The signs of another influence admitted to art
are evident in Judge Evans's collection — that of
the theatre, in which lighting is controlled simply
to imaginative ends, as it often is with Mr.
Ricketts and Mr. Pr)'de, the qualities in both of
whose art are never easy of deOnition.
BRONZB STATUBTTR : **DIANA"
BY A. CARRUrE-BELLLUSE
mined by a thousand influences upon his mind
other than those of nature. The mood of
Whistler's art is one of an hour, but with such
a painter as Daubigny it is one of a place. There
is the sense of time given by one school of land-
scape painters, of place by another, and of the
historic associations of a place by yet another
school. These things are of course determined by
temperament, and schools of painting might be
classified in this way more often than they are.
Human associations creep into landscapes in
various degrees and in other ways than the
historical way which we feel, for instance, in
Wilson's pictures; but landscape, at first always
subordinate to the human interest, now sometimes
tries to free itself from this entirely. It becomes
like poetry, simply "emotion remembered in
tranquillity;" only "emotion" as a word seems
38
BRONZE STATUETTE:
**THK WOUNDED HEN "
BY A. L. BARYB
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rORTRAIT OF A LADY
BY FRANCISCO GOYA
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Mr. Braiigwyns Tempera Frieze
SKETCH FOR FRIBZB BY FRANK BRANGWYN, A.R.A.
Mr. Walter Sickert, with
and vision are so in accord
to descend into the fingers
had a genius of their own,
a street scene, Rue Cousin,
his art that we have the
character.
There is a whole class
of painters whose work is
of a kind by itself in that
it is musical in character.
But even among these
there is a difference be-
tween those with whom
the resemblance is one of
feeling in execution and
those who deliver us over
to a mood such as is in-
duced by music, but only
in the result. This, for
instance, is the case with
the art of Wilson, who,
unlike Monticelli, made
no attempt to transpose
musical conditions to the
sphere of colour. Both
Watteau and Wilson sought
to conserve in their art
that which appealed to
them in the world ; while
Monticelli turned with
whom touch itself
that feeling seems
as if his fingers
is represented in
Dieppe: it is in
significant modern
aversion altogether from the world and sought
refuge in the delights of his own improvisations.
His inspiration was at the flood in Fite Champitre,
one of the pictures now reproduced in colour.
A curious blend of colour has been brought
about in the rooms of which we have been writing,
and the inclusion of the works of the past seems
but to justify the intentions of the present ; as to
the future of art we shall not fail in curiosity if we
think that beauty, now only associated with certain
moments, by the accident of an artist's presence,
belongs to every moment. T. M. W.
M
R. BRANGWYN'S TEMPERA
FRIEZE AT THE NEW
LONDON OFFICES OF THE
GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY.
The Directors of the Grand Trunk Railway of
Canada have done a valuable service to modem art
in commissioning Sir Aston Webb to design their
London offices in Cockspur Street; and in thus
doing have rendered themselves as valuable service
— the service of fine advertisement ; for their offices
will soon be famous. That is a point not lightly
to be lost sight of, for not only has Sir Aston
Webb designed the offices with a rare sense of
style, of form, and of colour, both as regards the
wood and its ornamental inlay, and the lines and
spacing of these, but he has put the crown upon a
SKETCH FOR FRLEZE
BY FRANK BRANGWYN, A.R.A.
31
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Mr. Brangwyns Te7npera Frieze
dignified work by setting a decorative frieze above
his spacious panelled woodwork to the painting of
^hich he has called the rich and sumptuous art of
Mr. Brangwyn. And in its remarkable partnership
of the arts, both Sir Aston Webb and the directors
of the Grand Trunk Railway have, perhaps, builded
even better than they thought ; for a new form of
decoration has been created which should cause
the setting in of a fashion that may have wide-
reaching results.
It was clear that Sir Aston Webb's rich, but
simple and restrained design in warm brown
panelling required a frieze of sumptuous colour
SKETCH FOR FRIEZE^
32
BY FRANK BRANGWYN, A.R.A
to complete it. But it was equally clear that it
would be better to have the plain plaster wall as
a frieze than to deaden the effect of the glowing
wood and its purity of design with a coloured
frieze that should be heavy or dull in texture. It
was here that the architect's sense of selection
proved his grip of the essential values, when he
called in >Ir. Brangwyn's art to the enhancement
of his own skill.
In painting the tempera frieze to complete the
decorative scheme of Sir Aston Webb's design,
Mr. Brangwyn has enhanced that scheme in a way
that is the best tribute to the architect's choice of
the partner of his labours. The advan-
tages of the use of tempera at once
strike the eye — the colour is brilliant,
piercing the heavy London atmosphere
that "puts out" any ordinary painter's
medium, and overpowers oil-colour ; it
is absolutely fiat, becomes entirely
a part of the texture and surface of a
wall; it is very permanent and it
stands cleaning. It is true that it has
disadvantages — it must be used by a
master, for it necessitates bold and
decisive handling. That is essential
and vital. The man who uses it must
be a fine draughtsman and a bold one ;
he must be a born colouris^ and again
a bold one. There must be no playing
with the tools, no redra wings, no hesi-
tations wiih the colour, no dawdling
over details, no finesse. The thing
desired must te stated at once, with-
out retouchings, without remodelling.
And how complete has been the artist's
triumph no one can fully realise who
is not skilled in the use of tempera.
For here we have a new and bold
employment of tempera typical of
Mr. Brangwyn's artistic career, and
very individual to the man. Others
have wrought in tempera, and wrought
astounding well. But they have sought
their inspiration in the traditions of the
past; they have gone to the great
dead; have analysed the method* of
the old masters ; and, as near as could
be, they have revived the methods
and rt spec ted the traditions of the
great Italians. They have been con-
tent to bring to us the Italian vision,
and to state their ideas in a foreign
tongue. Mr. Brangwyn, schooled in
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Mr. Brangwyn s Tempera Frieze
these great traditions, has founded himself upon
the bed-rock of their technique, and has learnt his
grammar from them; and then, boldly rejecting
all the old formulas and flinging aside the Italian
spectacles, has developed the medium to his own
ends, using it decisively and with forthright inten-
tion of getting from its colours a wider and
fuller gamut and a larger and more national
utterance.
It is, as just remarked, typical of the man, a part
of his remarkable development and personal vision,
that, firmly taking his stand upon all that was
best in the old methods, he has mastered them;
but, not content to ape them,
having got from the gamut
of their potentialities their
finest qualities, he has cast
aside their hampering limita-
tions, and, sternly refusing to
be enslaved by their laws,
has essayed to evolve a new
style from them, and has
developed their possibilities.
Not only does his use of tem-
pera mark a new phase in the
craftsmanship of the material,
it opens up a new vista of its
large possibilities. It is all
the more interesting in that
he should thus have em-
ployed it in the first large
work he has essayed in apply-
ing his decorative genius to
the offices of commerce. It
is true that Mr. Brangwyn
heretofore has been known in
London for his decorations
at the Skinners' Hall and at
Lloyd's Registry in the City ;
but both these places bear
more the character of private
houses than commercial
offices.
The success here won will
convince the London com-
mercial houses that by em-
ploying high artistry in the
building and decorating of
their offices, not only will
they be bringing dignity and
beauty into that heretofore
home of hideousness, the city
office, but will be laying up
rich treasure for themselves sketch for frieze
as well as using the finest advertisement that they
can get for the noising abroad of their commercial
activities.
But there is a higher significance than this in
the frieze — its artistic significance. It would be
difficult to imagine the motive of the triumph of
science and modem civilization over the rude
forces of nature and of barbarism being uttered
to a finer orchestration of the resonances that lie
in colour than we have displayed before us in this
large work by Mr. Brangwyn. The dramatic sense
is kept well within the boundaries of the art of
painting; but the artist is never afraid of those
BY FRANK BRANGWYN, A.R.A.
33
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Mr. Brangwyn's Tempera Frieze
boundaries, is never
made hesitant by
them. There is
throughout an effect
of world- dram a. The
contact of the Modern
World with the Old
World, the strife of
the world of modem
energy, of the bridge-
builders and the
makers of the great
highways of com-
merce, of the engineer
and of the strong arm
of labour, of the navvy
and the woodman,
with the bewildered
braves and Red Indian
warriors, is stated with
an epic force and with
a right use of colour
that rouse the vast
significance of it all.
Here is the over-
whelming conquest of
the barbarous West
by the civilized man,
armed with the might
and dominion of
science and skill and
the will to do. This
great conquest is
SKETCH FOR FRIEZE shown with the vast SKETCH FOR FRIEZE
BY FRANK BRANGWYN, A.R.A. landsCapC of Northcm BY FRANK BRANGWYN, A.R.A.
America for back-
ground. From the great heights of table-lands, with poetic surety, and turned it into an epic of
from the mighty waterways, from the thunder of large forms and telling colour,
the Falls of Niagara, from the vast gorges that are Mr. Brangwyn's grip of the technique of every
called canons, the artist has filched their majesty human calling that he essays to interpret into terms
and their poetic sense, and set these things upon of paint, is seen here to full advantage. His
his painted surface. Through it all, dominating engineer needs no label, his woodsman no tag.
all, is the glorification in the victory of man's There is never the need for a " book of the words."
handiwork; the steam and smoke of railway engines. There is no baffling symbolism; no elaborate story-
the smite of axes swung by brawny arms that clear telling. And so, here, he has seen the significance
the huge trees from the track, the building of of this great commercial and scientific conquest of
the wide spanning bridges — pride in the splendour the wilds of Canada with the quick imagination
of man's achievement in subduing and controlling and eyes of a poet ; and recorded these things with
to his own ends the stern forces of nature. Mr. the hand of a master.
Brangwyn's art has leaped above the mere narrative His very sketches in chalk, the rough notes of
statement and photographic accuracy of the Grand his studio, all bear witness to the directness of his
Trunk Railway's panorama from ocean to ocean ; vision, the force of his intention. In every one of
he has stated the majestic significance of the them is evidence of that dramatic grip of the
company's triumphs in terms of colour employed general motive that impels his art to utter in
34
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TEMPERA FRIEZE AT THE GRAND TRUNK
RAILWAY'S NEW LONDON OFFICES. BY
FRANK BRANGWYN, A.R.A.
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An Illustrator of Celtic Ro^nance: John P, Campbell
decorative form the essential idea for which this
Company of men wrought whose achievement he
glorifies in this great colour-record of their en-
deavour and of their aim and of their triumph.
Here will be found no aping of the forms and
fictions of the old masters. The worker is no
Greek god set up as a symbol for toil, but the
navvy in all his rugged strength and with the
ordinary tools of his labour about him. In Mr.
Brangwyn*s art it is always the real man who
has won the victory whom he glorifies, clothed
in the habit in which he has won to victory. He
finds in the corduroy and fustian of the great-
shouldered worker of our day a romance as marked
as the would-be romancers try to set about
the buccaneer or warrior of the past. The Indian
is no fancy fellow out of a penny novelette, but
the rugged savage in all his bravery, and filled with
wonder at the great invasion. Sincerity breathes
throughout the whole length and breadth of the
design; and the art is wedded to a skill of
hand and a grip of craftsmanship all too rare in
our national utterance. Above all, the decora-
tive sense remains supreme.
A
N, ILLUSTRATOR OF CELTIC
ROMANCE: JOHN P. CAMP-
BELL. BY R. A. DAWSON,
A.R.C.A.
When we say that an illustration is decorative
we usually mean that in addition to its representa-
tion of the facts as stated in the text it produces,
apart from those facts, a feeling of pleasure brought
about by its arrangement, its harmony with the
juxtaposed type, its disposition of lines and masses
in a pleasurable rhythmic sequence. Such an
illustration frankly recognises the limitations of the
material in which it is expressed ; it attempts, or
adapts itself to, what is possible for that material,
and, whilst carefully preserving the essentials of
the subject, eliminates what is more suited for
presentation through another medium. Again, it
is characterised by a mastery of technique, an
understanding of the methods and a command
over the tools legitimately available for its pro-
duction.
In this highest sense the illustrations now
introduced to a wider circle are strongly decora-
"MY SINGING bird" (ILLUSTRATION TO ** FOUR IRISH SONGS*')
BY JOHN P. CAMPBELL
37
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An Illustrator of (Celtic Rpmance: John P. Campbell
'DUN ANGUS IN ARON : ACROSS THB WAVES HB STOLE HER'
BY TOHN P. CAMPBELL
tive. Moreover, it may be claimed that they
indicate the coming forward of an illustrator of
marked individuality and distinction, a compara-
tively rare exception of an artist not content to
follow in the wake of his predecessors, however
skilful their work may have been, and whose in-
dependence in thought and practice deserves
special consideration. Such artists, by preserving
their independence and keeping alive the love of
invention, have aided artistic progress and have
produced in their fellows a spirit of wholesome
emulation.
The signature "Seaghan MacCathmhaoil " is
becoming familiar on illustrations principally of
ancient Celtic romance. The author of these is
better known among his friends in his native city
of Belfast by the more familiar if less elusive
and romantic name of John Patrick Campbell.
Mr. Campbell might perhaps be called one of
the products of the recent literary revival of which
Ireland has been the scene, and in which North
and South have joined hand in hand. For the
movement has drawn into its enthusiastic and
energetic circle art, music, craftsmanship, and the
drama.: The too' early broken threads of the
38.
country's ancient art and culture are being deliber-
ately and consciously knit together ; the language,
literature and customs which once were hers are
now being widely studied — a fact which will appeal
to those who desire to see the maintenance of
national characteristics in the productions of any
country.
A movement of this kind in art, literature, and
general culture would tend to produce an illus-
trator such as the one under consideration in full
sympathy with all its best ideals. Mr. Campbell is
purely a product of his native island and of the
" Ulster Fifth, of blossomful sweet-watered glens."
He is a young artist with only a few years' profes-
sional practice, having no experience in other lands,
no London or Paris training. From the time
when, as a schoolboy, he was called on to draw
posters advertising school events, up to the present,
it is sheer hard study and some experience in the
local school of art that have produced the powerful
individual work we see in his latest productions.
It would be mere irresponsible optimism t»p
claim that Mr. Campbell's work has reached any-
thing like the heights to which it may attain, ani
he. himself would.be the last; to prefer ^uehyap.cl^m.
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An Illustrator of Celtic Romance : ^fohn P. CampbeL
He believes that, commencing with an uncertain
latent feeling within him seeking expression, he is
only now beginning to find himself, and in the
work he has now in progress for various publica-
tions, to express himself with conscious power,
with wider experience, and with still better results.
Some of Mr. CampbeU's earlier illustrations
appeared in the Irish Text Publications of the
Gaelic League; but these belong to the period
when the artist was feeling his way. In " Uladh,"
a too short-lived quarterly published in 1904, his
work is more consciously powerful ; it exhibits
better drawing and brings out those definite
characteristics of style which he has made his own.
There is a distinct advance to be noted in the
"Queen's College Supplement," also in the twelve
illustrated pages of the " Calendar of the Saints,"
and in the frontispiece of "The Shanachie," 1906,
all of which followed the examples in " Uladh."
In " Freamacha na h'Eireann," another Irish Text
consisting of a collection of old romances, we still
perceive maturer work. In Ri Soladh (King
Soladh) and in Dun Angus in Aron, both of which
are here illustrated (opposite and p. 42), the style
has become more settled ; everything is carefully
weighed and considered. The evident intention
has been to obtain the utmost possible artistic
effect from the use of a few simple tones well
balanced and arranged. The tones are — solid
black, pure white, and a limited number of inter-
mediate greys of various textures produced by
the line treatment.
About the same period Messrs. Maunsel, of
Dublin, published the " Four Irish Songs," by C.
Milligan Fox, and it is by permission of Mrs. Fox
that three of its pages are here reproduced on a
somewhat reduced scale. Of these three. My Sing -
ing Bird (p. 37) presents a more modem theme>
and is remarkable as a piece of expression in prac-
tically three simple tones. In the Antrim Glen
5(t7«^ reproduced on p. 41 (top), and The Connacht
CaoinCy or Lament for the Dead (reproduced on the
same page), the artist is at home among the old
Celtic people. He declares a better feeling for
composition, though perhaps a little less concealed
than in his latest work, and he shows us the possi-
bilities of a moving procession of figures of which
he has made such good use.
"FKRGtTS SPEAKS HIS WORDS OF.ASGRR TO MAEV ".:(ICLUS.TRAT10N TO M.THE TAIN") r BY JOHN P; CAMPBELL
â– ' â– ' â– 'â– 2,9
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An Illustrator of Celtic Romance : John P. Campbell
*' FAERDBAH TELLS HIS TALE," AND **MAEV*S SECOND MEETING WITH FERGUS" (TWO ILLUSTRATIONS TO
"THE tAin") by JOHN P. CAMPBELL
40
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An Illustrator of Celtic Romance: John P. Campbell
"ANTRIM GLEN SONG," AND **THE CONNACHT CAOINE" (TWO ILLUSTRATIONS TO "FOUR IRISH SONGS "
BY JOHN P. CAMPBELL
41
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An Illustrator of Celtic Romance: fohn P. Campbell
'*Ri soladh" (illustration to
*FREAMACHA NA H'EIREANN **)
BY JOHN P. CAMPBELL
But it is in his illustrations to " The Tain " that
Mr. Campbeirs work comes nearest its climax.
The full title of this ancient epic is the " Tain Bo
Cooley." It is a mythical romance, originally
traditional among the bards. Translated, it is
the " Cattle Raid of Cooley," the great object of
the raid being a magnificent bull belonging to
the Ulster Tribe, and called the Don of Cooley,
which in the poetical glamour of the story stands
for a truly spiritual hero. The whole poem
vibrates with the ring of battle and the revelry of
kings. The original drawings of the illustrations
to this story have been kindly lent by Lord
Dunsany. Three of them are here reproduced by
special permission from Mrs. Mary A. Hutton.
They are selected from a series designed to
illustrate her modern rendering, representing a
labour of ten years, and entitled " The Tain : an
42
Irish Epic told in English
Verse'' (Maunsel & Co.,
Dublin, 1907). The publi-
cation of the complete seiies
is expected, as the author
decided not to produce the
drawings in the first edition
of her work.
A powerful piece of work
is Fergus speaks his Words
of Anger to Maev (page
39). The strong mass of
blacks is broken and lit up
by the skilfully arranged
patches of white and semi-
tone. The attention is
arrested by the outstretched
hand and led to the principal
figure group, the whole being
steadied and strengthened by
the upright standing figure.
In Faerdeah tells his Tale
(page 40, top), the principal
figure, the teller of the story,
is brought out as an isolated
mass against the light sky,
the semicircular arrangement
of his hearers emphasising
his importance, and the lines
of the intermediate masses
leading from him to the
principal listener. Queen
Maev, the secondary import-
ance of the latter being
secured by the background
of semitone. The whole is
a rich piece of decoration, an example of mass
relieved by plain space. In Maei^s Second Meeting
with Fergus (page 40) the movement of an armed
host is fully suggested, the chief figures being
thrown up against the sky, which has its line
further broken by the many spears of the more
distant adherents in the column. Mrs. Hutton's
verse gives us some idea of the costume of Fergus
in the following lines : —
". . . . And a beautiful
And rich appearance was upon that warrior.
Brown hair was on him ; and a hooded layna
With red inweaving of red gold. A bratt
Of bright grass-green was round him ; and he wore
A golden-hilled sword, and round-toed shoes
Wrought all of bronze. ..."
In all the series of Tain drawings there is fine
decorative feeling — a breadth of effect coupled
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Recent Designs in Domes He Architecture
with carefully wrought detail, a richness in cos-
tume and accessory, an imagination and power of
design developed from a paucity of existing his-
toric material. Note, for instance, the varied
designs on the shields, swords, buckles; the
changes rung on the patterns of the costumes,
the stripes, chequers, borders of the homespuns,
reminiscent of the Celtic heroic period, and true
to what is known of its style, yet full of the variety
in arrangement of form and symbolism that we
should expect in the careful handwork of an
earlier age.
It should be noted that Mr. Campbell has also
produced a fine series of caricature portrait studies,
in which he has succeeded equally well, with a
great sense of humour and a distinct character,
marked by a decorative feeling and strong drawing.
This side of his work is most nearly approached
in the poster advertising the comedy entitled
"Suzanne and the Sovereigns." The piece itself
is frankly farcical, and is a travesty upon a
historical period — that of William III. and James
II. The characters are historical but the setting
is grotesquely modern. The poster shows in the
two background figures the designer's capabilities
in overcoming a difficult piece of drawing.
Finally, Mr. Campbell has learnt to use a pen
with the unfailing precision of a trained craftsman:
In looking through a great number of original
drawings it was only possible to find two lines
which had required alteration after being put in
with pen and ink. There were no traces of erasure
or Chinese white on the work whatever, all being
fresh, strong and clear in expression.
R
ECENT DE.
SIGNS IN
DOMESTIC
ARCHITEC-
TURE.
POSTER FOR ** SUZANNE AND THE SOVEREIGNS"
BY JOHN P. CAMPBELL
The cottage at Bushey,
Herts, illustrated on page
44, was built and designed