DOI Artikel:
Holmes, Charles: The History of the Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colours
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27085#0013
THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL
SOCIETY OF PAINTERS IN
WATER-COLOURS
HERE is a close connection between the history
of the Royal Society of Painters in Water-
Colours and that of the later development of
the art of water-colour painting in this country.
As the first influential Association which
occupied itself especially with the encourage-
ment of this form of practice, it has during
the century of its existence played a very
important part in the promotion of a proper understanding of the
craft, and in the advancement of the position of the artists who have
devoted themselves to water-colours. The services it has rendered
have been two-fold ; in the first place it provided the workers with
a central organisation which helped them to make themselves known
to art lovers, and in the second it asserted in an emphatic manner
the claims to attention possessed by a technical method which was
comparatively a new creation and not directed by any old-established
traditions. Full credit is due to the Society for the manner in which
it has done its work ; and its authoritative position to-day can be
taken as a proof that its strenuous recognition of its responsibilities
has been acknowledged by every one who is qualified to pass judgment
on its efforts.
It cannot of course be assumed that the actual formation of the
English water-colour school resulted from the operations of the
Society. This would be claiming for it a little too much ; for before
it was instituted there were in this country many artists who were
sufficiently distinguished as water-colourists, and there was an efficient
if somewhat limited demand for their productions. But by bringing
together scattered forces it made possible that united action by which
alone a vigorous school of artistic practice can be created ; it showed
the value of combination, and it carried to success a movement which
might possibly have languished, or even died out, if left unassisted.
Moreover, by its periodical exhibitions, in which the painters who
sought to introduce innovations into the craft could compare their
experiments with the performances which did not depart from the
general custom of the profession, it encouraged very valuable
b h i
SOCIETY OF PAINTERS IN
WATER-COLOURS
HERE is a close connection between the history
of the Royal Society of Painters in Water-
Colours and that of the later development of
the art of water-colour painting in this country.
As the first influential Association which
occupied itself especially with the encourage-
ment of this form of practice, it has during
the century of its existence played a very
important part in the promotion of a proper understanding of the
craft, and in the advancement of the position of the artists who have
devoted themselves to water-colours. The services it has rendered
have been two-fold ; in the first place it provided the workers with
a central organisation which helped them to make themselves known
to art lovers, and in the second it asserted in an emphatic manner
the claims to attention possessed by a technical method which was
comparatively a new creation and not directed by any old-established
traditions. Full credit is due to the Society for the manner in which
it has done its work ; and its authoritative position to-day can be
taken as a proof that its strenuous recognition of its responsibilities
has been acknowledged by every one who is qualified to pass judgment
on its efforts.
It cannot of course be assumed that the actual formation of the
English water-colour school resulted from the operations of the
Society. This would be claiming for it a little too much ; for before
it was instituted there were in this country many artists who were
sufficiently distinguished as water-colourists, and there was an efficient
if somewhat limited demand for their productions. But by bringing
together scattered forces it made possible that united action by which
alone a vigorous school of artistic practice can be created ; it showed
the value of combination, and it carried to success a movement which
might possibly have languished, or even died out, if left unassisted.
Moreover, by its periodical exhibitions, in which the painters who
sought to introduce innovations into the craft could compare their
experiments with the performances which did not depart from the
general custom of the profession, it encouraged very valuable
b h i