Studio: international art (83.1922)

THE ART OF WILLIAM SHACKLETON

“ MACKEREL NETS ”
OIL PAINTING BY
W. SHACKLETON

sun. They rest content with a little thing,
and smile wistfully at the lost illusions.
We remember how the weight of this
historical burden fell upon the spirit of
Henry James's young sculptor, Roderick
Hudson ; fell upon it with chastening
intent. But the cold passionless force of
truth, with the assurance of centuries,
was too potent, and the proud pupil bent
his head in defeat. 0000
William Shackleton was not defeated.
He arraigned his ideas before this new
tribunal, and cast out the untrue. The
introspective mind, struggling with the
multitude of new impressions and emo-
tions, found stronger confirmation of the
aesthetic truth that the all-important factor
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in a work of art is the mind, the noumenon,
seeking to express itself in the masquerade
of material phenomena. 000
This purifying of his ideas re-acted
immediately upon his colour-sense, and
the lustreless influence of Watts was over-
shadowed by a new power that suffused
him as morning sunshine suffuses the
sea. Giorgione, one of the first lyrists
in colour, became his guide. The quality
of night radiance, the glowing purples
and deep blues, upon which the atmos-
phere of the master's easel pictures was
established, affected the newcomer like
wine. The direct record of this first in-
toxication is to be found in Shackleton's
work which followed those days in Italy.