects
20
in both are usually those which are very striking
in their appeal, for the reason that both are
adaptable to the many excellent subjects which
become aggressive or fatiguing when they occupy
much space. If, for instance, the statuettes by
Mr. Wells were enlarged to twice or thrice their
size, their realism would be excessive in the
enlarged figures, and Mr. Wells would have to
find a method of treatment akin to that of Con-
stantin Meunier, who blends a classic convention
with his strong naturalism. That statuettes
should admit freer displays of realism than are
welcome in large sculpture may seem curious,
but the fact is borne out by. observation and
experience. Mr. Wells has made it a useful fact
in art, producing work that contrasts vigorously
and admirably with the delicate and fanciful
statuettes of other sculptors.
He has faults, no doubt; the essentials of his
art—size, scale, subject, treatment, design—are
not always in perfect unison. There are times
" BABY TRYING TO WALK " BY REGINALD F. WELLS
(By permission of Mr. E. Van Wisselingh.)
"A WOOD-CUTTER" BY REGINALD F. WELLS
(By Permission of Mr. E. Van Wisselitigh)
made by repeating their large statues in reduced
copies ; so little are they aware that a statuette is a
separate and distinct form of art, as remarkable in
sculpture as a short story is in literature. Indeed,
when considered in its relation to large statuary, it
is found to have much in common with the essen-
tial difference of aim separating the short story
from the novel. As few good novelists have been
successful in short stories, so few good sculptors
have been equally successful in statuettes and
statues ; and, again, as a fine short story is not an
abridged novel, so a fine statuette is not a statue
reduced in size. The one is a piece of literature,
conceived as a short story and worked out
in perfect accord with that conception; the
other is a piece of sculpture, conceived as
a statuette and carried out as for its own
sake. The statuette is an epigram in sculpture,
and the short story is an epigram in the art of
narration; and notice also that the best subjects
20
in both are usually those which are very striking
in their appeal, for the reason that both are
adaptable to the many excellent subjects which
become aggressive or fatiguing when they occupy
much space. If, for instance, the statuettes by
Mr. Wells were enlarged to twice or thrice their
size, their realism would be excessive in the
enlarged figures, and Mr. Wells would have to
find a method of treatment akin to that of Con-
stantin Meunier, who blends a classic convention
with his strong naturalism. That statuettes
should admit freer displays of realism than are
welcome in large sculpture may seem curious,
but the fact is borne out by. observation and
experience. Mr. Wells has made it a useful fact
in art, producing work that contrasts vigorously
and admirably with the delicate and fanciful
statuettes of other sculptors.
He has faults, no doubt; the essentials of his
art—size, scale, subject, treatment, design—are
not always in perfect unison. There are times
" BABY TRYING TO WALK " BY REGINALD F. WELLS
(By permission of Mr. E. Van Wisselingh.)