The South, combined with his youthful impulses to development, was
to save him from the danger of mannerism. Though he had seen Venice
with his Amsterdam eyes, and found in the azure and gold of the city
of lagunes the leaden waters and mist of the north, further south,
in the light, he bathed his eyes clean from the muddiness of higher
latitudes. In “Sicily” a girl’s brown head, with red cloth in the
midst of a cluster of dark green-leaved branches with ripe oranges,
flashes and glows the whole noon of the magic island, which this
vigorous woman—a golden fruit among golden fruits—is to personify.
But even after his return home he still remained drunk with the light
of Italy. In a new picture, “The Little Ones,” we are once more in a
harbour on the North Sea, at a place where Wéry’s talent takes its
root. Flaxen-haired youngsters are playing round a boat; one of these,
a little chap in wide, flapping trousers, is droll enough to eat.
Water, sky, and river-bank are wedded in silver sheen, and over the
whole reposes a happy sense of comfort, in which the artist’s cheerful
heart is disclosed. He has happily got over his first crisis. Now his
artistic career lies smooth and sunny before him.
Anders Zorn.—This Swede is a virtuoso of amazing skill. He delights in
marvellous effects of light, in surprises, in fixing fugitive views.
His pictures are snap-shots pitched on the canvas with an almost
mechanically smart brush. He is a concert painter possessing talent.
He is one of the great corruptors of young artists nowadays. It is so
fascinating, by a few wild, staggering, nimble strokes of the brush,
to conjure up a human figure or a scene. But this method leads to the
worst superficiality, and attracts most the lazy fellows who wish to
save themselves the trouble of learning properly the principles of
drawing and painting. Zorn did not make the thing easy for himself. He
honestly and industriously acquired a thorough mastery of technique
before turning to execute his dazzling little pieces. He may allow
himself to storm and rage over the canvas, for accuracy has become
automatic in him. In spite of this haste, every line is on the right
spot, and though people often regret that he only hints instead of
stopping and deepening, nevertheless it is continually said: “The man
knows how to build up a figure or a group.” His imitators, however,
have caught only his daubing, and with them superficiality is but a
bold excuse for ignorance of drawing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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