DOI issue:
No. 239 (February 1913)
DOI article:Studio-talk
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21160#0080
Studio- Talk
"QUID NUNC?" BY JOHN HASSAL
he used the easiest of all conventions, but with
greater genius than any of his contemporaries.
At his best, as a craftsman he fell just short of
some of the " little masters" of Holland of the
seventeenth century, but like Meissonier who
practised the same method and unlike the Dutch
masters, his touch was often merely deliberate and
patient, rather than intimate, in its suggestion of
detail.
The Diploma and Gibson Galleries at the Royal
Academy, after being closed for some time for
repairs, were re-opened last month. Admission to
these galleries is free from n a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.
Charles Conder, some of whose works have been
lately shown at the Leicester Galleries, had a great
consciousness of beauty which enveloped even his
least successful canvases with distinction and ran
effective riot in the " decoration " by which he made
his name. In this exhibition the later, uncertain
developments of his art that preceded a fatal illness
were too much in evidence, though they would
have found an interesting place in an exhibition
completely representing his career. Two volumes
of sketches bound by the proprietors of the gallery
revealed the exquisite and sensitive appreciation
of form that too rarely showed itself when Conder
was using a loaded oil brush instead of one charged
with water-colour or a sympathetic pencil.
The exhibition of Mr. Spencer F. Gore's and
Mr. Harold Gilman's paintings at the Carfax
Gallery gives rise to the question as to what future
there may be for the methods they employ in the
"THE MAGICIAN" BY RENE BULL
hands of the rising generation. Mr. Spencer Gore's
work especially attracts attention by its success in
the style he affects. It is quite true that a habit
can be formed of seeing the decorative aspect of
a scene before any other aspect of it—an aspect
which embraces all the subtleties of values that
impressionism alone can cope with. The decora-
tive aspect is part of the "impression." When
once the artist has disciplined his vision there is
nothing that does not present a decorative aspect;
the "subject" picture disappears simply because
everything makes a subject. The danger which
besets this modern school is that of compro-
mising with effects too difficult for them, leaving
us with a very shallow piece of pattern-work,
fascinating, perhaps, to look upon for the first
57
"QUID NUNC?" BY JOHN HASSAL
he used the easiest of all conventions, but with
greater genius than any of his contemporaries.
At his best, as a craftsman he fell just short of
some of the " little masters" of Holland of the
seventeenth century, but like Meissonier who
practised the same method and unlike the Dutch
masters, his touch was often merely deliberate and
patient, rather than intimate, in its suggestion of
detail.
The Diploma and Gibson Galleries at the Royal
Academy, after being closed for some time for
repairs, were re-opened last month. Admission to
these galleries is free from n a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.
Charles Conder, some of whose works have been
lately shown at the Leicester Galleries, had a great
consciousness of beauty which enveloped even his
least successful canvases with distinction and ran
effective riot in the " decoration " by which he made
his name. In this exhibition the later, uncertain
developments of his art that preceded a fatal illness
were too much in evidence, though they would
have found an interesting place in an exhibition
completely representing his career. Two volumes
of sketches bound by the proprietors of the gallery
revealed the exquisite and sensitive appreciation
of form that too rarely showed itself when Conder
was using a loaded oil brush instead of one charged
with water-colour or a sympathetic pencil.
The exhibition of Mr. Spencer F. Gore's and
Mr. Harold Gilman's paintings at the Carfax
Gallery gives rise to the question as to what future
there may be for the methods they employ in the
"THE MAGICIAN" BY RENE BULL
hands of the rising generation. Mr. Spencer Gore's
work especially attracts attention by its success in
the style he affects. It is quite true that a habit
can be formed of seeing the decorative aspect of
a scene before any other aspect of it—an aspect
which embraces all the subtleties of values that
impressionism alone can cope with. The decora-
tive aspect is part of the "impression." When
once the artist has disciplined his vision there is
nothing that does not present a decorative aspect;
the "subject" picture disappears simply because
everything makes a subject. The danger which
besets this modern school is that of compro-
mising with effects too difficult for them, leaving
us with a very shallow piece of pattern-work,
fascinating, perhaps, to look upon for the first
57