DOI Heft:
Nr. 168 (March 1907)
DOI Artikel:Baldry, Alfred Lys: The recent work of Mr. J. Walter West, R.W.S.
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20774#0120
J. PValter
BOOK-PLATE BY J. WALTER WEST
past generation. He has caught the savour of the
old-world life, its graceful artificiality, its well-trained
elegance, and it clings to his work and gives a
pleasant persuasiveness to all his subjects.
Within the limits he has marked out for
himself he certainly does not fail to secure
the necessary degree of variety. The quaint
dignity and courtly grace of The Ladies oj
St. James's contrast quite effectively with the
sportiveness of the dainty maidens in Shuttle-
cock and Shuttlecock and Battledore, and there
is a wide difference between the worldly
atmosphere of The Miniature and the quiet
of the Puritan homes which he has repre-
sented in such paintings as Sweetness a7id
Light and A Weighty Consideration. And
in other episodes from a past century like
those he has realised in A Silken Thread and
The Poet Cowper and his Hares, he finds
ample opportunities for the exercise of his
powers of invention and for the working out
of his ingenious and effective ideas. On
occasions too he can strike a deeper note, as
in The Shadow, with its hint of tragedy which
suggests so much and yet leaves to the ima-
gination all the details of the story. An
artist who can make such use of the
98
West, R.W.S.
material that he finds in one short period of our
domestic history need not fear any charge of narrow-
ness and cannot be accused of descent into manner-
ism ; a specialist he may be, but his specialism is
directed by intelligence and good judgment.
To the executive qualities of Mr. West’s paint-
ings nothing but praise can be given. He has
executed most of his recent work in water-colour, a
medium which he manages with exceptional skill
—with skill which is, indeed, so well recognised
that it has gained him admission to the Royal
Society of Painters in Water-Colours, of which he
was elected an associate in 190 r, and a full
member in 1904. He paints precisely and
minutely, and yet with more freedom than is
usual with artists who aim at high finish; his brush-
work is expressive and has the same kind of firm-
ness tempered with delicacy that gives such a
charm to his black-and-white line. In the realistic
rendering of textures, of the silks and brocades in
which his fine ladies are dressed, of the tapestry-
hung walls against which they stand, of the screens
and other articles of furniture which serve as back-
grounds or fill in the blank spaces in his composi-
tions, he is most successful; his imitative powers
have been very highly cultivated, and he can
apply them with rare discrimination. With all his
minuteness he can keep a quite satisfying breadth
of effect, and in finishing his pictures to what he
feels to be the necessary degree of elaboration he
does not lose the air of spontaneity which adds so
BOOK-PLATE
BY J. WALTER WEST
BOOK-PLATE BY J. WALTER WEST
past generation. He has caught the savour of the
old-world life, its graceful artificiality, its well-trained
elegance, and it clings to his work and gives a
pleasant persuasiveness to all his subjects.
Within the limits he has marked out for
himself he certainly does not fail to secure
the necessary degree of variety. The quaint
dignity and courtly grace of The Ladies oj
St. James's contrast quite effectively with the
sportiveness of the dainty maidens in Shuttle-
cock and Shuttlecock and Battledore, and there
is a wide difference between the worldly
atmosphere of The Miniature and the quiet
of the Puritan homes which he has repre-
sented in such paintings as Sweetness a7id
Light and A Weighty Consideration. And
in other episodes from a past century like
those he has realised in A Silken Thread and
The Poet Cowper and his Hares, he finds
ample opportunities for the exercise of his
powers of invention and for the working out
of his ingenious and effective ideas. On
occasions too he can strike a deeper note, as
in The Shadow, with its hint of tragedy which
suggests so much and yet leaves to the ima-
gination all the details of the story. An
artist who can make such use of the
98
West, R.W.S.
material that he finds in one short period of our
domestic history need not fear any charge of narrow-
ness and cannot be accused of descent into manner-
ism ; a specialist he may be, but his specialism is
directed by intelligence and good judgment.
To the executive qualities of Mr. West’s paint-
ings nothing but praise can be given. He has
executed most of his recent work in water-colour, a
medium which he manages with exceptional skill
—with skill which is, indeed, so well recognised
that it has gained him admission to the Royal
Society of Painters in Water-Colours, of which he
was elected an associate in 190 r, and a full
member in 1904. He paints precisely and
minutely, and yet with more freedom than is
usual with artists who aim at high finish; his brush-
work is expressive and has the same kind of firm-
ness tempered with delicacy that gives such a
charm to his black-and-white line. In the realistic
rendering of textures, of the silks and brocades in
which his fine ladies are dressed, of the tapestry-
hung walls against which they stand, of the screens
and other articles of furniture which serve as back-
grounds or fill in the blank spaces in his composi-
tions, he is most successful; his imitative powers
have been very highly cultivated, and he can
apply them with rare discrimination. With all his
minuteness he can keep a quite satisfying breadth
of effect, and in finishing his pictures to what he
feels to be the necessary degree of elaboration he
does not lose the air of spontaneity which adds so
BOOK-PLATE
BY J. WALTER WEST