Studio: international art (53.1911)

William Nicholson

In his methods of execution he is consistently distinguish equally his character studies-such

brilliant, and yet there is not one of his pictures paintings as Nancy with the Mug, and Nancy tn

which can be reproached as displaying mere the Feather ifo*-which might so easily be made

technical cleverness for its own sake. He is a merely caricatures by a little less attention to

wonderful draughtsman, sensitive and yet robust, technical refinements; and even a study so essen-

nuent and yet accurate, and he can be by turns tially devoted to the presentation of

uncom-

almost academically precise and sketchily suggestive promising fact as The Landlord is given a curious
without losing any of the charm of statement which dignity by its sureness of drawing and large
gives such a singular attractiveness to his canvases, simplicity of design. These qualities indeed are
^ very good illustration of his intelligence in never wanting in his art; they are as evident in
■"^ughtsmanship is afforded in his picture Carlina, The Landlord or the two Nancy pictures as they
ls not only admirable in its harmonious are in the simple, restrained, and serious portrait
arrangement of line but also delightful in its feeling The Little Baron, and they are as definitely
0r beauties of modelling and subtle elegance of effective in his paintings of inanimate nature as
contour. The long, lithe lines of the figure are they are in his studies of the human subject,
exquisitely treated with full appreciation of the To these paintings of inanimate nature a very
^ acter of the model but without any hint on important place must be assigned in the record of
one hand of matter-of-fact realism or on the Mr. Nicholson's achievement. Busy as he is with
er of over-idealisation. portraiture, and fond as he is of studying types of

These same fine qualities of draughtsmanship humanity, he finds time to paint an ever-increasing

number of still-life pictures
which are worthy to rank
with the performances of the
greatest masters in this branch
of art. The Tulips and Boiul,
and the Cupids fighting for a
Rose, which are reproduced,
: M ' are characteristic examples ot

|TjM 9L ' mB his maimer of handling such

I' 4«K' -M.J 3*Si motives, and they show how

ill Ht*~ ~~ Jj&fl he retains his largeness of

mb1 style and his splendid direct-

III IP*!'/" :0flajHr«l^H ness of method even when he

11 1 I 's dealing with material which

^^^^^J^^^^^^^^ i 'J ^^^-^ of his practice—are'just'as

seriously thought out and

■Ml I ^^gpMjH wT* - brought just as logically

Dni V . within the scope of his

||H 1 w 'W^1' aesthetic conviction. Indeed,

'mIVB I h Sf -j^^k it can be said that no matter

- ■' iSF^lf^^BBfa^ - ^ jK' '"•Cjj - what may be the subject upon

KltiK m * W^** ■^■A.^Sv • *K which he is engaged he never

^llnl W^^^ -* nSp^- Mw^^^f relaxes his grasp of the great

r ^P^vP^^^ 1'ljfcj^r •• principles by which his art is

directed; nothing is allowed
^MHBWHHBWH^MIBHB to count as unimportant; the

" FRANCIS AND CHRISTOPHER BACON " BY WILLIAM NICHOLSON feCt that he haS Ch°Sei1 a SUD"

(By special permission) ject seems to him sufficient to

9