"I HAVE A VERY AVERAGE SENSE OF HUMOUR"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23339, 6 May 1939, Page 13 (Supplement)

"I HAVE A VERY AVERAGE SENSE OF HUMOUR"

H, M. Bateman, Famous j Tells How He M

, : i By MURIEL SLY—(Copyright)

AN old converted parsonage, four f\ miles from Newbury and in •the.heart of Berkshire, is the home of Mr. H. M. Bateman, and the place where he does most of his famous drawings. The studio was once a stable, and the loft makes an ideal place for storing materials. The room is lined with examples of Mr. Bateman's work: water-colours, landscapes, and, of course, caricatures. ./

laugh too, and it just happens that I have the faculty of summing up this average and universal sort of humour, in a drawing. After all, when you come to think of it, a sense of humour is only the perception of the incongruous in any given situation. "How do 1 know that the drawing will amuse people ? I have one very important test. It has to tickle me as I do it, or else I have no confidence that it will tickle anyone else. I must amuse myself first, and if I do that I am pretty sure that others will also be amused." Into His Stride Execution, Mr. Bateman believes, is all-important. Practically everything in a caricature consists in the way that it is done. For this reason the famous artist scraps hundreds of his'drawings because there is some little thing about them, often guite intangible, that does not satisfy him. He still keeps the discarded efi'orts stacked away in a cupboard in the studio, and occasionally uses one of them or adapts the title. Incidentally, when drawing he nearly always has the title in his head before he starts, and works around it. As regards the actual penmanship, "the more I do" he says, "the more I can do. When I first set 'to work I take some time over almost every stroke; but after a while I get into my stride."

On the wall by the door hang the first caricatures that he ever drew: Lauson Wood, Frank Reynolds, Bert Thomas, ' and many other members of the Chelsea Arts Club. There are also caricatures of Mr. Bateman, done by many noted artists. He enjoys being drawn, although he has not yet seen what he considers to be a really good caricaturte of himself. "How Do I Know?" "You know," he said, as he settled himself in a chair and lit his pipe, "I have never before been asked to explain my methods, and I find it very interesting to discuss them. 1 have, L suppose, a very average sense of nuinour;, I usually find that what makes me laugh makes other people

Ideas never bother Mr. Bateman. He goes around with a notebook in his pocket and jots down-verbally-any inspiration that comes to him. fie showed me his notebook full of potential titles. "There are more here than 1 shall ever be able to use," he said. "People are always sending me ideas for drawings," he went on,, "but I'm not able to use .them very often. You see, they are usually on specialised subjects that would appeal only to a very small circle, whereas 1 must please the majority. For thid reason, too, I always concentrate on the type rather than on the individual, and people come up to me and say: 'Oh, jsn't that exactly like So and So?' Caricatures are, after! all, only the exaggeration of a type, and if the cap fits—" Mr. Bateman told me that, contrary to the usual idea, caricaturists have to work very hard.

Hard Work "People seem to think that it is just a matter of sketching a few lines here and there," he said, "whereas in actual fact it often takes an immense amount of time and trouble to get a drawing exactly right. Those people remind me of the motorist who, like myself, quite cheerfully drives his car with no knowledge of the driving force behind it, or of the intricate nature, of the mechanism. Drawing is hard work! Why, once 1 went all the way to Monte Carlo just get the right background and atmosphere for something. An artist, moreover cannot delegate his work to someone else, as an author can. The author can dictate his book to his secretary, but the artist has to do every stroke himself. "Possibly I don't work as hard now as I used to. At any Ate, I don't scrap nearly so many of my drawings. But years ago I used to illustrate plays for the Sketch and 1 had to go to the theatre week after week. I always had a seat in the stalls and I made notes during the performance. After a .time I became quite used to working in the dark and scribbling feverishly during the intervals; but I always had to work in a rush as the drawings had to be finished by a definite time. J was known as "Our Untamed Artist" iin those days, and I met some very interesting people'. I remember how pleased Little Tich was with a drawing that I once did of him. "Modern Vulgarity" "But that was many years ago, and I don't think the art of caricature is improving nowadays," Mr. Bateman told mo. "it doesn't seem to show the same depth, either of execution or idea, as it did some'years ago. There is not the same healthy wit as there used to be. I may bo narrow-minded, but I am

inclined to think that tlie modern young artist is apt to err on the side of vulgarity. Things are published now that would never have been allowed to be published when 1 was young. This is not so much the fault of the artist; it is just a sign of the times. *'l think that the modern artist does not study the fundamentals of his art enough. And the lack of serious and concentrated study affects the subject as well as the style, because it helps to •form the mind. My contemporaries used to study very hard. 1 have spent hours, for instance, drawing hundreds of hands, to get the right lines." It is not generally known that Mr. Batoinan is a serious as 1 well as a humorous artist. Last year he exhibited 44 landscapes of Spain in the Leicester Galleries. Record of Spain "I have travelled a lot in Spain," lie told me, "and many of the buildings which 1 painted are now destroyed. I gave an exhibition of them, although 1 consider them to be very amateur efforts, becauso they seemed to me to be a permanent record of the Spain that is fast disappearing." Landscape painting he regards only as a very pleasant hobby at the minute, but he hopes to give more time to it later on. He had just returned from a holiday spent in Cornwall, and he showed me two enchanting watercolours he did there, one of Penzance and one of Newlyn. v .'S,' , As Mrs. Bateman poured out the tea she agreed that her husband was a very hardworking man. "There is the question of kippers for breakfast, for instance," she laughed. "He once told mo very seriously that ho can enly eat kippers on Sundays, as he has no time to" pick out the bones on other mornings!" She also described him, with a, twinkle in her eye, as "a strong, silent man, and inclined to be moody. "i certainly don't talk much," agreed Mr. Bateman. "I seem to have heard your voice quite a lot this afternoon," said his wife.