ART AND ARTISTS

Otago Witness, Issue 2455, 3 April 1901, Page 71

ART AND ARTISTS

— Mr G. F. Watts, who has been rather unwell, but who has row quite reco\ered, has made great progreps with his life-size, wholelength portrait of Tennj-son. —At the age of fourscore years, Sir John Tcnniel has hung up his pencil and palette, the painters' arms and retired from active ten ice on the staff of Punch, after half a century of almost unbroken labour. Active ser\ice is the exact word, as he ha? promised to gne Ins valuable advice at the •Horld-famed weekly staff dinner, as far as possible, in the selection and execution of fcubjec'.s. In '51, the year of the great Exhibition, at a critical moment in the career of our oldest humorous paper, he enteied the ranks of its contributors under Mark Lemon, its first editor, and from that clay forward he has, week by week, led public opinion or expressed it by his cartoon, which was not only remarkable for its drawing, but also for ih-e marvellous way it always represented the spirit of the times with wit ancl understanding. He came to Punch a self-trained ariist, whose great distinction lay in the fact that lie had won the right to paint the frescoes of I)ryden's "St. Cecilia" in the Houses of Parliament in open coirnsetition. Amongoi his compeers can be numbered Douglas Jcrrold, John Leech. Gilbert Abbott a Beckett, Shirley Brooks, William Makepeace Thackeray, and a whole host of others, and amidst all their brilliance he has always been the i?reat attraction o^ the week to the readers of Punch. His successor' is Mr Linley Sambourne, who is already well known as a contributor to Punch. Sir John Tennicl was rewarded by a knighthood in 1893, and never was an honour more popular. Wo are all also familiar with his quaint illustrations of Lewis Carroll's delightful bookp, and his clever pen has materialised our conception of Alice and the strange creatures she encounteied upon her peripatetic visits to Wonderland. In his retirement Sir John Tenniel takes a large share of public good wishes for many vcar-i during which to reap the proceeds of his work. AN ARMLESS ARTIST One has occasionally come across men who, having been c l epri\ed of the use of their arms, have earned a Ihelihood by showing the dexterity with which they can use their toes and feet. In nearly all cases the«e afflicted persons have never had Hie u^o of their two arms, and therefore ha\e r.e\er fully realised their unfortunate position. Moreover, in many cases the persons born without arms have known from the first that it they were to earn their own living they would have to exhibit their deformity in some Vay or other. New, Mr Bartram Hilep, the snbiect of this -interview, cannot be clashed with the people who ha^e been deformed from birth, or with the people who seek to make capital out of their afflictions. Almost the first thing that he can remembar of his childhood's days is his taste for drawing. At four- years of age he had an ambition in life. Then he was a happy boy, running about -with the free use cf all his limb?. At the age of eight he met ■with a tramcar^accident, and both his arms had to be amputated. In the course of a short chat with Mr Bartratn Hiles in his studio at the Crystal Palace (writes a representative of the Golden Penny), I learned many interesting facts about the career of the armless artist. After his accident he thought at first (hat he would be compelled to give up all thoughts of becoming an artist, but one day his father suggested that he should hold Lis pencil in his mouth. He adopt-ed the. suggestion, and though at first the thing seemed impossible. lie at length managed to control a pencil held in his mouth so well that he could write his name, fairh* legibly and draw with firm-nes-j of line. Having got on this step to the road to success 5 , ho was encouraged to go farther, with the result that within two years of his accident he had obtained a "first-class excellent " certificate in freehand drawing at the school he wa3 attending in Bristol. He afterwards attended the art claFf at the Merchant Venturers' Technical College, Bristol, fud passed all the examinations, including unc in modelling. " I had to model the clay with my lips." raid Mr Hile«. "I used the ordinary tools. I havo sinco executed fn«> or fix pieces of M'ork in relicf — of course, I couldn't do anything 111 tho round." After Mr Hile3 had been working for eight yt-; rs, he exhibited a picture at the Bristol IFine Art Academy. The picture was sold, rad from ihat time Mr Hile3 has gone on h readily winning his wa;- to recognition He won a Echolar=hip at the National Art Training School, and when that had expired he •went to Parip to study. Since then Mr Hiles has exhibited at the galleries of the Royal Society of British Artists. It must b*» remembered that in every case ■where Mi' Hilf-s l~ai exhibited his pictures he has been careful not to 'allow the examiners to knovjhe method by which they ■were paiiusd. He said to me quietly as I \ras going round his studio: — ''I wanted to be an artist, and I ha\e tried to be one. T only wis'i that my work raav be judged from the point of view of art, and not with any icference to my methods." Mr Bartram Eiles signed his name and afterwards drew a design specially for the Golden Penny. He explained, smilingly, as he handed me his autogiaph — in his moutl 1 — that he has se%-eral distinct styles of handwriting. But it docs not require su expert in handwriting to fee that the man who signs himself " Baitram Hiles " is possessed of courage, industry, and glorious per^everarce. In ihese three qualities he cannot be excelled by any man.