DOI Heft:
Nr. 245 (August 1913)
DOI Artikel:Studio-talk
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21159#0244
Studio-Talk
the King by the French Government. This canvas
was included in the exhibition and with it were two
others, The Coronation in Westminster Abbey,
and The Investiture of the Prince oj Wales at
Carnarvon Castle, which showed equally well the
ability of the painter to overcome the difficulties
presented by excessively complicated subjects. M.
Gillot is a very able decorator who brings much
experience to bear upon the treatment of the
ceremonial picture and he was able to make these
canvases markedly interesting by developing as
much as possible their decorative possibilities. In
a number of smaller pictures and studies, he gave
ample evidence of his powers of observation and
understanding of subtleties of craftsi lanship.
GLASGOW.—When an artist has per-
force to limit his sketching period to
six or seven months at most out of the
twelve, it is scarcely to be expected
that he will attain a high degree of versatility and
productivity. Yet the apparent contradiction is
conspicuous in the case of William Wells. He
begins painting in early April just as fresh young
life is budding everywhere, and continues earnestly
till the end of June; for two months following he is
comparatively idle—the interest and inspiring colour
of spring and early summer are dissipated, and the
rich, mature autumn tints and harvest operations
are not yet due. There is stir and movement at the
fishing-ports—the sketching-ground is Manxland—
but the artist cannot conquer a temperamental
disability that makes sketching impossible except
under conditions of complete seclusion, even in the
initial stages of a picture. And then a big part of
the year has to be sacrificed to business affairs, for
we live in an age of commerce, far removed from
the ideal of ancient Greece, where all that was
best in art was dedicated to the state, and the
modem artist, bound by modern custom, has to
enter the market-place and traffic in pictures. Still,
in Wells’s recent annual exhibition thirty new
pictures and fourteen drawings were presented, all
“BRIGHT SKIES, BRIGHT SEA” (OIL PAINTING)
(By permission of the Glasgow Corporation)
BY WILLIAM WELLS
224
the King by the French Government. This canvas
was included in the exhibition and with it were two
others, The Coronation in Westminster Abbey,
and The Investiture of the Prince oj Wales at
Carnarvon Castle, which showed equally well the
ability of the painter to overcome the difficulties
presented by excessively complicated subjects. M.
Gillot is a very able decorator who brings much
experience to bear upon the treatment of the
ceremonial picture and he was able to make these
canvases markedly interesting by developing as
much as possible their decorative possibilities. In
a number of smaller pictures and studies, he gave
ample evidence of his powers of observation and
understanding of subtleties of craftsi lanship.
GLASGOW.—When an artist has per-
force to limit his sketching period to
six or seven months at most out of the
twelve, it is scarcely to be expected
that he will attain a high degree of versatility and
productivity. Yet the apparent contradiction is
conspicuous in the case of William Wells. He
begins painting in early April just as fresh young
life is budding everywhere, and continues earnestly
till the end of June; for two months following he is
comparatively idle—the interest and inspiring colour
of spring and early summer are dissipated, and the
rich, mature autumn tints and harvest operations
are not yet due. There is stir and movement at the
fishing-ports—the sketching-ground is Manxland—
but the artist cannot conquer a temperamental
disability that makes sketching impossible except
under conditions of complete seclusion, even in the
initial stages of a picture. And then a big part of
the year has to be sacrificed to business affairs, for
we live in an age of commerce, far removed from
the ideal of ancient Greece, where all that was
best in art was dedicated to the state, and the
modem artist, bound by modern custom, has to
enter the market-place and traffic in pictures. Still,
in Wells’s recent annual exhibition thirty new
pictures and fourteen drawings were presented, all
“BRIGHT SKIES, BRIGHT SEA” (OIL PAINTING)
(By permission of the Glasgow Corporation)
BY WILLIAM WELLS
224