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#0014
THE BIRMINGHAM GROUP
“ PONT NEUF, PARIS.” WATER-
COLOUR BY JOSEPH SOUTHALL
ultra-modern pair of boots gives the show
away, a a a a a a
A second visit to Italy with Gaskin in
1897 served to confirm him in his sym-
pathies and to extend his knowledge. a
Southall is essentially a designer in
colour, and, as mere colour pattern, a collec-
tion of his pictures has a character which
stands alone in modern art. One of his
typical pictures depends hardly at all on
shading or blending of one colour into
another, but on the juxtaposition of pieces
of pure colour, each with a definite quality,
each occupying its allotted space, and mak-
ing its contribution to the harmony of the
whole. 000000
General unfamiliarity with the particular
quality of tempera colour, and an ignorance
of its special merits of purity and brilliance,
have prevented Southall's pictures being
popular, and have often subjected him to
the most pathetic appeals to abandon quali-
ties for which he had striven, as for pearls
of great price, and to strive for a sort of
popular prettiness he would be ashamed to
have achieved. Through it all he has
serenely held his own course, doing the
things he likes doing, in the way he likes
doing them. 00000
Like many another artist with a sense for
decoration Southall has fretted under the
lack of scope for larger work. A panel in
true fresco on the staircase of the Birming-
ham Art Gallery shows the scale on which
he would like to work, but such work is
not possible without commissions, and they
are not forthcoming. 000
A very gratifying success was a one-man
show of his work in Paris in 1910, which
was a very welcome piece of encourage-
ment. 000000
The Old Fisherman, reproduced here,
gives as good an idea of the quality of
tempera colour as can be attained in the
medium of colour-printing, but it does not
show the influence of the Italian primi-
tives clearly enough to be typical. 0
Laurence W. Hodson
“ PONT NEUF, PARIS.” WATER-
COLOUR BY JOSEPH SOUTHALL
ultra-modern pair of boots gives the show
away, a a a a a a
A second visit to Italy with Gaskin in
1897 served to confirm him in his sym-
pathies and to extend his knowledge. a
Southall is essentially a designer in
colour, and, as mere colour pattern, a collec-
tion of his pictures has a character which
stands alone in modern art. One of his
typical pictures depends hardly at all on
shading or blending of one colour into
another, but on the juxtaposition of pieces
of pure colour, each with a definite quality,
each occupying its allotted space, and mak-
ing its contribution to the harmony of the
whole. 000000
General unfamiliarity with the particular
quality of tempera colour, and an ignorance
of its special merits of purity and brilliance,
have prevented Southall's pictures being
popular, and have often subjected him to
the most pathetic appeals to abandon quali-
ties for which he had striven, as for pearls
of great price, and to strive for a sort of
popular prettiness he would be ashamed to
have achieved. Through it all he has
serenely held his own course, doing the
things he likes doing, in the way he likes
doing them. 00000
Like many another artist with a sense for
decoration Southall has fretted under the
lack of scope for larger work. A panel in
true fresco on the staircase of the Birming-
ham Art Gallery shows the scale on which
he would like to work, but such work is
not possible without commissions, and they
are not forthcoming. 000
A very gratifying success was a one-man
show of his work in Paris in 1910, which
was a very welcome piece of encourage-
ment. 000000
The Old Fisherman, reproduced here,
gives as good an idea of the quality of
tempera colour as can be attained in the
medium of colour-printing, but it does not
show the influence of the Italian primi-
tives clearly enough to be typical. 0
Laurence W. Hodson