F. H. S. Shepherd
THE INTERIOR PICTURES AND once and for all he must make up his mind what
LANDSCAPES OF F. H. S. truths it is on either side he is prepared to sac-
SHEPHERD rifice that he may keep his midway path with the
consistency that leads to beauty.
Among the several artists who have of late Impressionism in the interpretation of interior
turned their attention to domestic interior genre, the genre was bound to come with the large sash-
work of Mr. F. H. S. Shepherd has stood out from windows that now flood all our houses with light,
the rest of the work that has represented the move- Before impressionism acknowledged the sunlight
ment, marked by some difference of aim and a with such Zoroastrian fervour, it was permissible to
considerable difference of style. dwell all day long upon the homely significance of
The problem lately has been one of submitting trifles. To be an artist is to have a taste for a
to the truths of impressionism—impressionism in certain aspect of life, even for certain trifles : it is
its widest sense—a class of subjects which the to have the right to ignore progress or to welcome
Dutchmen, Hogarth, and again the mid-Victorians only a convenient part of it; to ignore the delivered
had approached from a very different point of gospel of impressionism and the two hundred and
view. one dissenting bodies with whom its interpretation
Without completely severing himself from the lies—to do, in fact, just what one likes,
old convention and the attention to detail that it Mr. Shepherd's affection for qualities that the old
implied, Mr. Shepherd has tried to effect some of convention revealed gives his work its own attrac-
those heightened and luminous values which seem tiveness. His style carries with it a theory of colour
the prize of impressionism
alone. But whilst impression-
ism becomes almost uncon- HHIH •jr
scions of objects in regarding ^r'1-
the mystery of light, the older ..*f^
convention seemed to deal with flYflJ^
this or that object for its own H
sake. The older convention
worked within a conventional
scale of light; impressionism
throws out a challenge to real
daylight—but only to be driven
into a formula of its own,
though one embracing more of
a certain kind of truth neces-
sary to our modern eyes.
To embrace a formula is to
embrace a code of truth. To |^P) jfl
exchange one formula for KdK i
passing from WH^T'
one dogma to another, each
with a variation of the truth : W jj | llliljHtj}^ftflM^
but to disregard them alto- m * & T^^^^B^^BJ jgguifcg
lose touch with all but super-
ficial truths —the not un- R iw fl
modern achievement. fS VhH
no part of ^fefifliB^^M
the vulgarities of modern exhi-
bitions. The painter of whom . '.' " T v. ■' -*' V\ ■HHHR
we write is too much of an "v; 1 f ' ------^SNl.
to ; jpSBnHHHBHfeH
he sets himself a convention - - WE«K£u.#afe;;
which shall bridge two others, "intra mobntvr" lnn\
t> ' Ju.nk JIOR.mm, IOILJ BY I'. 11. s. SHEPHERD
THE INTERIOR PICTURES AND once and for all he must make up his mind what
LANDSCAPES OF F. H. S. truths it is on either side he is prepared to sac-
SHEPHERD rifice that he may keep his midway path with the
consistency that leads to beauty.
Among the several artists who have of late Impressionism in the interpretation of interior
turned their attention to domestic interior genre, the genre was bound to come with the large sash-
work of Mr. F. H. S. Shepherd has stood out from windows that now flood all our houses with light,
the rest of the work that has represented the move- Before impressionism acknowledged the sunlight
ment, marked by some difference of aim and a with such Zoroastrian fervour, it was permissible to
considerable difference of style. dwell all day long upon the homely significance of
The problem lately has been one of submitting trifles. To be an artist is to have a taste for a
to the truths of impressionism—impressionism in certain aspect of life, even for certain trifles : it is
its widest sense—a class of subjects which the to have the right to ignore progress or to welcome
Dutchmen, Hogarth, and again the mid-Victorians only a convenient part of it; to ignore the delivered
had approached from a very different point of gospel of impressionism and the two hundred and
view. one dissenting bodies with whom its interpretation
Without completely severing himself from the lies—to do, in fact, just what one likes,
old convention and the attention to detail that it Mr. Shepherd's affection for qualities that the old
implied, Mr. Shepherd has tried to effect some of convention revealed gives his work its own attrac-
those heightened and luminous values which seem tiveness. His style carries with it a theory of colour
the prize of impressionism
alone. But whilst impression-
ism becomes almost uncon- HHIH •jr
scions of objects in regarding ^r'1-
the mystery of light, the older ..*f^
convention seemed to deal with flYflJ^
this or that object for its own H
sake. The older convention
worked within a conventional
scale of light; impressionism
throws out a challenge to real
daylight—but only to be driven
into a formula of its own,
though one embracing more of
a certain kind of truth neces-
sary to our modern eyes.
To embrace a formula is to
embrace a code of truth. To |^P) jfl
exchange one formula for KdK i
passing from WH^T'
one dogma to another, each
with a variation of the truth : W jj | llliljHtj}^ftflM^
but to disregard them alto- m * & T^^^^B^^BJ jgguifcg
lose touch with all but super-
ficial truths —the not un- R iw fl
modern achievement. fS VhH
no part of ^fefifliB^^M
the vulgarities of modern exhi-
bitions. The painter of whom . '.' " T v. ■' -*' V\ ■HHHR
we write is too much of an "v; 1 f ' ------^SNl.
to ; jpSBnHHHBHfeH
he sets himself a convention - - WE«K£u.#afe;;
which shall bridge two others, "intra mobntvr" lnn\
t> ' Ju.nk JIOR.mm, IOILJ BY I'. 11. s. SHEPHERD