ART AND ARTISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2509, 16 April 1902, Page 60

ART AND ARTISTS.

{ A FAMOUS ARTIST AND HIS MODELS. There is a colony of artists at Newlyn. The most prominent- member of the colony i--, of course, Mr Stanhope Forbes, A R.A., whose pictures call forth so much rdmiration e\cry May when (he Royal Academy openi itb doo2-s. Some little time ago a co-respon-dent of Cassell's Saturday Journal had the pleasure of spending an hour or two in Mr Forbcs's company, and the founder of the Newlyn school was good enough to relate borne of his experiences as an artist among fisher folk. " Well, I ma> tell you.' Mr Forbes ob»ei\ed, "" tliat we artists are as much a part of Newlyn a-, the fishermen. The artisrs and dip fiahermfn work by side. We unrieri-tand each oth°r thoroughly, and the I like- is extremely charming. In .-nine placP-? j«'U are looked upon as half crazy if ycu p.i'nt out of door-, but hfrc art anil fishing i £ ) -<i imu-li loaclhpi that when ;iii aiti'-t uaOs hi- bruih in t hi- -tnot- no comn.ei.t whadver j, c\< ltocl Ih< niaitico n t;tken ii-, a m.U'L'i of < oui -t Honietini 0 - when I am at work on a I pictuie I am smruunded by dozens of people. But 1 don't objiet to their picseiice, they hinder me xery httle. I should prefer not to have them about me perhaps, principally because it is clifu-ult to ge* a model to po«o when other perrons are gazing at him; tin crowd arc disposed to crack jf)ke-> at the expense of the model, hence one's work is delayed." Mi- Forbes then escorted me through a huge, studio tlo=e by hi* own, in wliieh li.a pupils work. Following a ru-.tom which is peihap-j more prevalent in trance than in this country, ht and his wife have recently foi-aded an art school in the heart of thi« Cornish village, and to tins they have succeeded in attracting a lar B e number of earnest students, who woi-k here under their direction. I found the cln^s a«iembled, thoir eo>el* clustering round a platform, -eated upon which \va- a dear old lady holding a pair of bellows, m her hands, and s-o natural was slie that she might have been at her uwn h-'arth making a glowing fire in anticipation <il the return of her husband from the pilchard fishery. " How do you induce thoi-c people to bit?" 1 aoked Mr Forbes pie*out)y. "If 1 see a picturesque figure, I take vny courage m both hands and aski him to allow me to paint him. I do not experience much trouble in this respect, for t'-e reason that there i= '•careely a single person in Newlyn who hat not had a relative ' draweel off.' ?s portrait painting i.- called here. There nas a tirro when they thought w c f*oi<* only the ug'y one-, a.- models, t on<-ec]utntly it was not everybody who would agree to be painted ; I bet now the y realise that an invitation to ' Mt foi a pictuie is a compliment to their ! Idok- " .Soino of our folk have appeared in hun<lk tl- of pictures'. You see. the people about Oi'Pi-r are ti'it like factory liancU who have j jeQuJfT Imurs Fnhmg is vrry hard work j while- it 'a-K, but th"re a period when , t'n' sea is too lough for the mfn to go out. i Then th'v hnvf nc work tf> elo. an'l are only , U.n pl'M-ed :f wr ear nuL them in the way cf eirning a little nio'icv.' 1 ■" Dn tl.''j hk" 1. mg [Minted m ordinary « \er\djj Mr Foibc->"'" j " Onii \\*~- al.v,'v% to carefully evplam that •Sunday r'othf- won't c.!<>. and mention of t!.i-, re'iiii'ds me <if another matter Some 1 •uode-l*- will insi 1 -! e)n hnMiig their hair cut wiipn l'\o only half lini-l«rd with them Oniy l.cr'itlv a. boy who was sitting lo me a-k' il i> h,- cuiil'l ! i7t- hi- ban cut. ' "\o F -.ml. Miv !1 -poil j'uirself for mv ;><it'.ri.'. Ycn'd l,cnn let it another

' But it wasn't any use. The lad went off, and when he visited me again his lieacT was almost bakl. I told the 'barber that fiom my point of view he had utterly ruined the lad, as indeed he had." " How did you come to select Newlyn as a centre, Mr Forbes?" " Like most other important events in one's life, my settling down here was purely accidental. I came to Newlyn without any deliberate intention of remaining — my visit was only to extend to a month, or a couple of months at the outside — but I was so pleased with the place that I have remained ever since. lam quite a fixture. The notion that one can exhaust a place is absolute nonsense. There is an infinite number of subjects for an artist in Newlyn. Why, I could live in three or four acres and find enough to paint for the rest of my life almost." Newlyn is full of painters, both, young and old, women as well a-s men, and most of them live in tiny fisher cottages, into which , have been let large windows to afford the necessary light. Everything is done in a thoroughly workmanlike style. Everybody comes to the net of this splendid artist. As we talked he gave instructions to one of his men to *' tell the schoolgirls to ccine round this afternoon." The schoolgirls were little Newlynites who were sitting for a, picture. Real life is what Mr Forbes demands, and he sees that he gets it. "My method is to paint as much as I can on the spot," said my host. "Even my large canvases I sometimes take out in a boat. I am constantly on the water getting tones." " And you paint in the fishermen's houses, too, I believe?" " Yes. My work entitled ' The Twentysecond of Jamiary was painted from first t3 last in a cottage. The models? They are brought in from outside, with rhe permission of tho owner of tbe cottage, and I arrange them m the attitude I desire. "" It is much the be»t to paint on the spot. Now here," said Mr Forbes", pointing to a large camas, "is a sketch of niy picture ' Forging tlie Anchor.' which perhaps you know. Wei!, this was not completed on the spot. I tried to do it in a foundry, but so ninny snuit-s tattled on the canvas that I had to abandon the project and continue tho work at borne. When the picture was exhibited one critic said that u .he anna of tiv tniiths were so rhin that I had evidently employed models for the figures. As a matter of fact, the smiths from the foundry visited my studio, and I painted them from life."