DOI Heft:
No.127 (October, 1903)
DOI Artikel:Veer, Lenore van der: The London sketch club and its members
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19880#0049
The London Sketch Club
holding the office of first president from r8g8 methods, and show what can be done in the way
to 1902. of expressive and interesting art practice by men
On the opening night the suggestive titles A who have in mind one common purpose. The
Fair Prospect and A Good Omen were chosen for ordinary picture intended to catch the public fancy,
the launching of the first London Sketch Club is seldom to be found on the walls of the Club
work, titles which have not rung false, for as exhibitions, but even the most simple and unpre-
exhibition follows exhibition there is seen a tentious little canvas has its story to tell, and tells
steady advance upward in the quality of work it in the very best language at its command,
displayed, work which speaks well for the sin- Perhaps no other sketch club in the world is
cere attempts of capable artists to do themselves made up of such a strange medley of the serious
and their club justice. These exhibitions are pos- and the humorous, the excessively dignified and
sessed of far greater interest than that which the uproariously funny brushes of talent. On the
belongs to the ordinary picture show, for they members' list one comes upon the name of an
represent a composite purpose, a strong united Academician, one which calls to mind all the
effort of men who understand exactly how to make old-time art of the academic school from a
their pictorial points without hesitation or inde- bygone time, and side by side with it comes a
cision between possible courses, and the results are name known to all of us through the owner's con-
gained from a concentration of well-defined tributions to various popular humorous weeklies.
Then another name, made
familiar through pictures of
angry seas and terrible ship-
wrecks, and farther down the list
is the man who convulses one
with laughter over his studies
of prehistoric days. Then comes
^ the best-known sporting artist
and the names found scattered
through the pages of the latest
■ifiM^^ mustrated novels, and further
on we meet the man who does
, ''^^^jBB^n^^ 1 portrait gems in water-colour.
♦^^t'^mjJ^^B^SK^) carlcatures himself so
j^T ^BRj |. relentlessly, and the clever artist
^^^'w^f^1 whose studies of mongrel doi^s
I little lower down one meets the
§*5Li|) painter of skies that make you
S ~WmM feel the tender mystery of fading
lllS day, and on whose canvas
** HBr ' you have looked with misty
eyes, so subtly has he brought
home to you some half-forgotten
"sjpp.. • -. memory.
To this very admixture of talents
IjSHgtajgpP*^'' and temperaments so adversely
constituted, and yet so wholly
and interestingly in harmony
with the same working intent, the
London Sketch Club owes its
unique position in the art world
of to-day. It is always the un-
' 1 would i were a bird " by lawson wood expected that catches our fancy
32
holding the office of first president from r8g8 methods, and show what can be done in the way
to 1902. of expressive and interesting art practice by men
On the opening night the suggestive titles A who have in mind one common purpose. The
Fair Prospect and A Good Omen were chosen for ordinary picture intended to catch the public fancy,
the launching of the first London Sketch Club is seldom to be found on the walls of the Club
work, titles which have not rung false, for as exhibitions, but even the most simple and unpre-
exhibition follows exhibition there is seen a tentious little canvas has its story to tell, and tells
steady advance upward in the quality of work it in the very best language at its command,
displayed, work which speaks well for the sin- Perhaps no other sketch club in the world is
cere attempts of capable artists to do themselves made up of such a strange medley of the serious
and their club justice. These exhibitions are pos- and the humorous, the excessively dignified and
sessed of far greater interest than that which the uproariously funny brushes of talent. On the
belongs to the ordinary picture show, for they members' list one comes upon the name of an
represent a composite purpose, a strong united Academician, one which calls to mind all the
effort of men who understand exactly how to make old-time art of the academic school from a
their pictorial points without hesitation or inde- bygone time, and side by side with it comes a
cision between possible courses, and the results are name known to all of us through the owner's con-
gained from a concentration of well-defined tributions to various popular humorous weeklies.
Then another name, made
familiar through pictures of
angry seas and terrible ship-
wrecks, and farther down the list
is the man who convulses one
with laughter over his studies
of prehistoric days. Then comes
^ the best-known sporting artist
and the names found scattered
through the pages of the latest
■ifiM^^ mustrated novels, and further
on we meet the man who does
, ''^^^jBB^n^^ 1 portrait gems in water-colour.
♦^^t'^mjJ^^B^SK^) carlcatures himself so
j^T ^BRj |. relentlessly, and the clever artist
^^^'w^f^1 whose studies of mongrel doi^s
I little lower down one meets the
§*5Li|) painter of skies that make you
S ~WmM feel the tender mystery of fading
lllS day, and on whose canvas
** HBr ' you have looked with misty
eyes, so subtly has he brought
home to you some half-forgotten
"sjpp.. • -. memory.
To this very admixture of talents
IjSHgtajgpP*^'' and temperaments so adversely
constituted, and yet so wholly
and interestingly in harmony
with the same working intent, the
London Sketch Club owes its
unique position in the art world
of to-day. It is always the un-
' 1 would i were a bird " by lawson wood expected that catches our fancy
32