DOI Heft:
[No. 320 (November 1919)]
DOI Artikel:War memorials
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21359#0066
WAR MEMORIALS
“ THE MOURNERS.” PLASTER
RELIEF BY GILBERT LEDWARD
these two exhibitions one has encountered
some of a more or less commonplace
character and others which lack that emo-
tional quality so essential in a memorial
designed to hand down to future genera-
tions a message from the present, the col-
lection, considered in its entirety, certainly
seems to refute the assertion made by
Mr. Clutton Brock in a paper published
some time ago, that we of this generation
have shown less power of expressing our-
selves to future generations than any age
in the past. There is some truth, how-
ever, in his remark that blind submission
to the artist has produced “ a race of
tradesmen, not controlled by our tastes like
other tradesmen, who make objects which
no human being possibly could like but
which we accept because we suppose them
to be works of art.” It is to be feared that
many of the memorials which have been
or are being erected as a tribute to our
glorious dead will be found to belong to
this category, and that, instead of pride and
veneration, they will excite, if not disgust,
at least indifference, thus defeating the very
60
purpose they are intended to fulfil. There
is, perhaps, more danger of such a result in
the case of communal memorials than with
those commissioned by private individuals.
The selection of designs for the former is
usually delegated to a committee, and in
practice this often means that the ultimate
decision rests with that member of the
committee who has subscribed the largest
amount. If he is a prosperous business
man it is not unlikely that he will recom-
mend placing the matter in the hands of a
commercial firm, with the result that the
design selected will be a repetition with
perhaps slight variations of some utterly
commonplace production. The same
thing may, of course, happen when a
memorial is ordered and paid for by a
private individual, but here, at all events,
the personal interest of the client ought to,
and no doubt does, ensure in the majority
of cases a better result. And in this con-
nexion it should be remembered that while
the communal memorial is largely a pro-
duct of modern times, it is to the indi-
vidual patrons of bygone ages that we owe
“ THE MOURNERS.” PLASTER
RELIEF BY GILBERT LEDWARD
these two exhibitions one has encountered
some of a more or less commonplace
character and others which lack that emo-
tional quality so essential in a memorial
designed to hand down to future genera-
tions a message from the present, the col-
lection, considered in its entirety, certainly
seems to refute the assertion made by
Mr. Clutton Brock in a paper published
some time ago, that we of this generation
have shown less power of expressing our-
selves to future generations than any age
in the past. There is some truth, how-
ever, in his remark that blind submission
to the artist has produced “ a race of
tradesmen, not controlled by our tastes like
other tradesmen, who make objects which
no human being possibly could like but
which we accept because we suppose them
to be works of art.” It is to be feared that
many of the memorials which have been
or are being erected as a tribute to our
glorious dead will be found to belong to
this category, and that, instead of pride and
veneration, they will excite, if not disgust,
at least indifference, thus defeating the very
60
purpose they are intended to fulfil. There
is, perhaps, more danger of such a result in
the case of communal memorials than with
those commissioned by private individuals.
The selection of designs for the former is
usually delegated to a committee, and in
practice this often means that the ultimate
decision rests with that member of the
committee who has subscribed the largest
amount. If he is a prosperous business
man it is not unlikely that he will recom-
mend placing the matter in the hands of a
commercial firm, with the result that the
design selected will be a repetition with
perhaps slight variations of some utterly
commonplace production. The same
thing may, of course, happen when a
memorial is ordered and paid for by a
private individual, but here, at all events,
the personal interest of the client ought to,
and no doubt does, ensure in the majority
of cases a better result. And in this con-
nexion it should be remembered that while
the communal memorial is largely a pro-
duct of modern times, it is to the indi-
vidual patrons of bygone ages that we owe