DOI Heft:
No. 253 (May 1914)
DOI Artikel:Wood, T. Martin: Norman Wilkinson's decoration of ''A midsummer night's dream'' at the Savoy Theatre
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21209#0309
Norman Wilkinson s Decoration of' " A Midsummer Nights Dream"
In the ideal a play by Shakespeare should be
mounted by an artist of equal genius with his own.
Presuming this not to be possible, the fact remains
that for presenting a work of genius, genius of some
kind is required. The art of painting at this
moment witnesses to the presence of this quality
in modern art, but of course a vast knowledge of
stage technique is necessary to the artist of the
theatre, and it may be asked what is the special
qualification of a painter for the post. It is this,
that whilst other workers connected with stage-craft
are by the nature of their employment involved in
the inside view of it—the engine's view of its own
works—the painter (as here distinct from scene-
painter) shares the audience's point of view, and has
the faculty of conceiving the scene presented to
them as a single composition. It is for his genius
for apprehending this point of view, increased by
peculiar knowledge of the laws controlling a pictorial
success, that the artist is more than any one else
fitted to command the final result. And this it is
which Mr. Granville Barker has appreciated in
inviting the artist into the theatre, not as a
subordinate, but, theoretically, upon equal terms
with the playwright and the actor. Other managers
have gone part of the way, but there has been failure
of money or courage, or the experiment has been
foredoomed to failure by being coupled with an
attempt to force an unpopular play upon the public.
If this movement is to gather force it must show
the possibility of mounting trifles exquisitely.
Indeed this is a very good test; if a play cannot
stand beautiful interpretation, or is not worth it, it
were better not to put it on at all.
Mr. Granville Barker's revolution has succeeded
through the ability of his lieutenant, Mr. Norman
Wilkinson. First of all a painter, his qualifications
do not end there. He is able to take upon his own
shoulders a kind of responsibility which many
painters whose talent otherwise suited them for the
theatre could not embrace. And this has made it
possible for the Savoy Theatre to enlist designs
from other distinguished artists with the certainty
that in any collaboration with Mr. Wilkinson the
OBEEON CHARMS DEMETRIUS ("MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM," ACT III, SCENE ll). ARRANGED BY NORMAN WILKINSON
302
In the ideal a play by Shakespeare should be
mounted by an artist of equal genius with his own.
Presuming this not to be possible, the fact remains
that for presenting a work of genius, genius of some
kind is required. The art of painting at this
moment witnesses to the presence of this quality
in modern art, but of course a vast knowledge of
stage technique is necessary to the artist of the
theatre, and it may be asked what is the special
qualification of a painter for the post. It is this,
that whilst other workers connected with stage-craft
are by the nature of their employment involved in
the inside view of it—the engine's view of its own
works—the painter (as here distinct from scene-
painter) shares the audience's point of view, and has
the faculty of conceiving the scene presented to
them as a single composition. It is for his genius
for apprehending this point of view, increased by
peculiar knowledge of the laws controlling a pictorial
success, that the artist is more than any one else
fitted to command the final result. And this it is
which Mr. Granville Barker has appreciated in
inviting the artist into the theatre, not as a
subordinate, but, theoretically, upon equal terms
with the playwright and the actor. Other managers
have gone part of the way, but there has been failure
of money or courage, or the experiment has been
foredoomed to failure by being coupled with an
attempt to force an unpopular play upon the public.
If this movement is to gather force it must show
the possibility of mounting trifles exquisitely.
Indeed this is a very good test; if a play cannot
stand beautiful interpretation, or is not worth it, it
were better not to put it on at all.
Mr. Granville Barker's revolution has succeeded
through the ability of his lieutenant, Mr. Norman
Wilkinson. First of all a painter, his qualifications
do not end there. He is able to take upon his own
shoulders a kind of responsibility which many
painters whose talent otherwise suited them for the
theatre could not embrace. And this has made it
possible for the Savoy Theatre to enlist designs
from other distinguished artists with the certainty
that in any collaboration with Mr. Wilkinson the
OBEEON CHARMS DEMETRIUS ("MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM," ACT III, SCENE ll). ARRANGED BY NORMAN WILKINSON
302