DOI issue:
No. 132 ( March, 1904)
DOI article:Singer, Hans Wolfgang: The work of Carlos Grethe
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19881#0162
Carlos Grethe
A SKETCH BY CARLOS GRETHE
newly-acquired one, by telling them in his
pictures all that he has learned. His work will
be instructive : he will be giving new subject-
matter. But how few of the world's geniuses
have been able to do this without giving up
some of their artistic qualities. The bulk of
the fine pictures of all times are those that do
not embody new situations, that have no real
story to tell, that are comprehended at once
without any literary or historical explanation, as
soon as their titles have been given.
For Carlos Grethe this life was full of novelty,
and it is but natural that he should have wanted
to make known the many situations which
had interested him keenly as subjects, apart
from all possible art aspects that might be latent
in them. His pictures were something like
Kipling's Indian stories, for the greater part
of their interest depended upon the fact of
their being full of strange incident. In the case
of Kipling these oriental subjects were altogether
novel and unknown to the reading public; in
Grethe's case the phases of seamen's life, as he
had studied them, were also unknown. Both
were likely to fascinate an audience by mere
virtue of subject; and with this easy victory in
hand, as it were, the artist may be led into a
neglect of artistic execution.
By a long and arduous process of self-discipline
Grethe has gradually purified his work. From
year to year, as the exhibitions offered us new
pictures of his, it was noticeable that the subject,
as such, continued to lose its importance until it
has gradually grown altogether dependent, and
is now used merely as a framework within which
to develop some purely artistic problem. A
good deal of necessary self-restraint has helped
to make advancing on these lines a heavy
task. Many a dramatic episode, striking and
fascinating at first glance, had to be laid
aside as admittedly misleading; many a subject
had to be dropped as delusive and dishonest.
But the strong, individual way of openly looking
into Nature's face, and looking for artistic im-
pressions only, gradually grew upon the artist
Amid constant conflicts he has striven after a
new form of expression that aims at nothing else
but true values, without any side interests or any-
thing else.
If many of Grethe's oil paintings betray that he
has pretty nearly reached his goal, a still greater
percentage of his lithographs in colours show this.
" ON THE WHARF" KROM A SKETCH BY CARLOS GRETHE
145
A SKETCH BY CARLOS GRETHE
newly-acquired one, by telling them in his
pictures all that he has learned. His work will
be instructive : he will be giving new subject-
matter. But how few of the world's geniuses
have been able to do this without giving up
some of their artistic qualities. The bulk of
the fine pictures of all times are those that do
not embody new situations, that have no real
story to tell, that are comprehended at once
without any literary or historical explanation, as
soon as their titles have been given.
For Carlos Grethe this life was full of novelty,
and it is but natural that he should have wanted
to make known the many situations which
had interested him keenly as subjects, apart
from all possible art aspects that might be latent
in them. His pictures were something like
Kipling's Indian stories, for the greater part
of their interest depended upon the fact of
their being full of strange incident. In the case
of Kipling these oriental subjects were altogether
novel and unknown to the reading public; in
Grethe's case the phases of seamen's life, as he
had studied them, were also unknown. Both
were likely to fascinate an audience by mere
virtue of subject; and with this easy victory in
hand, as it were, the artist may be led into a
neglect of artistic execution.
By a long and arduous process of self-discipline
Grethe has gradually purified his work. From
year to year, as the exhibitions offered us new
pictures of his, it was noticeable that the subject,
as such, continued to lose its importance until it
has gradually grown altogether dependent, and
is now used merely as a framework within which
to develop some purely artistic problem. A
good deal of necessary self-restraint has helped
to make advancing on these lines a heavy
task. Many a dramatic episode, striking and
fascinating at first glance, had to be laid
aside as admittedly misleading; many a subject
had to be dropped as delusive and dishonest.
But the strong, individual way of openly looking
into Nature's face, and looking for artistic im-
pressions only, gradually grew upon the artist
Amid constant conflicts he has striven after a
new form of expression that aims at nothing else
but true values, without any side interests or any-
thing else.
If many of Grethe's oil paintings betray that he
has pretty nearly reached his goal, a still greater
percentage of his lithographs in colours show this.
" ON THE WHARF" KROM A SKETCH BY CARLOS GRETHE
145