DOI issue:
No. 324 (March 1920)
DOI article:Hodson, Laurence W.: The Birmingham group: Arthur J. Gaskin and Joseph Southall
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21360#0010
THE BIRMINGHAM GROUP
PORTRAIT. FROM A TINTED DRAW-
ING BY ARTHUR J. GASKIN
by decorative book illustrations. The best
of these were twelve designs for the “ Shep-
herd’s Calendar/’ printed at the Kelmscott
Press ; but Morris’s death checked this
work at a critical point. He worked hard
at oil-painting and reached a standard of
skill in colour and design, and revealed a
capacity for patient, persevering work,
which promised great things. His picture
The Annunciation, painted in 1898, is a
notable achievement. 000
At this point the difficulty arose of find-
ing work well enough paid to promise a
secure and reasonable living. There was
no living wage for such black-and-white
work as the “ Shepherd’s Calendar ” draw-
ings ; with Morris’s death the demand be-
4
came even more precarious and was almost
exclusively for less carefully studied work,
done quickly, at a competitive price. Oil-
painting on the lines of The Annunciation
was even more precarious. Such work
must be produced slowly, and must com-
mand a high price if it is to be the basis
of a living ; and if one or two such pic-
tures should fail to sell promptly there is
trouble. 00000
So that when the offer came of the Head
Mastership of the fully constituted Jewel-
lers’ School, it was accepted, and its work
became a first call on Gaskin’s energy and
enthusiasm, leaving only fairly ample
leisure for definitely creative work. 0
But if this curtailing of production is,
PORTRAIT. FROM A TINTED DRAW-
ING BY ARTHUR J. GASKIN
by decorative book illustrations. The best
of these were twelve designs for the “ Shep-
herd’s Calendar/’ printed at the Kelmscott
Press ; but Morris’s death checked this
work at a critical point. He worked hard
at oil-painting and reached a standard of
skill in colour and design, and revealed a
capacity for patient, persevering work,
which promised great things. His picture
The Annunciation, painted in 1898, is a
notable achievement. 000
At this point the difficulty arose of find-
ing work well enough paid to promise a
secure and reasonable living. There was
no living wage for such black-and-white
work as the “ Shepherd’s Calendar ” draw-
ings ; with Morris’s death the demand be-
4
came even more precarious and was almost
exclusively for less carefully studied work,
done quickly, at a competitive price. Oil-
painting on the lines of The Annunciation
was even more precarious. Such work
must be produced slowly, and must com-
mand a high price if it is to be the basis
of a living ; and if one or two such pic-
tures should fail to sell promptly there is
trouble. 00000
So that when the offer came of the Head
Mastership of the fully constituted Jewel-
lers’ School, it was accepted, and its work
became a first call on Gaskin’s energy and
enthusiasm, leaving only fairly ample
leisure for definitely creative work. 0
But if this curtailing of production is,