DOI issue:
No. 238 (January 1913)
DOI article:Dixon, Marion Hepworth: The paintings of Philip Connard
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21158#0298
Philip Connard
simplification or unification is seen in its happiest
phase. Yet the theme is intensely modem both in
its handling and in the disposition of its various
groups of figures. Had Mr. Connard done nothing
else he would have proclaimed himself an uncom-
promising realist in the figures of a couple of
faultlessly attired holiday-makers, who occupy the
right-hand corner of the canvas. It is not often,
if I remember aright, that the artist thus portrays
the actual fashions of his day. Like many of his
Chelsea brethren Mr. Connard affects the wide
hoop and fringed bodice of the mid-Victorian era.
It comes therefore with no surprise to us when we
find the artist’s Guitar Player attired in a gown
which might have been worn by the Empress
Eugenie or a damsel in Frith’s Derby Day. And
in truth the gracious pose of the lady seems in no
way impeded by the hoops and flounces and fringes
of an artificial costume, a costume which, viewed
apart from prejudice, is perhaps neither more
cumbersome nor more ungainly than that worn
in a piquant eighteenth century.
But I must hasten, if in the briefest way, to
describe the Connard Exhibition inaugurated by
Messrs. Ernest Brown and Phillips at the Leicester
Galleries last summer, where both The Supper
and the canvas entitled Bayswater were first shown
to the outside public. Kindly lent for reproduc-
tion in colour by their owner, the canvases need
no legend or foot-note to explain them. Joyous
lightheartedness is their key-note, for whether the
spectator is brought face to face with a masquerade
in a Chelsea studio or with a white-robed woman
dawdling in a boat near the splashing fountain of
Kensington Gardens, the electrical and vivacious
impression is the same. I know of no other artist
indeed (with the sole exception of Mr. Sims) who
so imbues us with the fine hilarity of nature as
does Mr. Connard. What can surpass the sunny
warmth and glow of the little canvas entitled The
Fountain ? Spontaneity is of its essence—scintil-
lation radiates from every touch of the brush. It
may seem an exaggeration to say that the small
picture called Flowers of Spring—a picture depicting
a simple little girl standing in the sunlight gazing
at a bouquet of flowers—made me catch my breath
with astonishment—yet all virile and compelling
art has this note in it. For it is in the most
elemental of themes, as I have already suggested,
that Mr. Connard finds his chief inspiration. As a
tour de force of mere painting it would be hard to
beat the Still-Life. The round-bellied water-bottle,
BARGES UNLOADING”
276
(By permission of Messrs. William Marchant and Co.)
BY PHILIP CONNARD
simplification or unification is seen in its happiest
phase. Yet the theme is intensely modem both in
its handling and in the disposition of its various
groups of figures. Had Mr. Connard done nothing
else he would have proclaimed himself an uncom-
promising realist in the figures of a couple of
faultlessly attired holiday-makers, who occupy the
right-hand corner of the canvas. It is not often,
if I remember aright, that the artist thus portrays
the actual fashions of his day. Like many of his
Chelsea brethren Mr. Connard affects the wide
hoop and fringed bodice of the mid-Victorian era.
It comes therefore with no surprise to us when we
find the artist’s Guitar Player attired in a gown
which might have been worn by the Empress
Eugenie or a damsel in Frith’s Derby Day. And
in truth the gracious pose of the lady seems in no
way impeded by the hoops and flounces and fringes
of an artificial costume, a costume which, viewed
apart from prejudice, is perhaps neither more
cumbersome nor more ungainly than that worn
in a piquant eighteenth century.
But I must hasten, if in the briefest way, to
describe the Connard Exhibition inaugurated by
Messrs. Ernest Brown and Phillips at the Leicester
Galleries last summer, where both The Supper
and the canvas entitled Bayswater were first shown
to the outside public. Kindly lent for reproduc-
tion in colour by their owner, the canvases need
no legend or foot-note to explain them. Joyous
lightheartedness is their key-note, for whether the
spectator is brought face to face with a masquerade
in a Chelsea studio or with a white-robed woman
dawdling in a boat near the splashing fountain of
Kensington Gardens, the electrical and vivacious
impression is the same. I know of no other artist
indeed (with the sole exception of Mr. Sims) who
so imbues us with the fine hilarity of nature as
does Mr. Connard. What can surpass the sunny
warmth and glow of the little canvas entitled The
Fountain ? Spontaneity is of its essence—scintil-
lation radiates from every touch of the brush. It
may seem an exaggeration to say that the small
picture called Flowers of Spring—a picture depicting
a simple little girl standing in the sunlight gazing
at a bouquet of flowers—made me catch my breath
with astonishment—yet all virile and compelling
art has this note in it. For it is in the most
elemental of themes, as I have already suggested,
that Mr. Connard finds his chief inspiration. As a
tour de force of mere painting it would be hard to
beat the Still-Life. The round-bellied water-bottle,
BARGES UNLOADING”
276
(By permission of Messrs. William Marchant and Co.)
BY PHILIP CONNARD