DOI issue:
Nr. 210 (September 1910)
DOI article:Taylor, J.: A Glasgow painter: William Wells, R. B. A.
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20970#0294
William Wells, R.B.A.
unmistakably human, so real, so full of interest, in
red shawl, black gown, lilac bonnet, or white
apron; so earnest in occupation, so wistful in
contemplation, with face in shadow under broad
sun-bonnet; and the lucent atmosphere is all
about and around them, so that the Modern
School theory of interest not being divided between
landscape and figures is refuted.
Sunlight fascinates the artist, he renders it with
a clearness so startling as to wean even contem-
porary artists from a predilection for the grey dull
humidity so monotonously characteristic of a
certain type of Scottish landscape art.
He has instinctive composition, is happy in
subject, unerring in draughtsmanship; his work
is luminous, decisive, tender, poetic, with interest
carried to every inch of canvas; clear in shadow
as in sunshine—mark the drawing in Harbour,
with Bridge, Castletown, the facial anatomical
emphasis in The Pilot's Lass, and the pearly quality
in the beautiful drawing, Mussel Picking.
Some day Wells may find his way to the thronged
haunts of men and give studies of streets and
interiors like those of the great Dutchmen. Then
shall we see the modern idea of how to paint a
light-filled room, or a street broken with sunshine
and shadow, such as Orpen and Nicholson are
attempting, and may one day master. But, tem-
peramentally, Wells is nervous and can concentrate
only in rural solitude, or among the simple fisher-
folk in his favourite Lancashire hamlets, or by
“The Lune,” where the monks of Chester for
centuries enjoyed the right to fish; or in the sunny
seclusion of Manxland, where every variety of
subject attractive to the painter is to be found,
except the loch, so typical of Scottish sketching
grounds.
Wells is not deterred by problems; Mussel
Picking, A Breeze, Ganzey Bay, Marguerites, are
all in the artist’s familiar vein, but The Hackett
presented difficulties which, in his modest way of
putting it, have been but partly overcome.
William Wells has the habit of self-absorption;
he would vary his subject by tree study, so he seeks
to know all that Rousseau and Corot can teach
concerning massed foliage ; but when he abandons
“marguerites” (oil) (In the possession oj J, Howden Hu?ne, Esq.) by william wells
270
unmistakably human, so real, so full of interest, in
red shawl, black gown, lilac bonnet, or white
apron; so earnest in occupation, so wistful in
contemplation, with face in shadow under broad
sun-bonnet; and the lucent atmosphere is all
about and around them, so that the Modern
School theory of interest not being divided between
landscape and figures is refuted.
Sunlight fascinates the artist, he renders it with
a clearness so startling as to wean even contem-
porary artists from a predilection for the grey dull
humidity so monotonously characteristic of a
certain type of Scottish landscape art.
He has instinctive composition, is happy in
subject, unerring in draughtsmanship; his work
is luminous, decisive, tender, poetic, with interest
carried to every inch of canvas; clear in shadow
as in sunshine—mark the drawing in Harbour,
with Bridge, Castletown, the facial anatomical
emphasis in The Pilot's Lass, and the pearly quality
in the beautiful drawing, Mussel Picking.
Some day Wells may find his way to the thronged
haunts of men and give studies of streets and
interiors like those of the great Dutchmen. Then
shall we see the modern idea of how to paint a
light-filled room, or a street broken with sunshine
and shadow, such as Orpen and Nicholson are
attempting, and may one day master. But, tem-
peramentally, Wells is nervous and can concentrate
only in rural solitude, or among the simple fisher-
folk in his favourite Lancashire hamlets, or by
“The Lune,” where the monks of Chester for
centuries enjoyed the right to fish; or in the sunny
seclusion of Manxland, where every variety of
subject attractive to the painter is to be found,
except the loch, so typical of Scottish sketching
grounds.
Wells is not deterred by problems; Mussel
Picking, A Breeze, Ganzey Bay, Marguerites, are
all in the artist’s familiar vein, but The Hackett
presented difficulties which, in his modest way of
putting it, have been but partly overcome.
William Wells has the habit of self-absorption;
he would vary his subject by tree study, so he seeks
to know all that Rousseau and Corot can teach
concerning massed foliage ; but when he abandons
“marguerites” (oil) (In the possession oj J, Howden Hu?ne, Esq.) by william wells
270