DOI issue:
No.127 (October, 1903)
DOI article:Veer, Lenore van der: The London sketch club and its members
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19880#0046
The London Sketch Club
many questions as to the why and wherefor, and tion as Englishmen. A limited number of lay mem-
if nothing available is in sight that member gets bers are admitted, and they are gathered from the
no peace until he has done his duty by the club. brother arts—literary men, musicians and actors
This does not happen often, it may be added, for mostly, though a few are just good fellows with no
the men are very particular bent or vocation. The privileges enjoyed
loyal; and then, too, by a lay member are the right to saunter in at
they are not averse " show-up time," to make themselves agreeable at
from selling their supper, and to join the festivities of the bi-annual
sketches, and the ex- conversazione. The presence of the feminine
hibitions are noted element is at all times tabooed—not even wives or
as the most success- sweethearts are ever given a glimpse into the jollity
ful of their kind in of this gayest of all Bohemian clubs, and if you
this particular direc- question a member on the point, he replies naively
tion. that there is not a hall in London large enough
Each member is to accommodate the numbers they should feel
allowed to send in obliged to ask, so they refrain from inviting any
four pictures, which lest they offend the multitude. Personally, I have
are submitted to a a very good-sized doubt as to the absolute candour
hanging committee ; of this excuse,
the works may be
time-sketches or fully-
worked-out pictures
whichever the artist
prefers, the only re-
' starr wood captains the
club on board a dutch tramp"
by thorpe
strictions being as to size, which
must not exceed 18 by 24 inches.
The restriction gives a most
delightful sense of delicacy
and daintiness to the walls.
To become a member of the
club a man must be proposed
by a member and his work
submitted to the council, and
foreign artists are treated with
the same courtesy and considera- "an interview with the artist" by lawson wood
29
many questions as to the why and wherefor, and tion as Englishmen. A limited number of lay mem-
if nothing available is in sight that member gets bers are admitted, and they are gathered from the
no peace until he has done his duty by the club. brother arts—literary men, musicians and actors
This does not happen often, it may be added, for mostly, though a few are just good fellows with no
the men are very particular bent or vocation. The privileges enjoyed
loyal; and then, too, by a lay member are the right to saunter in at
they are not averse " show-up time," to make themselves agreeable at
from selling their supper, and to join the festivities of the bi-annual
sketches, and the ex- conversazione. The presence of the feminine
hibitions are noted element is at all times tabooed—not even wives or
as the most success- sweethearts are ever given a glimpse into the jollity
ful of their kind in of this gayest of all Bohemian clubs, and if you
this particular direc- question a member on the point, he replies naively
tion. that there is not a hall in London large enough
Each member is to accommodate the numbers they should feel
allowed to send in obliged to ask, so they refrain from inviting any
four pictures, which lest they offend the multitude. Personally, I have
are submitted to a a very good-sized doubt as to the absolute candour
hanging committee ; of this excuse,
the works may be
time-sketches or fully-
worked-out pictures
whichever the artist
prefers, the only re-
' starr wood captains the
club on board a dutch tramp"
by thorpe
strictions being as to size, which
must not exceed 18 by 24 inches.
The restriction gives a most
delightful sense of delicacy
and daintiness to the walls.
To become a member of the
club a man must be proposed
by a member and his work
submitted to the council, and
foreign artists are treated with
the same courtesy and considera- "an interview with the artist" by lawson wood
29