DOI issue:
No. 325 (April 1920)
DOI article:Marriott, Charles: Mr. Augustus John as portrait painter
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21360#0050
MR. AUGUSTUS JOHN AS PORTRAIT PAINTER
LORD FISHER OF KILVER-
STONE, O.M., G.C.V.O.
BY AUGUSTUS E. JOHN
has a strongly marked individuality, but
they all hang together in the world of
painting as the characters of a good nove-
list hang together in his pages. They have
an independent existence but, at the same
time, they are true to the context. Para-
doxical as it may sound, the question of
likeness to life, as it strikes the eye, is
comparatively irrelevant. The important
thing is that you should believe in the
painted people themselves. There can be
no question that you believe in the painted
people of Mr. John. They so convince
you of their independent existence that
you take their likeness to the originals on
44
trust. Here and there your acquaintance
with one of the originals persuades you
that your confidence is not mistaken. a
The question of likeness to life is com-
paratively irrelevant because it cannot
really be decided by the appeal to the eye.
Off-hand you might say that you know
people in life by how they look. As a
matter of fact you don't. Your impres-
sions of them are made up of a host of
things into which the eye does not enter
at all. Whether you are conscious of it
or not, your impression of a man is a
mental conception to which the eye is
only a partial contributor. Painting is an
LORD FISHER OF KILVER-
STONE, O.M., G.C.V.O.
BY AUGUSTUS E. JOHN
has a strongly marked individuality, but
they all hang together in the world of
painting as the characters of a good nove-
list hang together in his pages. They have
an independent existence but, at the same
time, they are true to the context. Para-
doxical as it may sound, the question of
likeness to life, as it strikes the eye, is
comparatively irrelevant. The important
thing is that you should believe in the
painted people themselves. There can be
no question that you believe in the painted
people of Mr. John. They so convince
you of their independent existence that
you take their likeness to the originals on
44
trust. Here and there your acquaintance
with one of the originals persuades you
that your confidence is not mistaken. a
The question of likeness to life is com-
paratively irrelevant because it cannot
really be decided by the appeal to the eye.
Off-hand you might say that you know
people in life by how they look. As a
matter of fact you don't. Your impres-
sions of them are made up of a host of
things into which the eye does not enter
at all. Whether you are conscious of it
or not, your impression of a man is a
mental conception to which the eye is
only a partial contributor. Painting is an