DOI Heft:
No. 254 (June 1914)
DOI Artikel:Stodart-Walker, Archibald: The art of John Lavery, R.S.A., A.R.A., etc.
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21210#0024
John Lavery, R.S.A'., .1 .R.A.
on loan from the Senate" House, Brussels, the years hence." The painter did not go about apolo-
National and Modern Galleries of Dublin, the gising to his critics that he painted for the future and
Manchester Art Gallery, the Belfast Corpora- not for the present. Throughout his career Mr.
tion Gallery and Girton College, Cambridge. The Lavery never apologised at all. He simply did
rest of the canvases are chiefly from private what he knew and left it at that. So to-day we
collections and include many of the portraits which glory in that masterpiece The Lady with the
made the reputation of the painter, such as the Pearls from The Modern Gallery in Dublin,
Miss Mary Burrell (1891), the Sisters (1891-92), representing the painter more consummately
Lady Nvrah Hely-Hutchinson (1905), and Lady perhaps than any other canvas, as the critics did
Evelyti Farquhar (1906). Tin: collection also in- when it was first exhibited.
eludes The Night after Langside — the famous There are some things that Mr. livery cannot
canvas over which Mr. Lavery spent ten'years, and achieve, though of all living craftsmen in paint to
Dawn after Langside lent by Mr. James Mvine, two none can be applied more honestly the statement
pictures alone which might have made a reputation made by one of his colleagues that " there is very
sufficient for any man. little he cannot do." A distinguished contemporary
In studying some of
these canvases what strikes
us most is how well Mr.
Lavery has gauged the
effect of time. Such a pic-
ture as The Rocking Chair
from the Diploma Gallery,
Edinburgh, painted twenty-
two years ago, might have
been finished yesterday,
the paint is so fresh and
glowing, and so far as we
have been able to examine
the works of the past, we
have not discovered one
■example of the artist's work
that has not improved " in
the keeping." The fact
may be useful to those of
our moderns who imagine
that it is necessary to
practise some unusual
method of painting, some
laying on of paint which is
to earn the condemnation
of the present at the price
of the appreciation of the
future. So long as a man
understands the medium in
which he works, so long as
he knows what paint is
likely to become under the
processes of time, there
seems no need for him to
be greatly concerned about
the future. None of Mr.
Lavery's early canvases
were labelled " This picture
is intended for thirty or fifty "Japanese Switzerland" (1912) by joiin lavery, r.s.a., a.r.a.
4
on loan from the Senate" House, Brussels, the years hence." The painter did not go about apolo-
National and Modern Galleries of Dublin, the gising to his critics that he painted for the future and
Manchester Art Gallery, the Belfast Corpora- not for the present. Throughout his career Mr.
tion Gallery and Girton College, Cambridge. The Lavery never apologised at all. He simply did
rest of the canvases are chiefly from private what he knew and left it at that. So to-day we
collections and include many of the portraits which glory in that masterpiece The Lady with the
made the reputation of the painter, such as the Pearls from The Modern Gallery in Dublin,
Miss Mary Burrell (1891), the Sisters (1891-92), representing the painter more consummately
Lady Nvrah Hely-Hutchinson (1905), and Lady perhaps than any other canvas, as the critics did
Evelyti Farquhar (1906). Tin: collection also in- when it was first exhibited.
eludes The Night after Langside — the famous There are some things that Mr. livery cannot
canvas over which Mr. Lavery spent ten'years, and achieve, though of all living craftsmen in paint to
Dawn after Langside lent by Mr. James Mvine, two none can be applied more honestly the statement
pictures alone which might have made a reputation made by one of his colleagues that " there is very
sufficient for any man. little he cannot do." A distinguished contemporary
In studying some of
these canvases what strikes
us most is how well Mr.
Lavery has gauged the
effect of time. Such a pic-
ture as The Rocking Chair
from the Diploma Gallery,
Edinburgh, painted twenty-
two years ago, might have
been finished yesterday,
the paint is so fresh and
glowing, and so far as we
have been able to examine
the works of the past, we
have not discovered one
■example of the artist's work
that has not improved " in
the keeping." The fact
may be useful to those of
our moderns who imagine
that it is necessary to
practise some unusual
method of painting, some
laying on of paint which is
to earn the condemnation
of the present at the price
of the appreciation of the
future. So long as a man
understands the medium in
which he works, so long as
he knows what paint is
likely to become under the
processes of time, there
seems no need for him to
be greatly concerned about
the future. None of Mr.
Lavery's early canvases
were labelled " This picture
is intended for thirty or fifty "Japanese Switzerland" (1912) by joiin lavery, r.s.a., a.r.a.
4