The Cotman Collection | 115

Cotmania. Vol. VI. 1930-31

Archive: SDK Sydney Decimus Kitson Archive
Reference Number: SDK/1/2/1/6
Page:


  • Description

    Newspaper cutting from the Eastern Daily Press, 8 Jan: 1931, continued. Obituary of E. H. New.

    Newspaper article Pictures at the Castle from the Daily Press Jan:8. 1931. continued.

    Date: 1930-31

  • Transcription

    Cotman's simple, broad treatment of his
    subjects and his portrayal of light should
    have been a revelation to the people of his
    time, but instead his work was looked at
    askance except by a few appreciative art
    patrons such as Dawson, Turner, and the
    Cholmeleys. Yet it can hardly be wondered
    at, for here was a man painting pictures
    which were directly opposed to all the
    observed canons of artistic taste—pictures
    with no composition in the generally
    accepted sense of the term in that day, no
    nicely balanced trees or buildings, no
    apparent centre on which to focus the eye.
    no form, just simple scenes, depicted in the
    broadest possible manner, with the colours
    splashed in with a certain amount of artistic
    licence. It is small wonder that Cotman
    found little appreciation of his work in his
    own age, and is not the present age equally
    lacking in understanding of much of the
    art of to-day?

      From the Eastern Daily Press.
             Jan: 8. 1931.
    
                                                                   MR. E. H. NEW
                                                         DRAWINGS OF OXFORD
                                                                    COLLEGES
                                              Mr. Edmund Hort New, of 17,
                                        Worcester-place, Oxford, died on Tuesday 
                                        at a nursing home in his sixtieth year.
                                           Though he had a wider range, being known 
                                        as a writer and lecturer on art and architec­ture and as a general illustrator and designer 
                                        of book plates, it is by his "New Loggan" 
                                        drawings of Oxford Colleges that New will 
                                        be most gratefully remembered. Seldom has
                                        there been an artist better equipped for a 
                                        special subject. To a comprehensive and inti­mate knowledge of architecture he added a 
                                        style of drawing that was perfectly adapted, 
                                        not only to realize the general forms of build­ings, but also to bring out the interest of 
                                        surface and texture. He drew detail, natural­istic as well as architectural, with the greatest
                                        economy, having a natural gift for seeing "the
                                        way things go" He gave the impression of
                                        loving every stone that he drew.  His decorative sense was highly developed, and he showed
                                        the greatest ingenuity in turning heraldic
                                        emblems and lettering into ornaments that
                                        formed part of the general design.  For his
                                        series of Oxford Colleges, most of which have
                                        been engraved by Mr. Emery Walker, he 
                                        adopted the old convention of the bird's-eye 
                                        view, showing plan and elevation together, 
                                        and the results have great documentary value. 
                                        Artistically they set a supremely good standard 
                                        for architectural drawing.
                                             New was born at Evesham in 1871, being 
                                        the son of a solicitor. He studied art at the 
                                        Birmingham School of Art, and for a time was
                                        on the teaching staff of that institution. He 
                                        exhibited at the Royal Academy and the 
                                        Society of Arts and Crafts, and illustrated 
                                        many books, including several in the "Byways"
                                        series of English counties. Exhibitions of his 
                                        work were held at the Roval Institute of
                                        British Architects in 1924 and at the house of 
                                        Lady Hylton. in Manchester-square, in 1925. 
                                        Oxford gave him the bon. degree of M.A., and 
                                        he was also an honorary associate of the Royal 
                                        Institute of British Architects.
                                                           'The Times'
                                                               Feb: 5. 1931.

Newspaper cutting from the Eastern Daily Press, 8 Jan: 1931, continued. Obituary of E. H. New.