DOI Heft:
Nr. 194 (May 1909)
DOI Artikel:Garstin, Norman: Alexander Mann: An Appreciation
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20966#0326
A lexander Mann
WYNNS PARC, NORTH WALES : THE PARLOUR E. GUY DAWBER, ARCHITECT
(See preceding article)
LEXANDER MANN: AN AP-
PRECIATION. BY NORMAN
GARSTIN.
The characteristics that an artist reveals by his
work and those which are known to his intimate
friends are sometimes strangely at variance. The
man may seem to us hesitating and vacillating, but
his painting or sculpture is determined and strong ;
the man may seem to us mean and worldly, yet his
work will show him to have a deep vein of poetry
and pathos. Everyone who has a wide acquaint-
ance amongst artists must
have frequently felt
puzzled at these curious
discrepancies: “Why does
So-and-so, self-sufficient
and rather blustering,
paint these finical pic-
tures ?” etc.
The fact is we are all
so complex that there is
room in most men for the
some petrifying character-
istic, and thus gives it life.
Some men, on the other
hand, make their art the
expression of their obvious
personality, they draw
aside no veil, they express
what those who know
them would expect of
them. Of these the late
Mr. Alexander Mann was
a very notable example—
his character was strong,
simple, and direct, and
above all things sincere.
He could not exaggerate,
even for effect; to be true
and to be sane and to set
down what he saw with-
out any parti pris, that
was his aim and his effort
always in painting, and struck the keynote of his
art. He looked out into the world with eyes that
saw very clearly things as they are; possessed of
great technical ability, he set them down with con-
summate certainty and conviction. He painted
with untiring industry—and with that pleasure
without which no work is art—the phases of life
with which he found himself most in sympathy.
But his outlook was singularly wide, his freedom
from prejudice permitting him to take in a large
range of subjects which his technical skill enabled
him to realize. This versatility is apt to stand in
greatest apparent contra-
dictions, and some of
these qualities will only
reveal themselves as reac-
tions responding to some
influence which alone can
call it into evidence. Art
is, as it were, the solvent
that liberates the spiritual
quality imprisoned in
WYNNS PARC, NORTH WALES: GARDEN VIEW E.
(.See preceding article)
GUY DAWBER, ARCHITECT
300
WYNNS PARC, NORTH WALES : THE PARLOUR E. GUY DAWBER, ARCHITECT
(See preceding article)
LEXANDER MANN: AN AP-
PRECIATION. BY NORMAN
GARSTIN.
The characteristics that an artist reveals by his
work and those which are known to his intimate
friends are sometimes strangely at variance. The
man may seem to us hesitating and vacillating, but
his painting or sculpture is determined and strong ;
the man may seem to us mean and worldly, yet his
work will show him to have a deep vein of poetry
and pathos. Everyone who has a wide acquaint-
ance amongst artists must
have frequently felt
puzzled at these curious
discrepancies: “Why does
So-and-so, self-sufficient
and rather blustering,
paint these finical pic-
tures ?” etc.
The fact is we are all
so complex that there is
room in most men for the
some petrifying character-
istic, and thus gives it life.
Some men, on the other
hand, make their art the
expression of their obvious
personality, they draw
aside no veil, they express
what those who know
them would expect of
them. Of these the late
Mr. Alexander Mann was
a very notable example—
his character was strong,
simple, and direct, and
above all things sincere.
He could not exaggerate,
even for effect; to be true
and to be sane and to set
down what he saw with-
out any parti pris, that
was his aim and his effort
always in painting, and struck the keynote of his
art. He looked out into the world with eyes that
saw very clearly things as they are; possessed of
great technical ability, he set them down with con-
summate certainty and conviction. He painted
with untiring industry—and with that pleasure
without which no work is art—the phases of life
with which he found himself most in sympathy.
But his outlook was singularly wide, his freedom
from prejudice permitting him to take in a large
range of subjects which his technical skill enabled
him to realize. This versatility is apt to stand in
greatest apparent contra-
dictions, and some of
these qualities will only
reveal themselves as reac-
tions responding to some
influence which alone can
call it into evidence. Art
is, as it were, the solvent
that liberates the spiritual
quality imprisoned in
WYNNS PARC, NORTH WALES: GARDEN VIEW E.
(.See preceding article)
GUY DAWBER, ARCHITECT
300