DOI Heft:
No. 202 (January, 1910)
DOI Artikel:Hind, Charles Lewis: Charles Ricketts: a commentary on his activities
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20968#0286
Charles
Betrayal. This picture, at any rate, is plain to the
eye at the first glance. I find in it great sincerity
and great pathos, an idea, a decorative vision,
visualised. It needs no explanation, and he must
be hard of heart who can look upon it without
emotion. Feeling is the note of' his Biblical
pictures, strongly marked in his Christ before
the People, and in his sombre and dignified Deposi-
tion. An almost rabid passion for decorative
movement marks some of his pictures suggested
by classical themes, such as Heliodorus expelled
from the Temple and Messalina. And sometimes,
I, his admirer, falter in my admiration, as in the
wild fantasy called Walpicrgisnacht. But with Don
fuan and the Statue, we are on firm ground again,
a success of interpretation not illustration, some-
thing that is not extraneous, but that adds to our
pictorial understanding of the legend.
You may like or dislike his decorative method
that insists upon notice in many of his pictures,
but at any rate it is personal. Originality, indi-
viduality are also the notes of the eight stage
mountings he has undertaken. Those who saw
The Persians, Salome, Electra, and A Florentine
Tragedy, realised how much their enjoyment was
"CENTAUR AND BABY FAUN" (BRONZE). BY CHARLES RICKETTS
264
Ricketts
"SALOME IN THE LAP OF HER0D1AS"
(BRONZE). BY CHARLES RICKETTS
increased by the Ricketts system of scenic
arrangement, and the beautiful colour har-
monies of curtains and costumes. Perhaps
when the National Theatre is instituted, he
will be given a "free hand." That free
hand he had in the illustrations to the
memorable " Dial "—an occasional publica-
tion edited by C. S. Ricketts and C. H.
Shannon, and also in his woodcuts for
Daphnis and Chloe, and Marlowe's Hero
and Leander. But that phase of his ver-
satility has apparently ceased, outshouldered
by the claims of modelling, painting, collect-
ing and writing. Yet there are those who
consider that of all his art activities it is in
design that he takes the highest rank.
Although he writes extremely well, vividly
and with abandon, if abandon can be used
to describe a style that follows the classical
models, I do not think that he feels any
Betrayal. This picture, at any rate, is plain to the
eye at the first glance. I find in it great sincerity
and great pathos, an idea, a decorative vision,
visualised. It needs no explanation, and he must
be hard of heart who can look upon it without
emotion. Feeling is the note of' his Biblical
pictures, strongly marked in his Christ before
the People, and in his sombre and dignified Deposi-
tion. An almost rabid passion for decorative
movement marks some of his pictures suggested
by classical themes, such as Heliodorus expelled
from the Temple and Messalina. And sometimes,
I, his admirer, falter in my admiration, as in the
wild fantasy called Walpicrgisnacht. But with Don
fuan and the Statue, we are on firm ground again,
a success of interpretation not illustration, some-
thing that is not extraneous, but that adds to our
pictorial understanding of the legend.
You may like or dislike his decorative method
that insists upon notice in many of his pictures,
but at any rate it is personal. Originality, indi-
viduality are also the notes of the eight stage
mountings he has undertaken. Those who saw
The Persians, Salome, Electra, and A Florentine
Tragedy, realised how much their enjoyment was
"CENTAUR AND BABY FAUN" (BRONZE). BY CHARLES RICKETTS
264
Ricketts
"SALOME IN THE LAP OF HER0D1AS"
(BRONZE). BY CHARLES RICKETTS
increased by the Ricketts system of scenic
arrangement, and the beautiful colour har-
monies of curtains and costumes. Perhaps
when the National Theatre is instituted, he
will be given a "free hand." That free
hand he had in the illustrations to the
memorable " Dial "—an occasional publica-
tion edited by C. S. Ricketts and C. H.
Shannon, and also in his woodcuts for
Daphnis and Chloe, and Marlowe's Hero
and Leander. But that phase of his ver-
satility has apparently ceased, outshouldered
by the claims of modelling, painting, collect-
ing and writing. Yet there are those who
consider that of all his art activities it is in
design that he takes the highest rank.
Although he writes extremely well, vividly
and with abandon, if abandon can be used
to describe a style that follows the classical
models, I do not think that he feels any