English Water Colors of Gerald Ackerman, R. I.

Author(s): Evelyn Marie Stuart

Source: Fine Arts Journal, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Jan., 1919), pp. 34-40
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-
PB [DORO UGH CASTLE FRtO.MI THE COAST --Co urtesy Ac crAkermia onn d- Son., Inc.
I 7y (Gerald [cck;er lon, R. I.
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1 VA I PK147'OIi?'T' C A S77'LEE -Coitresy. -ti ith?Ir AckTcrmmIfll Son, hic.
ly Ocrald A*1 CCkermam, I'. I.
E n g
l i s h W
a t e r C o I o r s o f
G e r a l d A c k e r m a
n,
R.
I.
By EVELYN MARIE STUART
I NAS-i U(il Ias \vater color has
alway\\s);s
enljoyecd so muitclh
prestige
with the Eng
lish there is somiiethlingt, imiore thani ap
I)rol)riate abotit exhibitions of works in
this miledliuni in the galleries of Arthiuir Ack
ermiiiauin & Soni, so familedl for thieir- collec
tionls of the old prints and engravings wvhich
wvere the begininiig of
reproductive
art in
lnlngasnd. T he hiistol-y of this lhotise is so
bound up) wvith the develol)ment of illuis
tration anid of th-
putblication
of etchliligs
and engravings which ser-ve(d to
preserve
forl ftuttlu-e generations the
top)ography
anid
miianniier-s of L'ng.an(l in the late scventeen.s
alld
early
eiglhteenis, that there is somiiethlinlg
tra(litional about thle activities of one of the
last imemliber-s of the family in seeking to
preserve
the
cliharlmi
of
I}ritish scener-y
tilrotulgi the tise of a imiedlitiuim in which the
E>lng,lish
excel.
FEnolish artists lhave alway'S takell So
kinddl to work in water color,'
says
ani emili
enit auithorit upon.
the stibject, they lave
slhowvni suichl ready mastery of its
p)ossibili
ties, ani(l the beauitiful r-esults thiey, have se
cure(l have beeni so warmly an1(d so sinicerelyr
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Page Thirty-siX EJ\AGUSH l!V'.ATIER COLORS
A IATVICK CA STLE FI'!OM THIE FIELDS
J;,I ;C1'Cr(tId ,'ckcrniaiuitx, 1.'. I.
admired, that it lias seemiie(l
(Jtlite
natural
to
speak
of xvater color
p)ainting
as the dis
tinictive niationlul art of E1lngland. It is uni
(lotibtedly a formii of
expression
suite(l botl
to the geniitis of the English artists anid the
taste of the Enl glish
public.
\\Vithl no
'chili-chies or otier
l)public
buildings to deco
rate, the arts of the
sculptor
anid the oil
p)ainter
lie
ol)l)ressed
unlinel-
the
weight
of
public inl(ifference alndI apathy.
The
water
color l)ainter, oni the othier haland, wvorks for
TlHE VILLAGE CROSS COR?FE CAS'l'
J;y Gerald Ackcrmavvn, f. I.
the
private apartments
of in
dii(ltlals. I-Iis miioclest diraw
iilgs canl only be seen l)y txwo
or tlhree
people
at a timiie; his
art, one miiiglht say, is esseni
tiall)
ani initimnate, personal
conversational onie. So that
a society like that of ELnglancl
(lrii ng the nineteenth ceni
tury-a society in which tl-e
r-ights of indlividtuals hiave
been
very largel)y
ilnsisted ut)
on anld the claims of atitlhor
ity
all( tradition somewhat
iml1ored-wotild
naturally
af
ford imiore
scope
for the exer
cise of an.m art which (loes nlot,
like oil
p)ainting,
require
the
scope
of a large
audience knit together by the ties oif
thioughts and(I
sympathies
he&d in colimimloln.
This
history
c' English art hias a brilliant
chapter
devote(d to wvater color herheir
shinie great nlamiies, as Cozeins, Constable,
Turnier, Cotmiiani, Cox, I.Hunt, Rosetti tand
b-urin-e
JIolnes.
It ha(l its beginninigio, how
ever, in the honorable el-forts of the tol)o
grap)hical
dlratlghtsmen at the enidl o f the
eighteenth
century.
VFinberg, in his wvork,
Tlhe 1E-'nglish Wk"ater Colol
Painters, gi\ves the follovinig
analysis
of the ste1)s whliiclh
le(l to the risc of this art
in England and(I \vhiclh, (even
Until to(ldav, have
shaped
its
Dnring the seventeenth and
\Vell ilnto the eighitceenthi ceni
trll-v English
l)aihp
tes receive(1
little clecouracgenillnt inI thirl'
native lan(l. Thle
picture
hliv
er-s of that tielil eVeln ats (f
onris
prefrre(l
to
sp)en(l
thieir
lVieC)T onl the works of the
Italian, Dutch and(I French
painters, r-atiler than encour
a,gc the dle
velop)ment
of Lritt
ishl genius. T'hec
onil)y
iranch
of art in
which aI native artist
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( s15X If"zlTI I? C'OLORkS
Payge
Thirty-sc-e
A IA!]! NFA411 SAAFlORD
A? I
, ll
d
AcI,
c)mm
( iS
, .
1
.
AI 1
1 1 C
I
)
A
/, ( ,- |
AST/LE A A1
Bi,1 (cO A' o ckc t''r'iminn82, h . 1.
CA73,-'mOS/Atih
cc-milS.n.Ic
ByO
r(l A
hcrnI-11'l'.1
ligllt 111i (il sonMe emp lOVelnt
\wa5s tlhat of )ortraittlre; and
eVellv hI c r c thle En'liglishillall.
cot1l(l onlv, hi(I llis ol)l)orttill
itv when the
supl)l)l
of for
cgi
artists ral
short.
The
storv of ( ;aIllsblorotiolh'
unll
sold Ia(ladscales stacked aw\ya
ta,t Ing110-klal Cotll(l
1)1-o(lutcC
al
gre,'at land(lscale
painter
long
heforc an Cofl Sv (lserahle
ho(ly
of
piatrons
COU 1,d l) taluohlit to
alplpreciate
his \work.
There secisli to have bleen a
fairl- larc (1cmand for- land-.
scalpe5,
rovi(lded they \\w C r
not of Englishil scemlerv. I [iS
toy recort)d(s that alln ['mllo h
colnsuil ait \en ice i n d 1i e d
icanalet to to \workl for him at
Wvholesale prices,
andcl retailed
tih leictures to kritish tourists
ait a collsi( lderal c I rohit. I ll
tllis N\\av imutiltitud(1es of (ianal
etto s view's of Venlice a-c saidl
to have l l)cul sold or seiit over
to Luglkalmld. The n1umlher of
C(laudc's
I o)ltissllns, anti Sal
vator Rosas. \which streanied
ilito the c o) ui II t r v prmolbably
Owe(l IloIrc to the -attl c tion
of thlir shtbject-miaitter th.an
to
thirll artistic milelit.s. H en'lce
the few I, I ' I i s Ih
landscape
1)ailters \h10 1ecei v(lV aylv en
c0oura1,gelnienlt were thiose who
1)ai lnte(l Stlcll SCeCnCS as tile
toullrist Could boast famillilarlit
\\ith ; (lld thiese iad(l to he
)lilte(l
ill
'the Italianl
stvle."
So that \we hlid
\Walpole
1, r it
ill" in
-
I
(draw\s attemtl inl
to the e.xtraordil(aiy'' f a c t
that a cout li\-v
s
p)rofumselv.
heauithiled with the aillellities
of nature'
as
EI'niguland
had
produce(l
so
f e \w ,
0
od
p)ainlters
of
lanmdscape.
'As
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Page Thirty-eight ENGLISH WATER COLORS
with our poets," he says, "warm their
imaginations with sunny hills, or sigh after
grottos and cooling breezes, our painters
draw rocks and precipices and castvellated
mountains, because Virgil gasped for breatlh
at Naples, and Salvator wandered amidst
Alps and Apennines. Our ever verdant
lawns, rich vales, fields of haycocks, and
hop-grounds are neglected as homely anid
familiar subjects."
The great task of the eighteenth century
was to educate the colored portion of the
British public to aln interest in the beauties
of their own land. "This, says Finberg,
" was the
indispensable preliminary
before
a national sclhool of
landscape
painters
could be called inlto existence. And as we
lookc back now we can see that this task
w a s
performed
by the topographical
draughtsmen and engravers who carried on
the work so superbly inaugurated by IHol
lar in the time of Charles I. From that
time we see a constant succession of en
gravers and draughtsmen riding or tramp
ing into all
parts
of the kingdom, recording
and 'minutino'-to use WValpole's expres
sion-the antiquities and places of interest,
sketching the castles, cathedrals, and seats
of the nobility and gentry, and thus, with
out a thought of doing anything of the kind,
creating an intellectuaf atmosphere in which
the genius of Turner and Constable could
live and thrive."
The draughtsmeni and engravers to wiich
our historian refers, were encouraged and
directed in no small measure by the first
Ackermann and the institution which he
establishedl. To him and to them we must
ther-efore accordl the achievemenit of cle
veloping the taste of the British public to
an appreciation of landscape and a discrim
inating love of the beauties of their own
land, its rivers and hi1s, its cities and vil
lages, the humblest cottages nestling in its
milost secluded valleys, the kingly castles
crowning its nloblest steeps.
To
carry
on in the spirit of tliis work
into the higher atmosphere of fine art has
been the natural ambition of Gerald Acker
mann, directly descended from the fotinder
of the house, and heir to his artistic abili
ties. His exqusite water colors are notable
for their admirable draughtsmanship, their
spontaneous
feeling, the vigor of the cotri
position and the tremendous perspective
which he achieves in small spaces. .
He works in pure wash, thereby resigni
in' his muse utterly to the inherent quali
ties of a medium which is at once soft ancl
elusive, yet luminous transparent and ca
pable
of producing the most delicate illu
sions of light, air, distance and reality. In
abandoning all effort to make water color
look like oils he returns to the first anid best
traditionis of the medium and
places
his
work in linle with all the really great
achievements of its kind which the world
has ever seen. He is in the forefront of
the times also for pure wash is today ac
credited with the cognos-scente.
His is a serious art, following traditions
that have stood the test of years, even his
color being restraiMied within the range
originally advocated by Dayes, Cozens, Cot
man and Turner in his earliest period. This
old restricted range of color proves vastly
more pleasing and successful than the rose
and gold and blue and
purple
of many more
ambitiously polychromatic painters. It has
a dignity that is delightful and it tends to
prevent the medium from degenerating into
sweetness or trivial prettiness. It is all the
more appropriate too when applied to such
thlemes as the grey old castles of Britain
standing on their rock foundations like
fortresses of English tradition.
There is something so well in keeping
with his story, and the langtiage in which
Gerald Ackermann chooses to relate it, that
hiis pictures impress one like folk songs or
the legends of a people, for they seem
rather to have grown and evolved than to
have been consciously made. We feel this
rather particularly in his study of Bam
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ENGLISH WATER COLORS Page Thirty-nine
borough Castle whicth forms our frontis
piece. Here indeed he becomes a poet, for
this mighty fortress rises grim and ghost
like in the background just as do the tra
ditions of its times loom
tip
dimly, yet
sturdily, in the history of England. This
is indeed the
backdrop
for the spectacle
of the present, but it also gives the cue for
the character of the play. For this is feud
alism, the stern anid bitter system under
which great private armament and defense
were necessary for the maintenanice of life.
Thrilling tales of daring and romance do
these old walls suggest, for Bamborough
wvas a noted stronghoold originally selected
by Ida, King of Northumberland, as his
seat of
power.
Its site is thought by some
to onice hate been an island, for its rock
walls rise
perpendicularly
and hills of sand
have now intervened betweeni it and the
North Sea. It was often taken and retaken
during the Scottish wars anid the wars *of
the Roses and its story is well interwoven
with the history of the land.
Alnother great historic fortress celebrated
by Milr. Ackermann in a song of harmoni
ous tolnes, is Warwick. Its site was forti
fied by the daughter of King Alfred. . The
castle w as built by William the
Conqueror,
anid rebuilt by Henry II and was again
restored in times less ancient by Thomas
Beauclhamp,
Earl of Warwick. Our illus
tration gives an idea of the beautiy and dig
nity df the composition of the original
Avater color but its agreeable greyish greenis
anid wonderful skies are lost.
Harlech Castle is
yet
aniother anlcient
lalndmark whose massive towers have given
our artist an heroic inspiration. This was
the border castle in North Wales, by means
of which the English he'd that
part
of the
counitry
in reign. Chepstow,
of which Mr.
Ackermanin has also made a
delightful pic
ture, served the samne purpose
in the conl
trol of Sout:h WVales. In the Harlech study
wve lhave a beautifully maniaged
p)erspective
that gives
a
stupendous imtpressioni
of
height and volume even in the small repro
duction. The sweep of sky around the hill
gives it that feeling of mass with three
dimensions, so easily lost when hill or crag
is silhouetted against the skv. Little touches
of life are afforded in the foreground
by
the cottage with its smoking chimney and
the grazing cattle achieved with little mas
terly brush strokes perfectly placed. The
whole work is brilliant and full of light,
realizing to its fullest extent the advantage
of water color. An old Welch song, **The
Men of Harlech," celebrates the deeds of
heroismi in days gone by that had this an
cient castle as their setting.
Warkworth Castle is yet another inter
esting motif for a lovely Ackermann water
color, featuring the poetic charm of an
English country side. Here the clistant pile
is
put
a part of the landscape. WVhat a
noble beauty pervades this landscape may
be appreciated even in black and white, so
agreeable is the balance of masses, so dra
matic the
composition.
Another of our illustrations shows
Arundel Castle, faint in the backgrouncd of
a lovely
pastoral.
A loneliness creeps
into
this scene that is somehow most
appealing.
\Ve feel a sympatlhy arising in us for those
who lived in times gone by, shut up in these
fortified mansions with all the riches of
our later, freer, social life denied tlhenm.
The tranquillity of the meadow land tinder
soft grey clouds has been exquisitely real
ized here and the wide luminosity of the
skies. His skies indeed are such as only
well handled water color can afford; subtle
and full of effulgence, achieved with wash
and paper only, thereby preserving the full
brilliancy of the medium.
A lovely country scene with a cottage in
tfhe foreground and the village cross at
(arfe complete our illustrations. They give
an idea but only that of the sincere, refined
and stately beauty of the work of Gerald
'Ackermann. That he loves England well
one would know f rom his water colors
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f-'a(Igc
Forty JEAGLISH Vl7 TER COLORS
aone aind a dlistiniguiished recordl as ani of
ficer in the sel rvice of his countlr dur-ilng
the late war is vell in
keeping Nwith what wve
feel in his art work. I3ut lhe does mor-e than
shlo\w his a-ffectioni wvithl his bruslh, for hie
makes us feel it too. One looks at hlis
vTcater colors ain(I wonders if lanid wvere ever
miiore fair- thalni this and(I if reality caln actu
Ally be so charminig.
Gerald Ackermann has been
higlly
colmi
miienided by our great connioisseur, Dr. Guni
saulus, who has even nma(le miienition of his
\0orkss in hiis add(lresses. This artist is onie
of those favorites of fortulne that arrive
early at artistic lhonior, for hie has captured
the Thomas Creswick :Royal
Acadlemiiy
l)rize, bestowve(d
fol- the best
work
in
wvater
color, at the age of ninieteenl, andcl hlas ex
hiibited continuously since at the Academiiy
ani(l in all of the
imiipolrtanit
wvater color
showvs. A few
years
ago lhe w\\as admitted
ilito the Royal Inistitute. flis work will
un(loubtedly pass
ilnto ar-t
history
as
ranking
wvith the best that the mliuemIiii
and the
coUlntry have
p)roduce(l
and(I this is saving
all that caln be sai(d in vie\w of the
splendid
traditions of E1nglish water colors.
Fine Examples
of the
Barb izon, Dutch
and
I
American Schools
at
t Thurber Art Galleries
75 E. Washington Street, Chicago, Illinois TELEPHONE CENTRAL 7848
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