DOI Heft:
No. 154 (January, 1906)
DOI Artikel:Baldry, Alfred Lys: The art of William Lee Hankey, R. I.
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20713#0317
IV. Lee Hankey
the man with original ideas was frowned at because
he had not the patience to devote hours of useless
labour to doing commonplace things in a mechani-
cally perfect manner. So Mr. Lee Hankey, with
his aspirations after poetic originality and his
desire to think out for himself the problems of art,
made his appeal from the South Kensington
authorities to the great body of intelligent art
lovers, and found himself fully justified. He has
no reason to complain of the nature of the response
which he has received. In some ten or a dozen
years he has taken the place that is his by right
among the best of our younger painters; he has
gained admission to more than one of the leading
art societies; his paintings occupy prominent
positions in the more important exhibitions, and
three of his pictures have been acquired for the
national collections at Cape Colony, at Buda
Pesth, and in the Luxem-
bourg. And as he is even
now only in his thirty-
seventh year—he was born
•on March 28th, 1869—he
has still before him the
greater part of his career.
It is by no means unlikely
that as time goes on he will
launch out into directions
that have, so far, not at-
tracted him to any very
serious extent. He is too
sound an artist to confine
himself to one class of
motive or to run the risk of
becoming a mere specialist
in a particular branch of
pictorial art. Already he
has given evidence of his
capacity to do good work
both as a portrait painter
and as a painter of pure
landscapes. In his por-
traits there is a quiet and
•dignified simplicity, a schol-
arly reticence which can
be admired as a proof of
his taste and of his under-
standing of the way in
which the individuality of
his sitter can best be ren-
dered. In his landscapes
there is charm of quality,
and there is, too, beauty
■of colour and true feeling “ forgiven ”
for effects of atmosphere and illumination. He
enters correctly into the spirit of open-air nature,
and shows his sensitiveness by selecting out of the
vast amount of available material just what he
requires in each instance to fill out properly the
impression he has received. Here, again, his
decorative training stands him in good stead, for
it helps him to eliminate the little unnecessary
things, and to concentrate into a coherent and
credible design just what his subject demands.
Landscape in the hands of a painter so sympathetic
by instinct and so soundly trained becomes much
more than the depicting of pretty bits of scenery;
it acquires a high degree of artistic significance,
and serves as a medium for the display of his
romantic preferences.
Concerning Mr. Lee Hankey’s executive methods
there is not much to be said, for he has no special
BY W. LEE HANKEY
299
the man with original ideas was frowned at because
he had not the patience to devote hours of useless
labour to doing commonplace things in a mechani-
cally perfect manner. So Mr. Lee Hankey, with
his aspirations after poetic originality and his
desire to think out for himself the problems of art,
made his appeal from the South Kensington
authorities to the great body of intelligent art
lovers, and found himself fully justified. He has
no reason to complain of the nature of the response
which he has received. In some ten or a dozen
years he has taken the place that is his by right
among the best of our younger painters; he has
gained admission to more than one of the leading
art societies; his paintings occupy prominent
positions in the more important exhibitions, and
three of his pictures have been acquired for the
national collections at Cape Colony, at Buda
Pesth, and in the Luxem-
bourg. And as he is even
now only in his thirty-
seventh year—he was born
•on March 28th, 1869—he
has still before him the
greater part of his career.
It is by no means unlikely
that as time goes on he will
launch out into directions
that have, so far, not at-
tracted him to any very
serious extent. He is too
sound an artist to confine
himself to one class of
motive or to run the risk of
becoming a mere specialist
in a particular branch of
pictorial art. Already he
has given evidence of his
capacity to do good work
both as a portrait painter
and as a painter of pure
landscapes. In his por-
traits there is a quiet and
•dignified simplicity, a schol-
arly reticence which can
be admired as a proof of
his taste and of his under-
standing of the way in
which the individuality of
his sitter can best be ren-
dered. In his landscapes
there is charm of quality,
and there is, too, beauty
■of colour and true feeling “ forgiven ”
for effects of atmosphere and illumination. He
enters correctly into the spirit of open-air nature,
and shows his sensitiveness by selecting out of the
vast amount of available material just what he
requires in each instance to fill out properly the
impression he has received. Here, again, his
decorative training stands him in good stead, for
it helps him to eliminate the little unnecessary
things, and to concentrate into a coherent and
credible design just what his subject demands.
Landscape in the hands of a painter so sympathetic
by instinct and so soundly trained becomes much
more than the depicting of pretty bits of scenery;
it acquires a high degree of artistic significance,
and serves as a medium for the display of his
romantic preferences.
Concerning Mr. Lee Hankey’s executive methods
there is not much to be said, for he has no special
BY W. LEE HANKEY
299