Art Principles with Special Reference to Painting: Together with Notes on the Illusions Produced by the PainterGovett, Ernest
Philosophy
Art Principles with Special Reference to Painting: Together with Notes on the Illusions Produced by the Painter
Govett, Ernest
Art; Painting
In giving nearly his whole attention to colour the impressionist limits
his art to the feeblest form, and produces a quickly tiring, ephemeral
thing, as if unconscious of natural beauty. Sylvan glades and fairy
dales, where the brooks ripple pleasantly as they moisten the roots of
the violet, and gently lave the feet of the lark and the robin; where
shady trees bow welcome to the wanderer; where the grassy carpet is
sprinkled with flowers, and every bush can tell of lovers' sighs! Does
the impressionist see these things? Offer him the sweetest beauties of
nature, and he shows you in return a shake of a kaleidoscope. Mountain
peaks towering one above the other till their snowy crests sparkle the
azure sky; mighty rivers dividing the hills, crumbling the granite
cliffs, or thundering their course over impeding rocks; cascades of
flowing crystal falling into seething seas of foam and mist; the angry
ocean convulsively defying human power with its heaving walls and
fearsome caverns! Nature in her grandest form: sublime forces which
kindle the spirit of man: exhibit them to the impressionist, and he
presents to you a flat experiment in the juxtaposition of pure colours!
And the majesty of the human form, with its glorious attributes; the
noble woman and courageous man; incidents of self-sacrifice; the realms
of spiritual beauty, and the great ideals which expand the mind to the
bounds of space and lift the soul to Heaven! What of these? Ask the
impressionist, and he knows nothing of them. For his pencil they are but
relics of the past, like the bones of the men who immortalized them in
art.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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