Wednesday, February 10, 2016

wild strokes and tinny figures



To many such in this country modern art is still a closed book; its point of view is so different from that of the art they have been brought up with, that they refuse to have anything to do with it. Whereas, if they only took the trouble to find out something of the point of view of the modern artist, they would discover new beauties they little suspected ... If anybody looks at a picture by Claude Monet from the point of view of a Raphael, he will see nothing but a meaningless jargon of wild paint-strokes. And if anybody looks at a Raphael from the point of view of a Claude Monet, he will, no doubt, only see hard, tinny figures in a setting devoid of any of the lovely atmosphere that always envelops form seen in nature. So wide apart are some of the points of view in painting.  -- The Practice and Science of Drawing (Harold Speed, 1913)


Pictured:  Allegory (The Knight's Dream)  -- Raphael (circa 1504), National Gallery - London; and Irises -- Claude Monet (circa 1914), National Gallery - London