DOI Heft:
No. 231 (June 1912)
DOI Artikel:Wood, T. Martin: The paintings of Wilfrid G. von Glehn
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21157#0026
IV. G. von Glehn
seen where the naturalistic representation of effect
has been uppermost in the artist’s mind. It is, we
think, by his work in this vein that he is best
known. It is this sort of painting in which our own
time has made a rapid advance, and definitely
chronicled achievement in the history of painting.
The fact that all this subtlety of representation has
lately been said to lead to nothing beyond itself,
and so to leave art with no other aim than “ repre-
sentation,” does not destroy it as the unique and
often profoundly beautiful achievement of the time
in painting. It is quite possible that mere “repre-
sentation ” of nature, as such, has at last fulfilled
the aim it made its own, and that we must court a
fresh kind of visual experience. If this is so, the
perfection of the method we have just discussed in
regard to its own aim is proved, and the glory goes
to those who can be de-
finitely asserted to have
brought it to perfection.
The confidence of
manner in some of the ex-
ponents of this style is the
sign of its maturity as an
art. But this confidence is
seldom so completely justi-
fied as in Mr. von Glehn’s
case. This painter re-
stricts his aims, but always
succeeds in setting them
forth quite clearly, leaving
to others the problem of
things almost too fine to
be seen, and except in the
rarest instances of impres-
sionist inspiration proving
themselves too fine for exe-
cution. There is a point
then at which Mr. von
Glehn refuses to follow to
any further lengths the sub-
tilties of mere interpreta-
tion. Here it is that the
delights of invention and
control begin. He has
proved that in his case it
was the right exchange—•
to let interpretative expres-
sion go, to gain freedom of
invention early. It is his
very happy inventiveness
in composition that attracts
him to decoration. And
even in paintings where “the brook” from the oil painting by.w. g. von glehn
4
decoratiorf has been hardly professed it has given
a character of their own to his pictures.
Mr. von Glehn has also had singular success in
portraiture; due to the fact, no doubt, that he has
at his command so direct a style. All that is most
worth having in an impressionist portrait is of the
sort that the artist receives at a first impression, or
does not receive at all. His first impression is
after all the impression, to be carried through and
at last transferred to us in the final stage of his
work. As a portraitist Mr. von Glehn is one of the
most delightful executants of our time. A peculiar
freshness is given to the pose and expression of his
sitters. There does not rest upon them in his portrayal
of them that evidence of a weary strain in posing
which is the chief note of a modern portrait. It is
difficult to praise too highly the success of some of
seen where the naturalistic representation of effect
has been uppermost in the artist’s mind. It is, we
think, by his work in this vein that he is best
known. It is this sort of painting in which our own
time has made a rapid advance, and definitely
chronicled achievement in the history of painting.
The fact that all this subtlety of representation has
lately been said to lead to nothing beyond itself,
and so to leave art with no other aim than “ repre-
sentation,” does not destroy it as the unique and
often profoundly beautiful achievement of the time
in painting. It is quite possible that mere “repre-
sentation ” of nature, as such, has at last fulfilled
the aim it made its own, and that we must court a
fresh kind of visual experience. If this is so, the
perfection of the method we have just discussed in
regard to its own aim is proved, and the glory goes
to those who can be de-
finitely asserted to have
brought it to perfection.
The confidence of
manner in some of the ex-
ponents of this style is the
sign of its maturity as an
art. But this confidence is
seldom so completely justi-
fied as in Mr. von Glehn’s
case. This painter re-
stricts his aims, but always
succeeds in setting them
forth quite clearly, leaving
to others the problem of
things almost too fine to
be seen, and except in the
rarest instances of impres-
sionist inspiration proving
themselves too fine for exe-
cution. There is a point
then at which Mr. von
Glehn refuses to follow to
any further lengths the sub-
tilties of mere interpreta-
tion. Here it is that the
delights of invention and
control begin. He has
proved that in his case it
was the right exchange—•
to let interpretative expres-
sion go, to gain freedom of
invention early. It is his
very happy inventiveness
in composition that attracts
him to decoration. And
even in paintings where “the brook” from the oil painting by.w. g. von glehn
4
decoratiorf has been hardly professed it has given
a character of their own to his pictures.
Mr. von Glehn has also had singular success in
portraiture; due to the fact, no doubt, that he has
at his command so direct a style. All that is most
worth having in an impressionist portrait is of the
sort that the artist receives at a first impression, or
does not receive at all. His first impression is
after all the impression, to be carried through and
at last transferred to us in the final stage of his
work. As a portraitist Mr. von Glehn is one of the
most delightful executants of our time. A peculiar
freshness is given to the pose and expression of his
sitters. There does not rest upon them in his portrayal
of them that evidence of a weary strain in posing
which is the chief note of a modern portrait. It is
difficult to praise too highly the success of some of