DOI issue:
No. 241 (April 1913)
DOI article:Finberg, Alexander Joseph: Mr. J. Walter West's landscapes
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21160#0207
Mr. Walter Wests Landscapes
the dramatic Storm at Sunset on the Riviera, here
reproduced in colour. The situation of the white-
walled convent on the crest of the hill overlooking
the sea and the winding coast-line is sufficiently
picturesque in itself. But the imaginative appeal
of the whole is further enhanced by the beauty of
the momentary effect which the artist has so
admirably seized. The appearance of the storm
hanging like a gorgeously designed curtain over
the lurid sky is only another instance of the
extraordinary skill and sympathy which the artist
brings to the study and rendering of passing
atmospheric effects.
The same skill and daring are evident in one of
the most elaborate of Mr. West's landscapes, the
large water-colour of Springtime in Italy. The
scene chosen is one of the loveliest views near Lake
Como. The little church—the Madonna del
Soccorso—which forms the centre of the picture,
is a calvary on the heights above Lenno and
Mezzegra. It is about an hour and a half's climb
from either place. But what has clearly interested
the artist even more than the picturesque situation
of the church is the delicate pearly veil of vapour
in which the whole scene is bathed. Through this
atmosphere the cherry trees in full bloom among
the silvery olives tell almost as white as snow
against the shadows of the foliage and the rock on
which the chapel stands. The dry and withered
pods of last year's blossoms still hang from the
branches of some of the trees, standing out a rich
brown among the grey and white of the leaves.
The sun is up above out of the picture, but it
makes its presence known by the perpendicular
shafts of light and shade that pierce through the
vapour-laden air.
The beautiful pencil drawing of The Lost Path
and the charming studies of trees and flowers and
birds of which reproductions are given among
the illustrations to this article throw into relief
another side of Mr. West's talents. He is a careful
and tireless student of form as well as of tone and
colour, and this accounts, to my mind, for much of
the distinctive beauty and success of his landscape
work. Few landscape painters of the present day
trouble themselves to work much with the pencil
point. All their sketches, even of the most fugitive
effects, are made in water-colour or oil. And this,
I cannot help thinking, accounts for the weakness
of form and structure which mars so much of the
work which one sees in the current exhibitions.
I do not wish to deny the pleasure and the evocative
" FALLEN TIMBER "
184
FROM A LEAD-PENCIL DRAWING BY J. WALTER WEST, R.W.S.
the dramatic Storm at Sunset on the Riviera, here
reproduced in colour. The situation of the white-
walled convent on the crest of the hill overlooking
the sea and the winding coast-line is sufficiently
picturesque in itself. But the imaginative appeal
of the whole is further enhanced by the beauty of
the momentary effect which the artist has so
admirably seized. The appearance of the storm
hanging like a gorgeously designed curtain over
the lurid sky is only another instance of the
extraordinary skill and sympathy which the artist
brings to the study and rendering of passing
atmospheric effects.
The same skill and daring are evident in one of
the most elaborate of Mr. West's landscapes, the
large water-colour of Springtime in Italy. The
scene chosen is one of the loveliest views near Lake
Como. The little church—the Madonna del
Soccorso—which forms the centre of the picture,
is a calvary on the heights above Lenno and
Mezzegra. It is about an hour and a half's climb
from either place. But what has clearly interested
the artist even more than the picturesque situation
of the church is the delicate pearly veil of vapour
in which the whole scene is bathed. Through this
atmosphere the cherry trees in full bloom among
the silvery olives tell almost as white as snow
against the shadows of the foliage and the rock on
which the chapel stands. The dry and withered
pods of last year's blossoms still hang from the
branches of some of the trees, standing out a rich
brown among the grey and white of the leaves.
The sun is up above out of the picture, but it
makes its presence known by the perpendicular
shafts of light and shade that pierce through the
vapour-laden air.
The beautiful pencil drawing of The Lost Path
and the charming studies of trees and flowers and
birds of which reproductions are given among
the illustrations to this article throw into relief
another side of Mr. West's talents. He is a careful
and tireless student of form as well as of tone and
colour, and this accounts, to my mind, for much of
the distinctive beauty and success of his landscape
work. Few landscape painters of the present day
trouble themselves to work much with the pencil
point. All their sketches, even of the most fugitive
effects, are made in water-colour or oil. And this,
I cannot help thinking, accounts for the weakness
of form and structure which mars so much of the
work which one sees in the current exhibitions.
I do not wish to deny the pleasure and the evocative
" FALLEN TIMBER "
184
FROM A LEAD-PENCIL DRAWING BY J. WALTER WEST, R.W.S.