DOI Heft:
Nr. 211 (October 1910)
DOI Artikel:Baker, C. H. Collins: The paintings of Mr. G. W. Lambert
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20971#0041
Mr. G. IV. Lambert's Paintings
however previous experience had made him sus-
picious, and it has been towards a cleaner cut
severity that resolutely he has steered. In 1907
was produced The Mother (reproduced in The
Studio for July, 1908) ; it is the first of the family
groups with which now we are familiar, and if we
contrast with it The Sonnet of the previous year,
we shall note the gain he had made in control of
pigment, in the application of a definite process
of colouring, and in that all-essential thing, elimina-
tion of unnecessary detail. Decoratively and to
some extent largely seen as is The Sonnet, still the
drapery is crowded with small forms, the sil-
houettes are comparatively weak. In The Mother,
which makes a rich and delicate scheme of colour,
the simplification of folds resulted in an added
directness of brushwork, while in the heads there is
a purity and luminosity only attained by an eco-
nomical deliberation. The Blue Hat of 1909 gives
us that simplification and systematic ordering in a
yet more mastered stage, and it has reached some-
thing of the comely quality and variety of the great
painters Mr. Lambert had set himself to follow. In
it he put all the richness and refinement of colour
that distinguish his work, his fondness for delicate
amber hues, the reticence and iridescence of opals,
and that permeating sense of greys “ qui fait la
peinture." Alone discordant is the blueness of the
hat, a bizarre note deliberately introduced.
It is this deliberate insistence on what he himself
may question that must be reckoned with, and I
think commended, in Mr. Lambert. His attitude
is that emphatic statement will take him further
than will neutral; that it is only by giving his
caprice its head that he can see where it will land
him. Certainly a hankering for the bizarre
occasionally assails him, and as surely he will only
be in a position to estimate the cost of indulgence
by yielding to temptation. Thus frankly experi-
menting and definitely committing himself to what
his fancy prompts he is at the same time under the
control of a sound taste in matters of technical
import, so that we see in his work a steady
winnowing influence. As an example I might cite
“A HOLIDAY IN ESSEX
BY G. W. LAMBERT
20
however previous experience had made him sus-
picious, and it has been towards a cleaner cut
severity that resolutely he has steered. In 1907
was produced The Mother (reproduced in The
Studio for July, 1908) ; it is the first of the family
groups with which now we are familiar, and if we
contrast with it The Sonnet of the previous year,
we shall note the gain he had made in control of
pigment, in the application of a definite process
of colouring, and in that all-essential thing, elimina-
tion of unnecessary detail. Decoratively and to
some extent largely seen as is The Sonnet, still the
drapery is crowded with small forms, the sil-
houettes are comparatively weak. In The Mother,
which makes a rich and delicate scheme of colour,
the simplification of folds resulted in an added
directness of brushwork, while in the heads there is
a purity and luminosity only attained by an eco-
nomical deliberation. The Blue Hat of 1909 gives
us that simplification and systematic ordering in a
yet more mastered stage, and it has reached some-
thing of the comely quality and variety of the great
painters Mr. Lambert had set himself to follow. In
it he put all the richness and refinement of colour
that distinguish his work, his fondness for delicate
amber hues, the reticence and iridescence of opals,
and that permeating sense of greys “ qui fait la
peinture." Alone discordant is the blueness of the
hat, a bizarre note deliberately introduced.
It is this deliberate insistence on what he himself
may question that must be reckoned with, and I
think commended, in Mr. Lambert. His attitude
is that emphatic statement will take him further
than will neutral; that it is only by giving his
caprice its head that he can see where it will land
him. Certainly a hankering for the bizarre
occasionally assails him, and as surely he will only
be in a position to estimate the cost of indulgence
by yielding to temptation. Thus frankly experi-
menting and definitely committing himself to what
his fancy prompts he is at the same time under the
control of a sound taste in matters of technical
import, so that we see in his work a steady
winnowing influence. As an example I might cite
“A HOLIDAY IN ESSEX
BY G. W. LAMBERT
20