DOI Heft:
No. 300 (March 1918)
DOI Artikel:Marriott, Charles: Recent drawings by Walter Bayes, A.R.W.S.
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21356#0069
Recent Paintings by Walter Bayes, A.R.IV.S.
'HI***—
"THE COMFORTER BY WALTER BAYES, A.R.W.S.
their proper business as the politics of a shoe- handling of paint. Being grounded in his craft,
maker. This, by the way, is not a jibe at the and sure of the scope and limitations of his art,
" subject " or even the " story " picture. The all he has to do is to modify his design and
common accusation against painters of a execution according to the different conditions.
" literary " motive really proves nothing except Many painters either ignore the different condi-
that the accuser has missed the point of litera- tions or, rushing at them in a panic, cease to be
ture; which is essentially the art of using words, recognizable as themselves. They may be good
without reference to subject or motive. Story painters and good designers, but they cannot
has nothing to do with it; a story can be told transfer their skill from the frame to the wall or
as well and as legitimately in paint as in words ; furniture or whatever it may be. Asked to pro-
and there is no such thing as a specifically duce a decoration they, cease to paint and make
literary motive unless it means a motive that merely a coloured design ; thus accentuating the
could only be expressed in words. In that case arbitrary division between pictorial and decora-
it could not be painted. But the distinction tive art which has done so much to check the
that Mr. Bayes enjoys of always working inside development and appreciation of painting,
his art and according to its natural laws is Mr. Bayes has a surer grasp of the different
much more than a means of classification, conditions than most; but, being a painter on
It is presumptive evidence that the artist has principle and not by rule of thumb, he does not
formulated certain principles, both of design lose either his head or his hand in changing
and craftsmanship, which will enable him to from one to the other.
adapt his art to any suitable occasion. The point is important because in the future
We see this in the work of Mr. Bayes. He artists will be expected to be more adaptable
can paint at will in a realistic or a decorative than in the past; to have the same sense of
manner, for the frame or for the wall, without conditions that we look for in the doctor or
changing his point of view or his personal engineer. More than ever before we shall need
63
'HI***—
"THE COMFORTER BY WALTER BAYES, A.R.W.S.
their proper business as the politics of a shoe- handling of paint. Being grounded in his craft,
maker. This, by the way, is not a jibe at the and sure of the scope and limitations of his art,
" subject " or even the " story " picture. The all he has to do is to modify his design and
common accusation against painters of a execution according to the different conditions.
" literary " motive really proves nothing except Many painters either ignore the different condi-
that the accuser has missed the point of litera- tions or, rushing at them in a panic, cease to be
ture; which is essentially the art of using words, recognizable as themselves. They may be good
without reference to subject or motive. Story painters and good designers, but they cannot
has nothing to do with it; a story can be told transfer their skill from the frame to the wall or
as well and as legitimately in paint as in words ; furniture or whatever it may be. Asked to pro-
and there is no such thing as a specifically duce a decoration they, cease to paint and make
literary motive unless it means a motive that merely a coloured design ; thus accentuating the
could only be expressed in words. In that case arbitrary division between pictorial and decora-
it could not be painted. But the distinction tive art which has done so much to check the
that Mr. Bayes enjoys of always working inside development and appreciation of painting,
his art and according to its natural laws is Mr. Bayes has a surer grasp of the different
much more than a means of classification, conditions than most; but, being a painter on
It is presumptive evidence that the artist has principle and not by rule of thumb, he does not
formulated certain principles, both of design lose either his head or his hand in changing
and craftsmanship, which will enable him to from one to the other.
adapt his art to any suitable occasion. The point is important because in the future
We see this in the work of Mr. Bayes. He artists will be expected to be more adaptable
can paint at will in a realistic or a decorative than in the past; to have the same sense of
manner, for the frame or for the wall, without conditions that we look for in the doctor or
changing his point of view or his personal engineer. More than ever before we shall need
63