DOI Heft:
No. 178 (January, 1908)
DOI Artikel:Newbolt, Frank: The etchings of Mr. Fred. V. Burridge, R.E.
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20776#0314
F. V. Burridge, R.E.
because we ought not to
care whether the etcher is a
man or a woman, young or
old, busy or idle, a pupil of
the Slade school or a police-
man ; but it is impossible to
deny that it makes a great
difference to most people to
know whether an artist whose
work they have not previously
seen has good credentials.
An ordinary man inclined
to buy The Dockyard Smithy
would be biassed by being
told that it was honoured by
a medal at the Paris Exhi-
bition, and a collector would
hasten to secure the last
"a spring afternoon" from an etching by fred. v. burridge PTOof oi A SpriPg A/ternOOtt,
not because it is one of the
most charming little etchings
painting or drawing; the most difficult is the direct executed in this country during the present genera-
interpretation of nature, when the composition, the tion, but because the plate has been lost and no
design, and the relative values of the bitten lines more impressions of it can be obtained,
have to be determined upon
in face of the multitudinous
details and shifting effects
of natural landscape, lit by
sunlight and harmonised
by a thousand blended
tints.
It is to solve the pro-
blems presented in this
branch of art that Mr.
Burridge has, in his scanty
leisure, more particularly
applied himself, and as we
study the proofs of his
plates we pay him our first
tribute by wondering if they
can really have been done
in the open air. Accepting
this as the fact, we pass on
to find in them something
of the mysterious charm of
nature, most of which must
always be lost in fixing an
impression, especially with-
out colour: and then, being
pleased by his pictures, we
feel interested in finding
out why we are pleased,
and what their intrinsic
merits are. I say intrinsic, "the little smithy" by fred. v. burridge
280
because we ought not to
care whether the etcher is a
man or a woman, young or
old, busy or idle, a pupil of
the Slade school or a police-
man ; but it is impossible to
deny that it makes a great
difference to most people to
know whether an artist whose
work they have not previously
seen has good credentials.
An ordinary man inclined
to buy The Dockyard Smithy
would be biassed by being
told that it was honoured by
a medal at the Paris Exhi-
bition, and a collector would
hasten to secure the last
"a spring afternoon" from an etching by fred. v. burridge PTOof oi A SpriPg A/ternOOtt,
not because it is one of the
most charming little etchings
painting or drawing; the most difficult is the direct executed in this country during the present genera-
interpretation of nature, when the composition, the tion, but because the plate has been lost and no
design, and the relative values of the bitten lines more impressions of it can be obtained,
have to be determined upon
in face of the multitudinous
details and shifting effects
of natural landscape, lit by
sunlight and harmonised
by a thousand blended
tints.
It is to solve the pro-
blems presented in this
branch of art that Mr.
Burridge has, in his scanty
leisure, more particularly
applied himself, and as we
study the proofs of his
plates we pay him our first
tribute by wondering if they
can really have been done
in the open air. Accepting
this as the fact, we pass on
to find in them something
of the mysterious charm of
nature, most of which must
always be lost in fixing an
impression, especially with-
out colour: and then, being
pleased by his pictures, we
feel interested in finding
out why we are pleased,
and what their intrinsic
merits are. I say intrinsic, "the little smithy" by fred. v. burridge
280