Studio: international art (32.1904)

Joseph Crawhall

storing up in his wonderful memory facts, de- admit that he has always been, not a follower, but
tails and impressions afterwards to be reproduced an originator; not a pupil, but a master; the
by his wonderful hands. He mentally notes and inventor of a style so simple and true as to be
memorises all those particulars of animal structure quite alone in British art.

and movement that are so essential a part of his Crawhall sometimes paints his water-colours on
art, so obvious a feature of those marvellous a ground of very fine brown holland, specially
drawings of birds and beasts of his ; and then—it prepared, and this may possibly contribute to the
may be days or weeks later—some of his observa- beautiful rendering of textures, of feathers and
tions will be crystallised into some unique sketch, fur, that is so marked a feature of his drawings,
a drawing done without a model, entirely from In the drawing of The Spangled Cock (here illus-
memory, and often by gaslight. However slight trated) which was exhibited at the last International
such s. croquis of Crawhall's may be, it is a com- Exhibition, we find to the full this remarkable power
plete and sufficient work of art, and these little of depicting feathers, allied to a beautiful sense of
masterpieces of his, spontaneous, absolutely vera- pattern, a perfectly exquisite power of modelling,
cious in their facts, and set down with a directness and a liveliness of pose and contour that are quite
and manual dexterity little short of miraculous, will unique ; while there is one detail that helps to make
never be better described than by the critic who this drawing as remarkable as all Crawhall's render-
coined for them the illuminative phrase, " epigrams ings of birds—the sparkle and vitality of the eyes,
in paint." The style—expressive, reticent, and Another typical piece of Crawhall's work in the
vital—can be traced to no predecessor (the time same mediums (water-colour on brown holland)
Crawhall spent in the studio of Aime Morot seems is The Piebald, a drawing which it is worth
to have had but little effect on him); and a review while to consider in some detail for a moment,
of his work over a series of years compels one to evincing, as it does, so many of the artist's remark-
able qualities. A dog-
cart in itself is scarcely
an object of beauty;
and a piebald horse, with
its distracting arrange-
ment of white and black,
is not the subject that
one would fancy an artist
would choose to make
a picture. And yet, from
these simple and difficult
elements, what a master-
piece Crawhall produces !
Supremely confident in
his own knowledge and
power, he sets down with
absolute directness the
effect of the walking horse,
with his hind-legs partly
obscured by the cloud of
dust he himself raises ;
and such is the painter's
facility, his absolute control
over his method and his
medium, that with one
touch of the brush he gives
us colour, contour, model-
ling, movement, structure,
and texture. The pigment
is cleanly and thinly applied
1 barnet fair" by Joseph crawhall with unerring directness •

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