DOI Heft:
No. 130 (January, 1904)
DOI Artikel:West, W. K.: Recent works by Mr. Reynolds-Stephens
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19880#0312
Recent JVorks by JV. Reynolds-Stephens
particularly a claim to the attention of all people
who take an intelligent view of the a;sthetic ques-
tions is his undeniable fitness to be counted as a
kind of forerunner of a school which will, in times,
near at hand, play a very important part in the art
life of this country. He shows in his practice the
tendency towards a combination of many forms of
accomplishment which will, as it develops, change
many of our most cherished traditions, and cause a
considerable rearrangement of our views about the
mission of the artist. Possibly he has come a little
too soon for the significance of his position to be
fully appreciated; and yet against any such idea
must be set the evidence of his professional success.
He has a public, undoubtedly, and whether it is
large or small is a matter of comparatively little
moment. It is large enough to provide him, as an
individual worker, with ample opportunities to
express his artistic creed properly and intelligibly,
and to keep him busy in the production of works
which are stamped with the mark of his personality.
At least there is no need to speak of him as a
man who, intending to take one direction, has
been forced into another by the perverse mis-
understanding of the people to whom he appeals.
Unlike many of his predecessors who have
attempted to be pioneers, he has not had to
confess himself beaten by the stolid indifference
of patrons who ought to have, but have not,
realised the meaning of his art. Here and there
he has found men who are as advanced in taste
as he is in achievement, and by them he has been
encouraged to follow his bent steadily and with
reasonable confidence in its correctness. And
the direction in which he inclines by preference
is the one which the majority of artists will have
compulsorily to choose in the immediate future.
At this moment we are in the midst of a transition.
The painter pure and simple has lost his public;
the sculptor who wishes to confine himself to
ideal abstractions finds few sympathisers; but the
worker who has a practical knowledge of many
technical devices, who can command attention
equally as a designer and craftsman, and can
forget the old delusion that it is a condescension
on the part of an artist to have any dealings with
decoration, is coming steadily into prominence.
Decidedly Mr. Reynolds-Stephens would be the
particularly a claim to the attention of all people
who take an intelligent view of the a;sthetic ques-
tions is his undeniable fitness to be counted as a
kind of forerunner of a school which will, in times,
near at hand, play a very important part in the art
life of this country. He shows in his practice the
tendency towards a combination of many forms of
accomplishment which will, as it develops, change
many of our most cherished traditions, and cause a
considerable rearrangement of our views about the
mission of the artist. Possibly he has come a little
too soon for the significance of his position to be
fully appreciated; and yet against any such idea
must be set the evidence of his professional success.
He has a public, undoubtedly, and whether it is
large or small is a matter of comparatively little
moment. It is large enough to provide him, as an
individual worker, with ample opportunities to
express his artistic creed properly and intelligibly,
and to keep him busy in the production of works
which are stamped with the mark of his personality.
At least there is no need to speak of him as a
man who, intending to take one direction, has
been forced into another by the perverse mis-
understanding of the people to whom he appeals.
Unlike many of his predecessors who have
attempted to be pioneers, he has not had to
confess himself beaten by the stolid indifference
of patrons who ought to have, but have not,
realised the meaning of his art. Here and there
he has found men who are as advanced in taste
as he is in achievement, and by them he has been
encouraged to follow his bent steadily and with
reasonable confidence in its correctness. And
the direction in which he inclines by preference
is the one which the majority of artists will have
compulsorily to choose in the immediate future.
At this moment we are in the midst of a transition.
The painter pure and simple has lost his public;
the sculptor who wishes to confine himself to
ideal abstractions finds few sympathisers; but the
worker who has a practical knowledge of many
technical devices, who can command attention
equally as a designer and craftsman, and can
forget the old delusion that it is a condescension
on the part of an artist to have any dealings with
decoration, is coming steadily into prominence.
Decidedly Mr. Reynolds-Stephens would be the