DOI issue:
No. 217 (April, 1911)
DOI article:Baldry, Alfred Lys: The art of Sir Ernest A. Waterlow, R.A., P.R.W.S.
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20972#0191
Sir Ernest A. Waterlow, R.A., P.R.W.S.
THE ART OF SIR ERNEST A. to be suffering, and the more brutal this ugliness
WATEELOW, R.A., P.R.W.S. By can be made the better it is considered to serve
A. LYS BALDRY. its mission as a corrective. The artist who
chooses ugly stuff for his subjects and realises
The dominant characteristic by which prac- it crudely, violently, and without any graces of
tically the whole of Sir Ernest Waterlow's method, is hailed as a regenerator and as an
work is distinguished can, perhaps, be best apostle of progress, as a man who is leading
described as a kind of dainty elegance. In his the world away from commonplace trivialities
interpretation of nature his aim is always to into the sphere of serious aesthetics where alone
combine delicacy of sentiment with refinement the salvation of art is to be attained,
of manner, and to express gracefully the subtle Really, this worship of ugliness is no more
charm of the subjects he selects rather than to reasonable than the love of the sickly prettiness
insist forcibly upon their robuster possibilities, to which it professes to be the antidote. It
He keeps this aim in view consistently in his is quite as objectionable a convention as the
production, in his choice of material as well as one which it seeks to supplant, and it owes
in his manner of dealing with it; and he allows its existence not to the intelligence of the
his instinctive appreciation of Nature's gentle- men who follow and advocate it but rather to
ness and quiet beauty to guide his preferences their incapacity to think out any of the vital
and to control his methods. Temperamentally principles of artistic practice. Because some
averse, as he shows himself to be, from anything artists have sunk into feeble sentimentality
like theatrical exaggeration, or even from that and have lost their power to discriminate
accentuation of natural
facts which is commonly
acceptedas a permissible
device by which pictorial
effectiveness can be se-
cured, he seeks in both
the matter and the man-
ner of his art to prove
that it is possible for
the artist to reach after
beauty without lapsing
into prettiness and to
achieve refinement with-
out sacrificing strength.
It is his steadfast
pursuit of this purpose
that makes his position
in the modern art world
so significant and his
activity as an artist of so
much value. There is a
tendency at the present
time — a tendency to
which many art work-
ers have yielded and to
which many art writers
offer encouragement —
to treat the cult of beauty
with a large amount of
contempt. The con-
vention of the moment
prescribes ugliness as a
remedy for the ills from
which art is supposed "dewy morn" by sir e. a. waterlow
LII. No. 217.—April, 1911. 169
THE ART OF SIR ERNEST A. to be suffering, and the more brutal this ugliness
WATEELOW, R.A., P.R.W.S. By can be made the better it is considered to serve
A. LYS BALDRY. its mission as a corrective. The artist who
chooses ugly stuff for his subjects and realises
The dominant characteristic by which prac- it crudely, violently, and without any graces of
tically the whole of Sir Ernest Waterlow's method, is hailed as a regenerator and as an
work is distinguished can, perhaps, be best apostle of progress, as a man who is leading
described as a kind of dainty elegance. In his the world away from commonplace trivialities
interpretation of nature his aim is always to into the sphere of serious aesthetics where alone
combine delicacy of sentiment with refinement the salvation of art is to be attained,
of manner, and to express gracefully the subtle Really, this worship of ugliness is no more
charm of the subjects he selects rather than to reasonable than the love of the sickly prettiness
insist forcibly upon their robuster possibilities, to which it professes to be the antidote. It
He keeps this aim in view consistently in his is quite as objectionable a convention as the
production, in his choice of material as well as one which it seeks to supplant, and it owes
in his manner of dealing with it; and he allows its existence not to the intelligence of the
his instinctive appreciation of Nature's gentle- men who follow and advocate it but rather to
ness and quiet beauty to guide his preferences their incapacity to think out any of the vital
and to control his methods. Temperamentally principles of artistic practice. Because some
averse, as he shows himself to be, from anything artists have sunk into feeble sentimentality
like theatrical exaggeration, or even from that and have lost their power to discriminate
accentuation of natural
facts which is commonly
acceptedas a permissible
device by which pictorial
effectiveness can be se-
cured, he seeks in both
the matter and the man-
ner of his art to prove
that it is possible for
the artist to reach after
beauty without lapsing
into prettiness and to
achieve refinement with-
out sacrificing strength.
It is his steadfast
pursuit of this purpose
that makes his position
in the modern art world
so significant and his
activity as an artist of so
much value. There is a
tendency at the present
time — a tendency to
which many art work-
ers have yielded and to
which many art writers
offer encouragement —
to treat the cult of beauty
with a large amount of
contempt. The con-
vention of the moment
prescribes ugliness as a
remedy for the ills from
which art is supposed "dewy morn" by sir e. a. waterlow
LII. No. 217.—April, 1911. 169