Studio: international art (76.1919)

Modern Flower Painting

MODERN FLOWER PAINTING

(First Article.)

IT would be interesting, if it were possible,
to discover at what moment in the history
of art the study of flowers as a subject
for pictorial treatment was first attempted.
The beginning must have been in the very
earliest ages of art, for examples of flower
painting are to be found in all the schools that
are known to us to-day, even the most primitive
and remote. Many of the ancient decorative
patterns and details are inspired by flower
forms ; flowers play a very definite part in
the symbolical design of all periods ; from
plants come the motives for much that is im-
portant in architecture.

In modern times artists have sought in
flower painting opportunities for the display
of their skill in craftsmanship, their sense of
coloui, and their capacity to represent subtle-
ties of surface texture. The floral motive is
still, as it has always been, a favourite one in
design, but hardly less in favour to-day is the
flower subject as a matter for serious and faith-
ful treatment pictorially. This branch of prac-
tice has a host of exponents and a large and
appreciative public ; directed by clear traditions
it follows recognized principles, and within its
necessary limitations it offers scope for a re-
markable variety of expression.

Certainly there is among modern artists a
disposition to exploit its possibilities to the
utmost. They realize, beyond doubt, how
many directions there are in which it can be
developed, and they see how well it enables
them to record their own personal convictions
and to apply individual methods of treatment.
Some are frankly realists who aim at exact
imitation, and strive for absolute actuality of
representation; some are purely colourists
who use flowers as motives for balanced and
carefully harmonized colour-schemes, and sub-
ordinate detail to the main effect ; some, again,
are students of form and structure, and approach
their subject with something of the botanist's
precision; and others are decorators, who
choose flowers as the component parts of a
design because in this way they obtain material
which, by its grace of line and pure freshness of
colour, serves them well in the making of
effective patterns.

The consequence of all this active interest
LXXVI. No. 313.—April 1919

and varied effort is that modern flower painting
is full of surprises. Its traditions, however
definite they may be, are proved to be singu-
larly elastic, and its limitations are seen to be
wide enough to allow within them the fullest
freedom of action to the artist. The illustra-
tions given here show something of this breadth
of range, and suggest well the extent of the
opportunities for personal expression which
are available for the flower painter. There is a
very marked contrast of style in these repro-
ductions, and a contrast of intentions, too, as
well as of methods ; each of the three artists has
approached his subject from a different stand-
point and kept in view a purpose of his own.
Yet each has done what he believed ought to be
done with the material at his disposal, and has
studied sincerely the problems which seemed to
him to demand solution. They have arrived
at widely different results, but in each case
the result has been what the painter felt con-
vinced he should aim at because his instinct
told him that it was the one by which his per-
sonality could be made to produce its best
effect, and the one in which his sense of artistic
fitness could be most evidently displayed.

For example, the flower group by Mr. Francis
James has an arresting interest as the work
of an artist who brings to this type of subject
a rare mastery over technical processes, and a
highly trained power of observation and se-
lection. His principle of practice is to eliminate
trivialities of detail and to strive for largeness
and breadth of manner, to be extremely accurate
and precise, but to keep the fresh, spontaneous
quality of a rapid sketch. Success in such a
method is possible only by profound and in-
timate study, because even the most apparently
careless touch has to be directed by complete
knowledge—there is no room for happy acci-
dents of brushwork or for attractive but untrue
happenings m the colour arrangement. Every
touch has to have its right place in the pictorial
scheme, and must add to the general effect
something vital and full of meaning. None
of them can be applied merely for the purpose
of filling space, because there is, in building
up the picture, no space left which has not to
be filled with matter essential to the general
design. The method Mr. James employs de-
mands exacting concentration and continued
labour, but there must be no tiresome evidence
of this labour in the finished work.

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