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| Sir Ernest Albert Waterlow, R. A. (1850 - 1919) |
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| Sir Ernest Albert Waterlow, R. A. (1850 - 1919) |
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| Waterlow, The mill pool, Hemingford Grey, 1902-1904 |
A 1906 edition of The Art Journal described his work as: "graceful, charming and harmonious, of singular freshness of execution, appealing to the senses by its elevated style and dignity of beauty, and by its mastery of accomplishment, to the intellect."
"But to the passions it makes no call, because the stern or awful moods of Nature pass over his head and leave him, not unmoved, but unconcerned."
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Sir Ernest Waterlow on Wikipedia
Bio on Art Gallery of NSW website
The final sentence of the 1906 criticism strikes — for me — an interesting, mysterious note, and is the kind of thing I admit to distrusting in art criticism.
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure I”m capable of viewing someone’s painting and knowing simultaneously the artist was “not unmoved” by their subject while they were also “unconcerned.” If the sentence had simply been, “But to the passions it makes no call.” — a statement which can reasonably be read as “But to my passions it makes no call.” — the level of certainty claimed by the critic would seem more defensible.
Just my opinion.
Steve, I was thinking the same thing. Although it is cloaked in interesting 19th-century flowery language, the critic makes the same error of assuming both what the artist was thinking and how every viewer reacts. If I've learned anything from blogging for so long, it's that such judgments are suspect. People's reactions to images are always surprising to me, and often not what I might have expected.
ReplyDeleteWere the watercolors themselves different in this time period? Or was the technique different? Finished watercolors from this time frame always seem so much more opaquely handled than what I usually associate with watercolor.
ReplyDeleteMaybe its how they reproduce onto my screen? I haven't personally seen many (any?) finished watercolors from the 19th century/early 20th centuries.
I have the same questions Pat .It appears Waterlow used an oil-painters approach to watercolor. Beautiful work. Reminds me of Cindy Baron's watercolors today.
ReplyDeletePat, British watercolors from this period would mostly be transparent, with very little of what they would call "China white." They were accepted as a form of art to be exhibited, and were painted fairly large. That said, it's likely that his experience in oil painting informed his work in watercolor.
ReplyDeleteGalway Gossips, the painting at the bottom is an oil painting according to the Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/waterlow-galway-gossips-n01596
ReplyDeleteNigel, right, of course. When I said 'watercolor (below)' I meant *immediately* below.
ReplyDelete