DOI issue:
No. 154 (January, 1906)
DOI article:Baldry, Alfred Lys: The art of William Lee Hankey, R. I.
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20713#0309
LV. Lee Hankey
The art of william lee
HANKEY, R. I. BY A. LYS
BALDRY.
Among the qualities which are important as
factors in the success of an artist’s work must
certainly be counted charm of sentiment. That
this particular quality is difficult to define can
readily be admitted. It is in a sense intangible
and elusive, it is scarcely capable of exact analysis,
and its manifestations cannot be controlled by the
ordinary rules of technical practice. But its
presence or absence in a picture can always be
perceived by people who possess any degree of
sensitiveness, and it has much to do with the fixing
of the place which an artist is to occupy in the
record of the achievement of his own times. The
man who can infuse into his work the right degree
of sentiment, who can give to his pictures a fitting
atmosphere of delicate suggestion, gains most
securely the attention ' of
his public, and emphasises
in the best manner his
right to rank among the
■men who are fulfilling their
artistic mission with capa-
city and intelligence.
Of course there is a very
marked difference between
sentiment such as this and
mere sentimentality. The
sentimental picture is
usually a poor thing that
appeals only to a section of
the public which is content
with trivialities, to people
who are uneducated in art
and who have never taken
the trouble to train their
aesthetic perceptions. It is
an expression of an utterly
wrong idea of the functions
of art, because it implies a
desire on the part of the
artist to cater merely for the
unintelligent and to surren-
der his own liberty of action
to satisfy a demand for
subjects which are sickly in
motive and foolish in sug-
gestion. It leads, moreover,
to carelessness or even in-
competence in practice, for
himself to production of this order has no incentive
to strive after the refinements of craftsmanship. His
clients care only for the silly little story which he has
to tell, and are quite indifferent to the manner of his
delivery, so long as he puts things with sufficient
prettiness and inoffensive artificiality. Indeed, the
weaker he is, within reason, the better they like
him ; they cannot grasp a great idea, and they have
a positive abhorrence of everything which inspires
a wish on the artist’s part to make them exert their
mental powers. If he set before them things
treated with decision and stamped with strong
conviction, they would feel that he was asking them
to understand something to which they were un-
accustomed, and they would resent such a demand
as a betrayal of their confidence.
But happily the seeker after sentiment has not to
look for his supporters among people who are stupid
or small-minded. His art is not narrowed down by
petty restrictions, and he is not forced to confine
BY W. LEE HANKEY
29I
the painter who commits
“ALL MERRY THINGS ARE NOW AT REST,:
XXXVI. No. 154.—January, 1906.
The art of william lee
HANKEY, R. I. BY A. LYS
BALDRY.
Among the qualities which are important as
factors in the success of an artist’s work must
certainly be counted charm of sentiment. That
this particular quality is difficult to define can
readily be admitted. It is in a sense intangible
and elusive, it is scarcely capable of exact analysis,
and its manifestations cannot be controlled by the
ordinary rules of technical practice. But its
presence or absence in a picture can always be
perceived by people who possess any degree of
sensitiveness, and it has much to do with the fixing
of the place which an artist is to occupy in the
record of the achievement of his own times. The
man who can infuse into his work the right degree
of sentiment, who can give to his pictures a fitting
atmosphere of delicate suggestion, gains most
securely the attention ' of
his public, and emphasises
in the best manner his
right to rank among the
■men who are fulfilling their
artistic mission with capa-
city and intelligence.
Of course there is a very
marked difference between
sentiment such as this and
mere sentimentality. The
sentimental picture is
usually a poor thing that
appeals only to a section of
the public which is content
with trivialities, to people
who are uneducated in art
and who have never taken
the trouble to train their
aesthetic perceptions. It is
an expression of an utterly
wrong idea of the functions
of art, because it implies a
desire on the part of the
artist to cater merely for the
unintelligent and to surren-
der his own liberty of action
to satisfy a demand for
subjects which are sickly in
motive and foolish in sug-
gestion. It leads, moreover,
to carelessness or even in-
competence in practice, for
himself to production of this order has no incentive
to strive after the refinements of craftsmanship. His
clients care only for the silly little story which he has
to tell, and are quite indifferent to the manner of his
delivery, so long as he puts things with sufficient
prettiness and inoffensive artificiality. Indeed, the
weaker he is, within reason, the better they like
him ; they cannot grasp a great idea, and they have
a positive abhorrence of everything which inspires
a wish on the artist’s part to make them exert their
mental powers. If he set before them things
treated with decision and stamped with strong
conviction, they would feel that he was asking them
to understand something to which they were un-
accustomed, and they would resent such a demand
as a betrayal of their confidence.
But happily the seeker after sentiment has not to
look for his supporters among people who are stupid
or small-minded. His art is not narrowed down by
petty restrictions, and he is not forced to confine
BY W. LEE HANKEY
29I
the painter who commits
“ALL MERRY THINGS ARE NOW AT REST,:
XXXVI. No. 154.—January, 1906.