DOI Artikel:
Baldry, Alfred Lys: Modern British sculptors: W. Robert Colton, A. R. A.
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21214#0104
IV. Robert Colton, A.R.A.
subject can best be treated, to decide what kind
of technical method is most appropriate, and to
settle how he can consistently carry through the
conception he has formed of the motive presented
to him. In this connection a comparison can
usefully be made between his admirable bust of
Lord Roberts and his charming marble group of
a mother and child—in the one the rugged reality
of old age has been his inspiration; in the other
the subtlety of a symbolical abstraction which
needed no insistence upon detailed actuality to
point its meaning. Yet both are entirely persuasive,
and in both he has been wholly true to his
aesthetic creed.
And it is essentially part of this creed that the
duty of the artist is to do what he has to do with
the fullest measure of executive distinction. He
recognises completely that without
finely sensitive modelling a well-
intended piece of sculpture must
lose much of its significance and
must fail to be convincing. So he
has trained himself to use his
materials with a certainty and con-
fidence which can be unhesitatingly
commended, and he has acquired
a control over the mechanism of
his work which is exceptionally
valuable. Few of our sculptors
rival him in their treatment of
flesh textures or in feeling for re-
finements of surface form; fewer
still can express in so skilful a
manner the structure of the human
body or give so intimate a sugges-
tion of the underlying modellings
of bone and muscle. Not many
men who follow this walk of art
can achieve so much exactness of
realistic statement without descend-
ing into merely faithful imitation
of the living model—without for-
getting, that is to say, how the
pursuit of fact must be kept within
bounds by delicate and sensitive
fancy. He has learned well how
nature should be studied by the
artist who has ideas of his own
that he desires to express, and
how what the eye perceives should
be used to make intelligible a
mental vision which is an abstract
inspiration rather than a recollection
of something actually seen. This bust of lord Roberts
98
balance of judgment it is that gives to his work its
special distinction and that makes his executive
facility—which might be dangerous to any one
with a less clear appreciation of the duty which
an artist owes to his art—serve so admirably the
purposes of his practice. But, then, Mr. Colton
ranks among our modern masters, and it is by
surpassing his competitors that the master’s
position is gained. A. L. Baldry.
The collection of bronzes by Auguste Rodin,
presented by the sculptor to the Victoria and
Albert Museum, have been returned from Edin-
burgh, where they were exhibited on loan by the
Royal Scottish Academy during the past summer,
and have been replaced in the West Hall of the
Museum, where they are now on view.
BY W. R. COLTON, A.R.A.
subject can best be treated, to decide what kind
of technical method is most appropriate, and to
settle how he can consistently carry through the
conception he has formed of the motive presented
to him. In this connection a comparison can
usefully be made between his admirable bust of
Lord Roberts and his charming marble group of
a mother and child—in the one the rugged reality
of old age has been his inspiration; in the other
the subtlety of a symbolical abstraction which
needed no insistence upon detailed actuality to
point its meaning. Yet both are entirely persuasive,
and in both he has been wholly true to his
aesthetic creed.
And it is essentially part of this creed that the
duty of the artist is to do what he has to do with
the fullest measure of executive distinction. He
recognises completely that without
finely sensitive modelling a well-
intended piece of sculpture must
lose much of its significance and
must fail to be convincing. So he
has trained himself to use his
materials with a certainty and con-
fidence which can be unhesitatingly
commended, and he has acquired
a control over the mechanism of
his work which is exceptionally
valuable. Few of our sculptors
rival him in their treatment of
flesh textures or in feeling for re-
finements of surface form; fewer
still can express in so skilful a
manner the structure of the human
body or give so intimate a sugges-
tion of the underlying modellings
of bone and muscle. Not many
men who follow this walk of art
can achieve so much exactness of
realistic statement without descend-
ing into merely faithful imitation
of the living model—without for-
getting, that is to say, how the
pursuit of fact must be kept within
bounds by delicate and sensitive
fancy. He has learned well how
nature should be studied by the
artist who has ideas of his own
that he desires to express, and
how what the eye perceives should
be used to make intelligible a
mental vision which is an abstract
inspiration rather than a recollection
of something actually seen. This bust of lord Roberts
98
balance of judgment it is that gives to his work its
special distinction and that makes his executive
facility—which might be dangerous to any one
with a less clear appreciation of the duty which
an artist owes to his art—serve so admirably the
purposes of his practice. But, then, Mr. Colton
ranks among our modern masters, and it is by
surpassing his competitors that the master’s
position is gained. A. L. Baldry.
The collection of bronzes by Auguste Rodin,
presented by the sculptor to the Victoria and
Albert Museum, have been returned from Edin-
burgh, where they were exhibited on loan by the
Royal Scottish Academy during the past summer,
and have been replaced in the West Hall of the
Museum, where they are now on view.
BY W. R. COLTON, A.R.A.