DOI Heft:
No. 253 (May 1914)
DOI Artikel:Salaman, Malcolm C.: The prints of Percival Gaskell, R. E., R. B. A.
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21209#0291
The Prints of Per civ al Gaskell, R.E.
vision that will transfigure a landscape with the
poetry and romance of light and shadow, the two
tone mediums, aquatint and mezzotint, which Sir
Frank Short had revived with masterly practice,
appealed to him irresistibly. Through these
mediums, therefore, rather than through line-
etching, Mr. Gaskell has found his happiest
expression upon the copper. When I speak of trans-
figuring the landscape I do not mean that he aims
at any romantic or dramatic exaggerations of effect,
but that he seeks to convey the sentiment of the
place as he sees it with the expression given by the
passing light. And because his eye is alertly
sensitive to the romantic and dramatic suggestions
of light, especially in the more mysterious and
enchanting hours of the day and night, his work is
instinct with poetic feeling pictorially expressive.
In landscape, whether of the plains or the hills,
and especially in combination with great expanses
of water, but in landscape always indissolubly
related to the sky, Mr. Gaskell looks for his
subjects, and in the influence of the skies he finds his
pictorial motives. When he seeks inspiration in
architecture it is invariably some romantic and
picturesque old castle that dominates the land-
scape, and then with the infinite tonal harmonies
and contrasts of mezzotint he achieves his pictorial
expression. The beautiful Corfe Castle, reproduced
here, is a characteristic example ; and I would also
name that dramatic print The Mad King's Castle,
and the latest, and not the least impressive, of Mr.
Gaskell's mezzotints, Chefistoiv Castle, a noble
rendering of a noble theme. But in no print
has he used this beautiful medium with more
poetic expressiveness than in the plate he has
happily named with Henley's lines, Where forlorn
sunsets flare and fade, On desolate sea and lonely sand.
With what rich and exquisite effect Mr. Gaskell
handles also the tones of aquatint, one sees in the
two beautiful examples shown here : The Gathering
Storm : Lago di Garda, and Dissolving Mists.
But his achievement in aquatint includes some
other notable prints which ought not to pass un-
mentioned, such as Twilight in an Alpine Valley
and Poole Harbour, and, above all, Derwentivater
—Evening. If only he will guard against a
tendency to emphasis of the picturesque sentiment,
still greater success is well within Mr. Gaskell's reach.
ON THE FROME, DORSET FROM AN ETCHING BY PERC1VAL GASKELL, R.E.
284
vision that will transfigure a landscape with the
poetry and romance of light and shadow, the two
tone mediums, aquatint and mezzotint, which Sir
Frank Short had revived with masterly practice,
appealed to him irresistibly. Through these
mediums, therefore, rather than through line-
etching, Mr. Gaskell has found his happiest
expression upon the copper. When I speak of trans-
figuring the landscape I do not mean that he aims
at any romantic or dramatic exaggerations of effect,
but that he seeks to convey the sentiment of the
place as he sees it with the expression given by the
passing light. And because his eye is alertly
sensitive to the romantic and dramatic suggestions
of light, especially in the more mysterious and
enchanting hours of the day and night, his work is
instinct with poetic feeling pictorially expressive.
In landscape, whether of the plains or the hills,
and especially in combination with great expanses
of water, but in landscape always indissolubly
related to the sky, Mr. Gaskell looks for his
subjects, and in the influence of the skies he finds his
pictorial motives. When he seeks inspiration in
architecture it is invariably some romantic and
picturesque old castle that dominates the land-
scape, and then with the infinite tonal harmonies
and contrasts of mezzotint he achieves his pictorial
expression. The beautiful Corfe Castle, reproduced
here, is a characteristic example ; and I would also
name that dramatic print The Mad King's Castle,
and the latest, and not the least impressive, of Mr.
Gaskell's mezzotints, Chefistoiv Castle, a noble
rendering of a noble theme. But in no print
has he used this beautiful medium with more
poetic expressiveness than in the plate he has
happily named with Henley's lines, Where forlorn
sunsets flare and fade, On desolate sea and lonely sand.
With what rich and exquisite effect Mr. Gaskell
handles also the tones of aquatint, one sees in the
two beautiful examples shown here : The Gathering
Storm : Lago di Garda, and Dissolving Mists.
But his achievement in aquatint includes some
other notable prints which ought not to pass un-
mentioned, such as Twilight in an Alpine Valley
and Poole Harbour, and, above all, Derwentivater
—Evening. If only he will guard against a
tendency to emphasis of the picturesque sentiment,
still greater success is well within Mr. Gaskell's reach.
ON THE FROME, DORSET FROM AN ETCHING BY PERC1VAL GASKELL, R.E.
284