Studio: international art (72.1918)

William Jean Beauley: An Appreciation

BOOK ILLUSTRATION BY WILHELMINA M. GEDDIS

in all its varied and “ live ” qualities, that holds
the surpassing beauty and significance. And
withal, the art of Harry Clarke has strong
individual character, is marked by a fine sense
of form and powers of draughtsmanship, and,
too, is Celtic to a degree.

There are many other exhibits that are
well worthy of special mention—the illumi-
nation of Joseph Tierney, of Dublin; the
drawings and stained-glass cartoons of Wil-
helmina Geddis, of Belfast; the stained glass
by Austin Molloy, Ethel Rhind, and Michael
Healy, all of Dublin; the Belfast Civic Banner
designed by R. A. Dawson, and executed by
a group of his students in the Municipal School
of Art in that city; examples of leather-work
and jewellery, among the latter especially the
gold and plique-a-jour enamel pendant by
Meave O’Byrne-Doggett; weaving by the Dun
Emer Guild, etc. The work to which special
reference has been made, however, has been
chosen not merely as work of merit, but as
showing also the distinctive character in the
arts that is being evolved by the craftworkers
of Ireland.

WILLIAM JEAN BEAULEY: AN
APPRECIATION. BY W. H. DE B.
NELSON.

TO “ arrive ” and to “ get there ” are
not synonymous terms when applied
to an artist. There are many men
who arrive quiescently without any
semblance of a struggle. The public, by the
mouth of the auctioneer more often than of the
critic, has ascertained their value with the
result that collectors and museum directors
suddenly find it becoming if not essential to
possess the work of these particular men. Very
different is the advance of the man who, in the
expressive vernacular of the United States,
“ gets there.” It is by sheer indomitable
striving that such success is obtained, and by
the possession of noteworthy qualities.

A bright eye, alert bearing, decisive speech,
square jaw mostly set, and a powerful chest,
are a few of the compelling characteristics that
at once stamp William Jean Beauley as a man
who would battle his way to success any day,
rather than placidly leave his reputation to
look after itself with all the passivity of a
lottery ticket. That he has struggled and will
always do so is because to men of his nature
it is only the struggle that counts.

To learn something about his art one must
know something about the artist, and to go to
the veriest beginnings we may at once state
that he was born some forty years ago in Joliet,
Illinois. So far Joliet enjoys a somewhat shady
reputation as possessing one of America’s largest
penitentiaries, but it is hoped that in coming
years it may also be known as the birthplace of
William Jean Beauley, in which respect it will
bear a certain analogy with that famous French
seaport which is known for its incomparable
bouillabaisse and as being the birthplace of
Monte Christo—but there the analogy between
Marseilles and Joliet ceases. To remove all
ground for suspicion, however, we recall that
at the time of the World’s Fair in Chicago,
three artists—a painter, a sculptor, and an
architect—claimed Joliet as their home town.
These three repaired to Paris and were speedily
engulfed in the Latin Quarter. Beauley, aged
nineteen, was an architect and had the great
good fortune when at the World’s Fair to meet
M. Maurice Yvon, architect of the French
Government. Between these two was a rapid

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