Studio: international art (64.1915)

The Paintings of Leonard Campbell Taylor

“ PAVILION FRANCAIS, VERSAILLES” BY L. CAMPBELL TAYLOR

he achieves in such work is surprising, considering
the subdued tonality of his other work. His eye
is particularly sensitive to the pearly greys and pale
ambers and purples of evening skies, such as that
of the Place St. Etienne in unfortunate Meaux.
Another thing that marks him out amongst other
modern painters is the quite delightful use he
makes of pattern—not pattern as understood in the
compositional sense, but in its ordinary meaning.
Flowery wall-paper, coloured chintz, and striped
and shot silk, together with an Oriental carpet
border, form in Reminiscences an agreeable ensemble
which is not disturbed by the discreet pattern of
the cane-backed settle; and a similar fondness for
pattern, together with a striking composition is
shown in The Firstborn. His manipulation of
these things is almost feminine in its appreciative
gracefulness. Quite lately he has begun to unite
his two styles, painting Early Victorian subject-
matter with Impressionist brushing.

Art is so many-sided, depends, both for creation
and appreciation, so much on personal idiosyn-
crasies, that no one has a right to set himself up as
a judge in such matters; if he attempts to do so
he will find that his decisions will often be upset
in the higher court of personal opinion. The

artist himself is, as a
rule, an artist malgre Ini.
As Ruskin points out, he
does not “think” in the
ordinary sense, and ex-
amples are not lacking to
prove that his theories
flatly contradict his prac-
tice, and that he could
not explain his manner
of painting. Neverthe-
less, his own views of his
art are necessarily more
authoritative than his
critics’ opinions. Mr.
Taylor thinks art “not
only delightful but also
educative, in the sense
that it teaches observa-
tion ”; he believes it to
be “also historically in-
structive, but above all it
interprets the secrets and
beauties of nature and
character.” Here you
have the true confession
of an artist’s soul. De-
light, the joy of seeing,
comes first; observation, its science, comes second;
communication comes third. Last, but,not least,
comes a function which, I venture to think, is the
real modern achievement of art : interpretation.
To my mind there can be no doubt that neither
Giotto, Raphael, nor even Velasquez ever con-
sciously bothered about art as an interpretation of
life. They either copied nature—Giotto awk-
wardly, piecemeal, and on a basis unconnected with
art, viz. dogma or religion; Velasquez conscien-
tiously, efficiently, like a sentient mirror—or, like
Raphael, they adapted nature at second hand, the
first hand being the sculptor’s, for purposes of
decoration. But the rendering of nature, or rather
life, not as an imitative representation nor as a
decorative adaptation, is something new. When
the history of the art of our own times comes to
be written by posterity they will call it the Age of
Interpretation.

That Leonard Campbell Taylor will occupy an
honoured place in this future history there is little
doubt. He is in the prime of life, and much as
his work is already appreciated by lovers of the
less adventurous type of modern art, considerable
as his achievement already is, we prophesy that
his best is still to come. Herbert Furst.

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