DOI issue:
No. 218 (May, 1911)
DOI article:Baker, C. H. Collins: The paintings of William Orpen, A.R.A., R.H.A.
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20972#0282
William Orpen, A.R.A., R.H.A.
"midday on the beach" (1910)
Job (1905), one or two intimate portrait groups,
and The Knacker's Yard. This last, conceived in
a mood akin to Mr. Pryde's, firmly touches a
dramatic note ; as conception and design it reaches
a high place in Mr. Orpen's cBuvre.
Simply planed and large it might make us
speculate upon his future development. Imitative
reproduction, mainly on a small scale, he has taken
about as far as it should go. His latest phase,
those oil paintings that might in fact have been
water-colours, and his Irish drawings distinctly
show his present occupation with a larger, simpler
treatment; a treatment relying on masses more
than modelling, on deliberate translation rather
than on imitation. In his recent drawings the
abstraction of forms Mr. John has attained is in
another way approached. Perhaps the recent ex-
hibition of the so-called Post-Impressionists may
have suggested something to him. It is not
irrelevant to note that quite lately he has begun to
practise in the necessarily more abstract medium
of water-colour. Whatever his development, it will
be interesting and sound—sound by reason of the
solidity of his artistic foundations ; interesting in
virtue of his alert and complex artistic individuality.
260
by william orpen, a.r.a.
How alert this is, the extraordinary versatility of his
output proves. It is less easy to gauge the com-
plexity of a mind that seems at once romantic and
satiric, literal and imaginative. C. H. C. B.
THE TURNER ROOMS AT THE TATE GALLERY.-We
have received the following letter from Mr. Albert
Goodwin, R.W.S. :
" I have just returned from a visit to the Tate
Gallery mainly to seethe new home of the Turners.
A magnificent gallery truly, but (and this is the
reason for my letter) the problem arises, is the
hanging (or the wall-paper) a background for the
pictures, or are the pictures a background to the
wall-paper? We hear of people 'seeing red.' I
could see nothing else, and do not believe that any
one could unless he wore 'blinkers.' The riotous
waste of pure crimson made the pictures all look
brown and grey; even the Ulysses, which in
Trafalgar Square was a gorgeous piece of colour,
had turned to dirty brown and orange. I hope
the spirit of Turner is not able to visit the place.
If it ever should, I feel sure its inarticulate cry
will be, 'Save me from my friends.'"
"midday on the beach" (1910)
Job (1905), one or two intimate portrait groups,
and The Knacker's Yard. This last, conceived in
a mood akin to Mr. Pryde's, firmly touches a
dramatic note ; as conception and design it reaches
a high place in Mr. Orpen's cBuvre.
Simply planed and large it might make us
speculate upon his future development. Imitative
reproduction, mainly on a small scale, he has taken
about as far as it should go. His latest phase,
those oil paintings that might in fact have been
water-colours, and his Irish drawings distinctly
show his present occupation with a larger, simpler
treatment; a treatment relying on masses more
than modelling, on deliberate translation rather
than on imitation. In his recent drawings the
abstraction of forms Mr. John has attained is in
another way approached. Perhaps the recent ex-
hibition of the so-called Post-Impressionists may
have suggested something to him. It is not
irrelevant to note that quite lately he has begun to
practise in the necessarily more abstract medium
of water-colour. Whatever his development, it will
be interesting and sound—sound by reason of the
solidity of his artistic foundations ; interesting in
virtue of his alert and complex artistic individuality.
260
by william orpen, a.r.a.
How alert this is, the extraordinary versatility of his
output proves. It is less easy to gauge the com-
plexity of a mind that seems at once romantic and
satiric, literal and imaginative. C. H. C. B.
THE TURNER ROOMS AT THE TATE GALLERY.-We
have received the following letter from Mr. Albert
Goodwin, R.W.S. :
" I have just returned from a visit to the Tate
Gallery mainly to seethe new home of the Turners.
A magnificent gallery truly, but (and this is the
reason for my letter) the problem arises, is the
hanging (or the wall-paper) a background for the
pictures, or are the pictures a background to the
wall-paper? We hear of people 'seeing red.' I
could see nothing else, and do not believe that any
one could unless he wore 'blinkers.' The riotous
waste of pure crimson made the pictures all look
brown and grey; even the Ulysses, which in
Trafalgar Square was a gorgeous piece of colour,
had turned to dirty brown and orange. I hope
the spirit of Turner is not able to visit the place.
If it ever should, I feel sure its inarticulate cry
will be, 'Save me from my friends.'"