DOI Heft:
No. 159 (June, 1906)
DOI Artikel:Wood, T. Martin: English drawing: a note on the exhibition at Leighton House
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20715#0079
English Drawing at Leighton House
propose to deal more widely with the subject in a
future article; the only road to be pursued in
discussing it is intersected by by-paths, and an
attempt to deal widely with the matter demands
that these should each be followed a little way in
turn. The collection at Leighton House is an
admirable beginning to what might become one of
the most interesting exhibitions of the year, and
certainly one very much called for. But this year
it has scarcely been taken so seriously as we could
wish by its contributors. An effort on the part of
artists would change the character of the exhibition,
which, admirable as it is, at present scarcely repre-
sents some of the most well-known contributors,
and has been insufficiently
supported by those artists
whose names are associated
with the attempt to promote
sympathy for the art of
drawing. It is the section
which includes the studies
and sketches of painters
that is the most interesting
part of the exhibition.
There is little to be gained
in a show of this kind by
the display of the originals
of pen drawings which have
appeared in magazines.
These were drawn in most
cases with reproduction in
view; it is the show of
drawings done for the sake
of drawing, whether in
sketches or in finished work,
which should be encouraged
by the committee in future.
It is in these that we find
the character and the history
of English drawing.
In England we have
never at any time properly
had a school of draughts-
manship. The tradition of
drawing in France, the re-
verence for Ingres, has no
counterpart in English art
history. There is little to
wonder at in this, for we
have not had in England
any great master of tradi-
tional and classic drawing.
Individuality, in a far more
interesting sense than the costume study
58
novelties that have passed as such in French
painting, has been the characteristic of English
drawing. It therefore affords ground for the most
interesting analysis and an open field to the
collector bent on something beyond the craze
of completing sets of etchings or acquiring works
simply because they are known to be rare. The
rarity of a drawing is not a thing manoeuvred, its
value cannot be arranged, as in the case of etchings,
by issuing a limited number. A drawing is unique
and always more nervously expressive of the artist
himself. We know that drawing is only an extension
of caligraphy, and that, like cultivated writing, it has
left far behind its copy-book period, with letters
BY SEYMOUR LUCAS
propose to deal more widely with the subject in a
future article; the only road to be pursued in
discussing it is intersected by by-paths, and an
attempt to deal widely with the matter demands
that these should each be followed a little way in
turn. The collection at Leighton House is an
admirable beginning to what might become one of
the most interesting exhibitions of the year, and
certainly one very much called for. But this year
it has scarcely been taken so seriously as we could
wish by its contributors. An effort on the part of
artists would change the character of the exhibition,
which, admirable as it is, at present scarcely repre-
sents some of the most well-known contributors,
and has been insufficiently
supported by those artists
whose names are associated
with the attempt to promote
sympathy for the art of
drawing. It is the section
which includes the studies
and sketches of painters
that is the most interesting
part of the exhibition.
There is little to be gained
in a show of this kind by
the display of the originals
of pen drawings which have
appeared in magazines.
These were drawn in most
cases with reproduction in
view; it is the show of
drawings done for the sake
of drawing, whether in
sketches or in finished work,
which should be encouraged
by the committee in future.
It is in these that we find
the character and the history
of English drawing.
In England we have
never at any time properly
had a school of draughts-
manship. The tradition of
drawing in France, the re-
verence for Ingres, has no
counterpart in English art
history. There is little to
wonder at in this, for we
have not had in England
any great master of tradi-
tional and classic drawing.
Individuality, in a far more
interesting sense than the costume study
58
novelties that have passed as such in French
painting, has been the characteristic of English
drawing. It therefore affords ground for the most
interesting analysis and an open field to the
collector bent on something beyond the craze
of completing sets of etchings or acquiring works
simply because they are known to be rare. The
rarity of a drawing is not a thing manoeuvred, its
value cannot be arranged, as in the case of etchings,
by issuing a limited number. A drawing is unique
and always more nervously expressive of the artist
himself. We know that drawing is only an extension
of caligraphy, and that, like cultivated writing, it has
left far behind its copy-book period, with letters
BY SEYMOUR LUCAS