DOI Artikel:
Wall tablets and memorials by British sculptors
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21214#0195
IVall Tablets and Memorials
MEMORIAL TO SIR RICHARD AND GEORGE TANGYE AT THE BIRMINGHAM CITY
ART GALLERY. BY W. ROBERT COLTON, A.R.A.
existence of the Roman triumphal arches ? All
these things are infinitely valuable as artistic
achievements, and though we may feel gratitude
for the public or private spirit which induced
their creation, our chief tribute must be paid to
the artist by whom the work was done. He
reflects the sense of his time, he shows us what
was the conscious or unconscious sentiment of the
nation to which he belonged; he explains how
the men of his period—or the best of them, at all
events—thought and felt; and in his production
is summed up the whole statement of the intel-
lectual condition in which his contemporaries
strove to do their share in the work of the world.
So it is vitally important that in modern effort
of this type sthe artistic
tradition should be main-
tained, and that none of the
principles which guided the
workers in the past should
be allowed to lapse. We
are to-day quite as much
inclined as were any of the
ancients to use the memo-
rial as a means of visualis-
ing our sentiments; the
instinct to erect monuments
is as keen as ever, and the
desire to prove to our
descendants that certain
events or the virtues of
certain people have moved
us deeply is as effective
now as it was in centuries
long passed away. But as
we have kept alive this instinct we must also keep
unimpaired the sense of artistic appropriateness
and must guard scrupulously against any lowering
in the artistic standard of our memorial work.
Anything that is worthy of historical record in this
way is worthy also of the best that art can do—
by the quality of the art that is used in making
the record the significance of the record itself will
be estimated in the future, for it is hardly con-
ceivable that we could commemorate what we have
felt deeply by works that are artistically inefficient.
Happily, our present-day artists have a right
sense of proportion in their dealing with memorial
art. Our sculptors, for example, do not allow any
false pride to make them less anxious to do them-
MEMORIAL TO BOYD AND CLAUD ALEXANDER IN CRANBROOK PARISH CHURCH. BY W. ROBERT COLTON, A.R.A.
189
MEMORIAL TO SIR RICHARD AND GEORGE TANGYE AT THE BIRMINGHAM CITY
ART GALLERY. BY W. ROBERT COLTON, A.R.A.
existence of the Roman triumphal arches ? All
these things are infinitely valuable as artistic
achievements, and though we may feel gratitude
for the public or private spirit which induced
their creation, our chief tribute must be paid to
the artist by whom the work was done. He
reflects the sense of his time, he shows us what
was the conscious or unconscious sentiment of the
nation to which he belonged; he explains how
the men of his period—or the best of them, at all
events—thought and felt; and in his production
is summed up the whole statement of the intel-
lectual condition in which his contemporaries
strove to do their share in the work of the world.
So it is vitally important that in modern effort
of this type sthe artistic
tradition should be main-
tained, and that none of the
principles which guided the
workers in the past should
be allowed to lapse. We
are to-day quite as much
inclined as were any of the
ancients to use the memo-
rial as a means of visualis-
ing our sentiments; the
instinct to erect monuments
is as keen as ever, and the
desire to prove to our
descendants that certain
events or the virtues of
certain people have moved
us deeply is as effective
now as it was in centuries
long passed away. But as
we have kept alive this instinct we must also keep
unimpaired the sense of artistic appropriateness
and must guard scrupulously against any lowering
in the artistic standard of our memorial work.
Anything that is worthy of historical record in this
way is worthy also of the best that art can do—
by the quality of the art that is used in making
the record the significance of the record itself will
be estimated in the future, for it is hardly con-
ceivable that we could commemorate what we have
felt deeply by works that are artistically inefficient.
Happily, our present-day artists have a right
sense of proportion in their dealing with memorial
art. Our sculptors, for example, do not allow any
false pride to make them less anxious to do them-
MEMORIAL TO BOYD AND CLAUD ALEXANDER IN CRANBROOK PARISH CHURCH. BY W. ROBERT COLTON, A.R.A.
189