DOI Heft:
No. 227 (February 1912)
DOI Artikel:Dixon, Marion Hepworth: Edward Stott: an Appreciation
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21156#0023
THE STUDIO
DWARD STOTT: AN APPRE-
CIATION. BY MARION HEP-
WORTH DIXON.
In a century when painting has become a
vehicle for advertisement, and when the crudities
of the last eccentric school have power to captivate
even the Mandarins of criticism, it is difficult not
only to approach, but to come within measurable
distance of understanding an art which is at once
kindly and austere, finely tempered, reserved and
yet divinely naive.
I think there is this quality of austerity and
naivete in all art that is essential. Mr. A. C.
Benson, at any rate, says that the
characteristics of the artistic tem-
perament are a great simplicity
of nature wedded to a sort of
“ grand stubbornness,” a stub-
bornness which comes from the
instinctive consciousness of the
possession of a truth which is
not apparent to all. “ This stub-
bornness,” he goes on to say,
“ lies at the bottom of all artistic
temperaments. It is often dis-
guised from others because of the
superficial sensibility of the artist.
He is so desirous of the un-
troubled peace of mind which is
for most a condition of true art
that he takes an infinity of trouble
to conciliate and win his fellow-
pilgrims.” But down, deep down
in his heart lies a determination
to seek the truth, to express him-
self in his own individual way,
and to shake off what Mr. D. S.
MacColl so happily calls the
Olympian bluff of Academies.
The subject of this article, Mr.
Edward Stott, has repeatedly been
called “ a painter’s painter.” No
greater compliment can be paid
a man. For what does the desig-
nation mean but that he “ cannot
desert his track among the stars ”
or play traitor to an art which is
more to him than either praise or
gain ? Material success may have
LV. No. 227.—February 1912.
come to Mr. Stott (and. indeed it is no secret that it
has been lavished on him), but it is also certain that
this particular artist has neither catered for the
man in the street nor altered a line in his work to
earn the applause of a superficial public. Perhaps
something in the hard and uncongenial surround-
ings of his youth stiffened his back in matters
testhetic. For, like Sir Luke Fildes and Mr. Henry
Woods, Mr. Stott is a native of Lancashire. There
was little, it would appear, either artistic or stimu-
lating in the Manchester home in which he was
reared. Stott the elder had the usual business man’s
prejudices concerning the artistic calling. Thus he
sent his son Edward to the Rochdale Grammar
DWARD STOTT: AN APPRE-
CIATION. BY MARION HEP-
WORTH DIXON.
In a century when painting has become a
vehicle for advertisement, and when the crudities
of the last eccentric school have power to captivate
even the Mandarins of criticism, it is difficult not
only to approach, but to come within measurable
distance of understanding an art which is at once
kindly and austere, finely tempered, reserved and
yet divinely naive.
I think there is this quality of austerity and
naivete in all art that is essential. Mr. A. C.
Benson, at any rate, says that the
characteristics of the artistic tem-
perament are a great simplicity
of nature wedded to a sort of
“ grand stubbornness,” a stub-
bornness which comes from the
instinctive consciousness of the
possession of a truth which is
not apparent to all. “ This stub-
bornness,” he goes on to say,
“ lies at the bottom of all artistic
temperaments. It is often dis-
guised from others because of the
superficial sensibility of the artist.
He is so desirous of the un-
troubled peace of mind which is
for most a condition of true art
that he takes an infinity of trouble
to conciliate and win his fellow-
pilgrims.” But down, deep down
in his heart lies a determination
to seek the truth, to express him-
self in his own individual way,
and to shake off what Mr. D. S.
MacColl so happily calls the
Olympian bluff of Academies.
The subject of this article, Mr.
Edward Stott, has repeatedly been
called “ a painter’s painter.” No
greater compliment can be paid
a man. For what does the desig-
nation mean but that he “ cannot
desert his track among the stars ”
or play traitor to an art which is
more to him than either praise or
gain ? Material success may have
LV. No. 227.—February 1912.
come to Mr. Stott (and. indeed it is no secret that it
has been lavished on him), but it is also certain that
this particular artist has neither catered for the
man in the street nor altered a line in his work to
earn the applause of a superficial public. Perhaps
something in the hard and uncongenial surround-
ings of his youth stiffened his back in matters
testhetic. For, like Sir Luke Fildes and Mr. Henry
Woods, Mr. Stott is a native of Lancashire. There
was little, it would appear, either artistic or stimu-
lating in the Manchester home in which he was
reared. Stott the elder had the usual business man’s
prejudices concerning the artistic calling. Thus he
sent his son Edward to the Rochdale Grammar