DOI Heft:
Nr. 191 (February 1909)
DOI Artikel:Hind, Charles Lewis: Charles H. Shannon, artist and connoisseur
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20966#0032
Charles Shannon
“ THE LADY WITH A CYCLAMEN (HON. MRS. C. DOWDALL) ” BY CHARLES SHANNON
ceased to revolve. It was a brave attempt, a
forlorn hope of art against the citadel of commer-
cialism, but although I fear it did not make its
editors rich beyond the dreams of avarice, the five
numbers gave Mr. Ricketts the opportunity to
present his wood-cuts and Mr. Shannon his litho-
graphs to the world. To turn in this year of grace
from a perusal of a morning paper to an editorial
article in No. 2 of The Dial,, as I have just done, is
to—well, it is to be reminded what a strange and
happy land is England where such contrasts in
prose are possible. The wise buy these occasional
and brief-life publications. The investment is
sound. Before me, as I write, stretches a wall
adorned with Mr. Shannon’s lithographs, severed
from The Dial, framed, preserved, increasing in
value every year.
So engrossed did Mr. Shannon become in litho-
graphy that for some years he ceased to exhibit as
a painter. He and Mr. Ricketts worked all through
1891 on the woodcuts for an edition of “ Daphnis
and Chloe,” and through 1892 on the woodcuts
for Marlowe’s “Hero and Leander.” In 1897 he
again began exhibiting as a painter, and was
awarded a gold medal at Munich. Since then he
has exhibited constantly.
Nobody would call Mr. Shannon a popular
painter. He never produces a problem-bridge or
a death-sentence picture. Even if he were a
Royal Academician it would never be necessary to
place the protecting rail before one of his pictures.
He paints for himself; he suggests no literary con-
troversy ; there is no suggestion of sensation in
any of his works; no hint of a desire to compel
vagrant attention ; but there is in them always a
striving for reasoned beauty and rhythm. He is a
dreamer in a study, never an orator on the hust-
ings. Decorative expression marks the patterns
10
“ THE LADY WITH A CYCLAMEN (HON. MRS. C. DOWDALL) ” BY CHARLES SHANNON
ceased to revolve. It was a brave attempt, a
forlorn hope of art against the citadel of commer-
cialism, but although I fear it did not make its
editors rich beyond the dreams of avarice, the five
numbers gave Mr. Ricketts the opportunity to
present his wood-cuts and Mr. Shannon his litho-
graphs to the world. To turn in this year of grace
from a perusal of a morning paper to an editorial
article in No. 2 of The Dial,, as I have just done, is
to—well, it is to be reminded what a strange and
happy land is England where such contrasts in
prose are possible. The wise buy these occasional
and brief-life publications. The investment is
sound. Before me, as I write, stretches a wall
adorned with Mr. Shannon’s lithographs, severed
from The Dial, framed, preserved, increasing in
value every year.
So engrossed did Mr. Shannon become in litho-
graphy that for some years he ceased to exhibit as
a painter. He and Mr. Ricketts worked all through
1891 on the woodcuts for an edition of “ Daphnis
and Chloe,” and through 1892 on the woodcuts
for Marlowe’s “Hero and Leander.” In 1897 he
again began exhibiting as a painter, and was
awarded a gold medal at Munich. Since then he
has exhibited constantly.
Nobody would call Mr. Shannon a popular
painter. He never produces a problem-bridge or
a death-sentence picture. Even if he were a
Royal Academician it would never be necessary to
place the protecting rail before one of his pictures.
He paints for himself; he suggests no literary con-
troversy ; there is no suggestion of sensation in
any of his works; no hint of a desire to compel
vagrant attention ; but there is in them always a
striving for reasoned beauty and rhythm. He is a
dreamer in a study, never an orator on the hust-
ings. Decorative expression marks the patterns
10