DOI issue:
No. 279 (June 1916)
DOI article:Baldry, Alfred Lys: Mr. Arthur Wardle's pastel paintings
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21262#0033
Arthur IVardles Pastel Paintings
That is why it is true to say that Mr. Wardle their anatomical structure would not permit them
owes something of a debt to his pastel materials, to adopt, or it would be still more ridiculous to
With their aid he has been able to show us with a depict them as performing in their native haunts
fascinating spontaneity and directness what a very the tricks of the circus beast. The animal painter
great deal he knows about animals and how inti- cannot afford to fall into errors of this description :
mately acquainted he is not only with the details no matter how ingenious and skilful an executant
of their physical conformation and structure but he may be or how well he may have learned the
also with their subtleties of character and their trade of picture making, he must lose a great
habits of life. As he has little reason to fear that measure of his authority in the art world if he
he will be left behind in the race against time he cannot add to his technical skill the practical
can go deeper than most men beneath the surface knowledge which comes from detailed study of
of his subjects, and can make us see that he material facts. He must have an all-round equip-
approaches them with the inquiring spirit of the ment if he is to justify his claim to rank among the
naturalist quite as much as with the vision of the men who count in art.
painter. That Mr. Wardle does count as an artist of
Indeed, it is this habit of scientific investigation distinction no one could deny. He has done so
that gives to his pictures much of their power to much that is memorable and he has built up his
arrest and hold the attention of the
art lover. A painting of animal life
which is merely superficial in repre-
sentation and does not go beyond
a sort of generalisation of salient
facts may be momentarily attractive
as a pleasant piece of arrangement
or an agreeable suggestion, but it
will scarcely bear the test of
analysis. The trained student of
natural history will dismiss it as
too vague a thing to be considered
seriously or will be offended by in-
accuracies which the artist has not
succeeded in concealing. And the
artist, it must be remembered, has
to take into account the opinion of
the trained students when he is
painting something which can be
tested by scientific rules or which is
subject to laws that are definitely
recognised. It is no good pleading
artistic licence against the judgment
of the men who know; they will,
justifiably enough, condemn
mistakes which they can see come
from ignorance or careless observa-
tion.
Just as it would be absurd for the
sea painter to mix up in his picture
two kinds of weather and to put in
a sky which could not possibly be
seen under the wind conditions
which produced the wave move-
ment represented, so it would be
ridiculous for a painter of animals
to arrange them in attitudes which "greyhound standing" bv Arthur wardle
13
That is why it is true to say that Mr. Wardle their anatomical structure would not permit them
owes something of a debt to his pastel materials, to adopt, or it would be still more ridiculous to
With their aid he has been able to show us with a depict them as performing in their native haunts
fascinating spontaneity and directness what a very the tricks of the circus beast. The animal painter
great deal he knows about animals and how inti- cannot afford to fall into errors of this description :
mately acquainted he is not only with the details no matter how ingenious and skilful an executant
of their physical conformation and structure but he may be or how well he may have learned the
also with their subtleties of character and their trade of picture making, he must lose a great
habits of life. As he has little reason to fear that measure of his authority in the art world if he
he will be left behind in the race against time he cannot add to his technical skill the practical
can go deeper than most men beneath the surface knowledge which comes from detailed study of
of his subjects, and can make us see that he material facts. He must have an all-round equip-
approaches them with the inquiring spirit of the ment if he is to justify his claim to rank among the
naturalist quite as much as with the vision of the men who count in art.
painter. That Mr. Wardle does count as an artist of
Indeed, it is this habit of scientific investigation distinction no one could deny. He has done so
that gives to his pictures much of their power to much that is memorable and he has built up his
arrest and hold the attention of the
art lover. A painting of animal life
which is merely superficial in repre-
sentation and does not go beyond
a sort of generalisation of salient
facts may be momentarily attractive
as a pleasant piece of arrangement
or an agreeable suggestion, but it
will scarcely bear the test of
analysis. The trained student of
natural history will dismiss it as
too vague a thing to be considered
seriously or will be offended by in-
accuracies which the artist has not
succeeded in concealing. And the
artist, it must be remembered, has
to take into account the opinion of
the trained students when he is
painting something which can be
tested by scientific rules or which is
subject to laws that are definitely
recognised. It is no good pleading
artistic licence against the judgment
of the men who know; they will,
justifiably enough, condemn
mistakes which they can see come
from ignorance or careless observa-
tion.
Just as it would be absurd for the
sea painter to mix up in his picture
two kinds of weather and to put in
a sky which could not possibly be
seen under the wind conditions
which produced the wave move-
ment represented, so it would be
ridiculous for a painter of animals
to arrange them in attitudes which "greyhound standing" bv Arthur wardle
13