DOI Heft:
No. 242 (May 1913)
DOI Artikel:Stodart-Walker, Archibald: The recent paintings of E. A. Walton, R.S.A.
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21160#0285
E. A. Walton, R.S.A.
without being forced or crude. The Whistler unerring judgment of tone, the almost unrivalled
influence was marked. insight into the true meaning of decoration.
With the passage of years has come a greater Along with fine decorative feeling goes an unerring
emphasis in the matter of character. Whether, in dignity of design. To appreciate this fact one has
the case of Mr. Walton, this is due more to his only to study the J. G. Bartholomew, Esq., LL.D.,
knowledge of character than to his recognition in many ways Mr. Walton's greatest triumph in
that it had been undervalued before it is difficult portraiture, as masterly in its drawing as a Moroni
to say. There can be no doubt that in his later or a Zurbaran and with a dignity suggestive of
portraits the subjective elements in the sitters have the influence of Velasquez, with the reticence
been taken more into account, with the result that of Whistler, and the discretion of Sir James
his canvases are not merely splendid examples of Guthrie. In the portrait of Miss Betty Mylne (Mrs.
decorative art as applied to portraiture but are H. Auldjo Jamieson) we have this sense of style
also human documents of great value. Especially is duly emphasised, and in the Miss Nan Paterson we
this so in his portraits of men, which, in the cases have added a charm in the realisation of line—more
of his Sir William Crookes and Andrew Carnegie, delicately expressed than in many portraits of Mr.
become as striking pieces of realism as any por- Walton—though perhaps missing the splendour of
traits by Sir George Reid,
passing these in their
qualities of paint and in
their eloquent appeal to
the decorative sense. In
this reaching to character
there is occasionally, in
the later work, such a
tendency to over-model-
ling, to a too great delight
in playing with half-tones,
that some are apt to re-
gard them as showing
over-markedly the labour
of the brush. One has at
times the impression that
Mr. Walton's brilliant por-
traiture would have even
more distinction if he
could return to a half-way
house between his early
steps and the altitude of
the present. We miss the
simplicity of the purely
decorative days, the subtle
Whistler-like effects which
gave a charm to most that
he undertook—we should
prefer a little more of the
Bastien-Lepage element
and a little less of what
may be called the modern
bravura. But whatever
we may regret we cannot
but admire the har-
monious colour spacings,
the glowing paint, the "Glasgow fair in the fifteenth century" (fragment of the decora-
, S ' . TrON in the banqueting-hall of the city chambers, glasgow). by
subtle contrasts, the E- A. WALTON; R.S.A.
262 ...
without being forced or crude. The Whistler unerring judgment of tone, the almost unrivalled
influence was marked. insight into the true meaning of decoration.
With the passage of years has come a greater Along with fine decorative feeling goes an unerring
emphasis in the matter of character. Whether, in dignity of design. To appreciate this fact one has
the case of Mr. Walton, this is due more to his only to study the J. G. Bartholomew, Esq., LL.D.,
knowledge of character than to his recognition in many ways Mr. Walton's greatest triumph in
that it had been undervalued before it is difficult portraiture, as masterly in its drawing as a Moroni
to say. There can be no doubt that in his later or a Zurbaran and with a dignity suggestive of
portraits the subjective elements in the sitters have the influence of Velasquez, with the reticence
been taken more into account, with the result that of Whistler, and the discretion of Sir James
his canvases are not merely splendid examples of Guthrie. In the portrait of Miss Betty Mylne (Mrs.
decorative art as applied to portraiture but are H. Auldjo Jamieson) we have this sense of style
also human documents of great value. Especially is duly emphasised, and in the Miss Nan Paterson we
this so in his portraits of men, which, in the cases have added a charm in the realisation of line—more
of his Sir William Crookes and Andrew Carnegie, delicately expressed than in many portraits of Mr.
become as striking pieces of realism as any por- Walton—though perhaps missing the splendour of
traits by Sir George Reid,
passing these in their
qualities of paint and in
their eloquent appeal to
the decorative sense. In
this reaching to character
there is occasionally, in
the later work, such a
tendency to over-model-
ling, to a too great delight
in playing with half-tones,
that some are apt to re-
gard them as showing
over-markedly the labour
of the brush. One has at
times the impression that
Mr. Walton's brilliant por-
traiture would have even
more distinction if he
could return to a half-way
house between his early
steps and the altitude of
the present. We miss the
simplicity of the purely
decorative days, the subtle
Whistler-like effects which
gave a charm to most that
he undertook—we should
prefer a little more of the
Bastien-Lepage element
and a little less of what
may be called the modern
bravura. But whatever
we may regret we cannot
but admire the har-
monious colour spacings,
the glowing paint, the "Glasgow fair in the fifteenth century" (fragment of the decora-
, S ' . TrON in the banqueting-hall of the city chambers, glasgow). by
subtle contrasts, the E- A. WALTON; R.S.A.
262 ...