DOI issue:
No. 126 (September, 1903)
DOI article:The life and genius of the late Phil May
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19879#0298
Phil May
like his " Guttersnipes " (London: The Leadenhall charm of his work would have been lost. But
Press), and " Phil May's Annual." For the last ten he was too good an artist to misapprehend the
years he has ranked as one of the chief favourites of right principles of humorous illustration ■ no one
the public, and his wonderful ability has been frankly realised more correctly that brevity is as much an
acknowledged. That he should have lived so short essential of witty drawing as it is of witty speech,
a time to enjoy the prosperity which came at last to and that the humorist who is economical in his
reward him for years of hard apprenticeship is a methods of expression is the most likely to be
matter for general regret. The compensation for understood.
his early struggles seems inadequate—only a long It cannot be denied that the vicissitudes to
and successful career could be considered a suffi- which he was exposed in his boyhood and early
cient recompense for the sacrifices he made in his manhood, though they undermined his health and
younger days to reach the goal at which he aimed, were in some measure the cause of his premature
That he was, in the particular branch of art death, helped considerably to give to his art its
which he followed, a real master can scarcely be characteristic qualities. He knew the life of the
denied. It is usual to compare him with his two streets by heart, and had studied the ways of the
great predecessors, John Leech and Charles Keene, corner loafer, the costermonger, and the gutter
but he really took a line
of his own, and was un-
like them both in the sub-
jects he chose and in his
technical methods. His
art was a spontaneous
growth, owing little to pre-
cedent and based upon his
own experiences in life
rather than study of the
ideas of other men. From
this arises one of its chief
merits; it represents the
sincere conviction of an
eminently original observer
who watched closely the
people with whom he was
brought in contact, and
analysed shrewdly not only
their manners and customs
but their personal peculiari-
ties as well. The humour
in his drawings is never
forced or exaggerated; it
comes naturally from his
genial perception of the
little comedies of modern
existence, and from the
rare gift which he possessed
of suggesting in a few
happy touches the comi-
cality of perfectly possible
situations. If he had
laboured to make his
points, or if he had tried
to embroider his subjects
with an excess of details, ,<A STATSSMAN„ from a sketch by phil may
much of the particular (By permission of fa mes Oi rocky Esq.)
282
\
like his " Guttersnipes " (London: The Leadenhall charm of his work would have been lost. But
Press), and " Phil May's Annual." For the last ten he was too good an artist to misapprehend the
years he has ranked as one of the chief favourites of right principles of humorous illustration ■ no one
the public, and his wonderful ability has been frankly realised more correctly that brevity is as much an
acknowledged. That he should have lived so short essential of witty drawing as it is of witty speech,
a time to enjoy the prosperity which came at last to and that the humorist who is economical in his
reward him for years of hard apprenticeship is a methods of expression is the most likely to be
matter for general regret. The compensation for understood.
his early struggles seems inadequate—only a long It cannot be denied that the vicissitudes to
and successful career could be considered a suffi- which he was exposed in his boyhood and early
cient recompense for the sacrifices he made in his manhood, though they undermined his health and
younger days to reach the goal at which he aimed, were in some measure the cause of his premature
That he was, in the particular branch of art death, helped considerably to give to his art its
which he followed, a real master can scarcely be characteristic qualities. He knew the life of the
denied. It is usual to compare him with his two streets by heart, and had studied the ways of the
great predecessors, John Leech and Charles Keene, corner loafer, the costermonger, and the gutter
but he really took a line
of his own, and was un-
like them both in the sub-
jects he chose and in his
technical methods. His
art was a spontaneous
growth, owing little to pre-
cedent and based upon his
own experiences in life
rather than study of the
ideas of other men. From
this arises one of its chief
merits; it represents the
sincere conviction of an
eminently original observer
who watched closely the
people with whom he was
brought in contact, and
analysed shrewdly not only
their manners and customs
but their personal peculiari-
ties as well. The humour
in his drawings is never
forced or exaggerated; it
comes naturally from his
genial perception of the
little comedies of modern
existence, and from the
rare gift which he possessed
of suggesting in a few
happy touches the comi-
cality of perfectly possible
situations. If he had
laboured to make his
points, or if he had tried
to embroider his subjects
with an excess of details, ,<A STATSSMAN„ from a sketch by phil may
much of the particular (By permission of fa mes Oi rocky Esq.)
282
\