DOI Heft:
No. 318 (September 1919)
DOI Artikel:Folliott Stokes, A. G.: The paintings of Louis Sargent
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21358#0145
THE PAINTINGS OF LOUIS SARGENT
“THE BREITHORN
BY LOUIS SARGENT
THE PAINTINGS OF LOUIS SAR-
GENT. BYA.G.FOLLIOTT STOKES.
IN these days, when the work of so many
artists is being constantly reviewed,
not only in the periodicals devoted to art
but in the daily press, one thinks twice
before adding to the number of these essays.
In the case of Louis Sargent, however, I
believe that many people desire to hear
more of his exceedingly personal work.
Sargent belongs to that numerically
small but artistically potential group of
men who are in advance of their age;
men who, by their mastery of drawing and
technique, and by a mentality which
enables them to see and think outside the
circle of custom and convention (a much
rarer gift), are the natural pioneers of the
epoch in which they live. And the
difficulties that beset the paths of these
pioneers, in their task of educating the
public taste to appreciate new beauties and
qualities in the manifestations of Nature,
are, in these latter days, much increased by
a host of partially trained men and women
who hope that, by adopting the simplifying
methods of the really accomplished im-
LXXVII. No. 318.—September 1919
pressionists, they may be able to conceal
their inability to draw and paint. Thus
many exhibitions contain a quantity of
meretricious claptrap which at its best is
but clever imitation of mechanical methods
only, and therefore animated by no high
ideal, no love of truth, or real knowledge
of the subject it so jaunt ly ventures to
portray. Unfortunately the public fail to
realize the immense gulf that separates
the work of the man who eliminates detail
because it is superfluous to his theme, and
simplifies his colour-scheme to obtain the
most perfect harmony, from the work of
him who eliminates detail because he
cannot draw it, and simplifies colour
because he is unable to render its subtle
gradations. If people would realize that
no man can become a capable impres-
sionist who has not graduated as a capable
realist, it would save them from many false
judgments, a a a a a
Let us now turn our attention to the
paintings of Louis Sargent. Here, at any
rate, we shall discover no inadequacy in
draughtsmanship, or lack of technical
ability. His has been no primrose path
of dalliance with the Muses. At the early
129
“THE BREITHORN
BY LOUIS SARGENT
THE PAINTINGS OF LOUIS SAR-
GENT. BYA.G.FOLLIOTT STOKES.
IN these days, when the work of so many
artists is being constantly reviewed,
not only in the periodicals devoted to art
but in the daily press, one thinks twice
before adding to the number of these essays.
In the case of Louis Sargent, however, I
believe that many people desire to hear
more of his exceedingly personal work.
Sargent belongs to that numerically
small but artistically potential group of
men who are in advance of their age;
men who, by their mastery of drawing and
technique, and by a mentality which
enables them to see and think outside the
circle of custom and convention (a much
rarer gift), are the natural pioneers of the
epoch in which they live. And the
difficulties that beset the paths of these
pioneers, in their task of educating the
public taste to appreciate new beauties and
qualities in the manifestations of Nature,
are, in these latter days, much increased by
a host of partially trained men and women
who hope that, by adopting the simplifying
methods of the really accomplished im-
LXXVII. No. 318.—September 1919
pressionists, they may be able to conceal
their inability to draw and paint. Thus
many exhibitions contain a quantity of
meretricious claptrap which at its best is
but clever imitation of mechanical methods
only, and therefore animated by no high
ideal, no love of truth, or real knowledge
of the subject it so jaunt ly ventures to
portray. Unfortunately the public fail to
realize the immense gulf that separates
the work of the man who eliminates detail
because it is superfluous to his theme, and
simplifies his colour-scheme to obtain the
most perfect harmony, from the work of
him who eliminates detail because he
cannot draw it, and simplifies colour
because he is unable to render its subtle
gradations. If people would realize that
no man can become a capable impres-
sionist who has not graduated as a capable
realist, it would save them from many false
judgments, a a a a a
Let us now turn our attention to the
paintings of Louis Sargent. Here, at any
rate, we shall discover no inadequacy in
draughtsmanship, or lack of technical
ability. His has been no primrose path
of dalliance with the Muses. At the early
129