 
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
| J.W. Godward: the Eclipse of Classicism, by Vern Grosvenor Swanson, Phd |
| |
|
|
| ||||||||||||
|
The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition had two pictures, including his A Flower Seller which became known on the continent when Franz Hanfstaengl London, Munich and New York published it. About this time the artist began to engage his ancient ladies with the viewer, by having them look directly at the spectator.139 The flower seller holds a tray of flowers as she leans against a wall and stares impassively but directly into our eyes.
Yet in the hands of Oman Jean writer for The Studio the same canvas elicits more vituperative comments: The work failed to sell at the Summer Exhibition of the Academy and was returned to McLean. As with all other Godward pictures passing through his hands, McLean writes to the artist, noting that the copyright remains with the painter. There seems to have been a problem with this one, in that Godward has lost the note and McLean must write another, with an interesting annotation, "You give such classical names to your pictures I don't know which is Campaspe in any case I understand the copyright is yours."142 Another large painting from 1896 was Winding the Skein. A major multi-figured painting by Godward, it was one of a handful from this period to include more than one figure. Generally speaking the artist used Italian models, but in this case we see milky skinned Anglo-Saxon girls and are probably portraits. They are sitting on tiger skins and standing on bear skins while making thread, within a marbled terrace overlooking the Mediterranean. Eighteen ninety-seven saw another recumbent maiden, in Godward's Dolce Far Niente. It is a fine painting delicately coloured in nuances of blue, tawny gold against a warm background of red marble. It was engraved by McLean into an edition of 150 proofs and 500 prints for a gentleman who had purchased the oil.143 McLean and Godward also agreed in another letter the same June day to "publisher the plates the buyer of the picture having a half share in the profits of the publication."144 He reserved his largest painting for the Royal Academy of 1897, with his Venus Binding her Hair. Standing nearly ninety inches, it shows an obvious attempt to emulate and rival the great established classical painters of his day. Here, a priestess of Venus is shown tieing a green ribbon in her auburn hair. Like so many of Godward's overly ambitious works it fails to convey anything other than size. Godward managed to exhibit his oil, Under the Vine (c1897) at the 14th Annual of the Institute of Painters in Oil Colour [ROI].145 It was then exhibited at the Birmingham Royal Society of Artists, Spring Exhibition of 1897 with the price at a rather high £150. This was his first oil since Flo in 1888 to be exhibited in Birmingham and also his last. Godward's 1898 oil, Portrait of Ethel Warwick was the second and the last painting he exhibited at the ROI, for their 16th Annual November show of 1898-99. From this time onward, Godward gradually began withdrawing from exhibits. It is doubtful that his fragile personality could withstand putting his delicate psyche on the line. Godward followed his indifferent Venus Binding Her Hair RA entry of 1897 with an equally maudlin and large Circe at Burlington House (RA) in 1898. He also exhibited at the Academy his Nymph of the Chase to better reviews. Although Godward sent the Walker Art Gallery's 1898 Autumn Exhibition his Eighty and Eighteen, he was obviously concentrating on making it big in the RA's Summer Exhibition. Godward did not fully realize that the Academy was as much a social as an artistic institution. Being unable to pass their "personality test" he failed to garner the necessary support to be accepted as an Associate Royal Academician (ARA). It took him a long time to understand this fact. Recognition in the Royal Academy, he felt, would have 'proved' his worth to his doubting father. Perhaps as a gesture of reconciliation John William painted a Portrait of John Godward (1898) as a stern but sensitive patriarch. The portrait of his grandfather, painted five years earlier was done from a photograph, but this oil has a direct assured presence which comes from the artist's father actually sitting for his portrait. Perhaps this gesture was not extended to the rest of the family because he either felt their support, as with Nin and Arthur or antagonism. The Pergola of 1898 continued the series of "seamstress" pictures Godward tirelessly reverted to. Certainly his most successful painting of 1898 was At the Gate of the Temple. It bore certain compositional similarities with The Priestess of 1894. The bacchante was Lily Pettigrew, the noted model who occasionally posed for Godward. She is posed as a delicate guard of the Temple of Dionysus, straight and upright before the bolted door.
The next year, Godward again paints another ambitious cultic painting, entitled The Delphic Oracle (1899). One of the artist's most original and successful compositions, the work bears a passing acquaintance with the work of John William Waterhouse and the Hon. John Collier. The nude oracle gazes directly at the onlooker, thus drawing attention to her beautiful form. It was described in literature of its day: Godward's Paris Salon debut came in 1899 with his Dormeuse and the ungainly Circe at the Societié Des Artistes Fran�ais. It may be that Dormeuse was painted to French taste and is atypical of Godward's work. A photograph of a sleeping nude woman, purports to be by the artist, but has been listed among the questionable work because it is outside the artist's style. He would exhibit in Paris several more times, before dropping out of all show venues.147 Godward's 1891 painting, Playtime depicts a young girl playing with a kitten using a peacock plume to tease. In the artist's 1900 version of the same theme, entitled Idleness, the picture is far more refined and sensitive. Dressed in a cadmium yellow light tunic with purple stola, Godward's primary Italian model from the period, sits upon a marble exedra seat with the Mediterranean behind. These simple elements, typical of Godward, combine to form one of the most effect of his oils. Because of the dazzling treatment of the dress, marble and flowers, it is now becoming obvious that the artist's ability to paint remarkable heads is lagging. Within a few years this deficiency begins to be rectified somewhat. The new century began with Godward on course to be recognized as a significant player in the painting of classical subjects. Because of his retiring manner and inability to build bridges with those strategically placed to help him politically, he spoke through his art. The obvious candidates for allies, Alma-Tadema and Edward John Poynter, had made friends elsewhere. Beyond this, four things worked against him. First his large ambitious "machine pieces" were not his best work. Secondly the vogue in the Royal Academy for new painters of classical subjects already began to wane. Third it was obviously apparent that Godward's range as an artist was rather narrow. Finally that he was not more than merely a "titty-rump-titty-rump" painter of pretty bimbo women. Logically by 1900, "Beauties Painters" could not receive critical recognition, except for display in the RA's Summer Exhibition. This and little else. Thus the new century began. Unbeknownst to the socially challenged Godward, he was faced with a no win situation. The Manchester City Art Gallery acquired through bequest in 1917, Godward's fine, Midday (1900). Again we see the peacock fan, which is fast becoming a trademark for Godward's models. It depicts a love crazed virgin awaiting her suitor in a secret rendezvous. The painted marble herm is the pater nostrus, acting as a chaperon. The Royal Academy received a relatively minor oil, Chloe (1900) for their Summer Exhibition of 1900, while the New Gallery exhibited his marvelous The Toilette (1900) for their Summer show of 1900. A year later he sent the New Gallery two oils: Autumn (1900) and The Necklace (1900). One of Godward's most impressive oils, The Toilette combines the privacy of a woman's toilette, with the sensual intimacy of her diaphanous chiffon dress. She pays no mind to anything but her task of primping for the fast approaching lover's tryst. We see in the drapery that Godward has fully painted the nude form of the woman, then sensitively added what he was best at, the subliminal bluish coa vestis tunic. A Winter's Morning is one of the four seasons (see Autumn of 1900). It is remarkable in Godward's oeuvre for its introspective sensitivity. It is Godward's only winter painting, in this case the depiction of snow reveals a somber but elegant painting. | |
|
|
| ||||||||||||
|
Only one Godward painting was included in the sale, Gypsy of 1897 which sold for £29 8s. This did not mean that McLean would not form other partnerships nor deal with our artist. In fact he soon bought a Godward oil, A Cyprian Lady the same month! But any art stock inventory held in concert with the silent partner needed to be sold.
Godward's productivity from this period continued to proceed unabated, though he does not show at any major exhibitions, other than the Royal Academy. His RA oil is again an oversize nude entitled Venus at the Bath (1901). Why Godward insisted upon depicting large nude female figures, which he was not particularly good at, is unfathomable. Perhaps he was advised that it was the way to become a Royal Academician. But it was not flattering for Godward's talent because his undraped maidens tended to speak only to nudity not sensuousness. His ongoing difficulty in painting heads, hands and feet was only exacerbated by its scale. His diaphanous draped women however tended to exude abundant luscious sexuality. Of course these he seldom chose to exhibit. His saccharine The Favourite (1901) repeats the theme of "girl teasing kitten" last visited in Idleness the year before. More direct is his sensitive Sweet Dreams (1901). A Roman lady is sitting on a tiger skin rug on a marble bench. She wears a sea green tunic with gold bands and a crimson stola. Candid and open is the patrician girl with her hands rest palms-up in the most relaxed fashion, as she dreamily gazes into your eyes. Both calm and energy are generated by the picture's frontal composition, in one of Godward's best oils. A bronze statuette of the Venus of Arles graces a niche to the right and perhaps signifies that she is a priestess of the Temple of Venus. The Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool received for their Autumn Exhibition the minor classical head of Chloris (1902) holding a rose. It was one of the very earliest tondo (circular) shaped canvases that Godward painted. They also exhibited in Liverpool, Godward's "With Violets Wreathed and Robe of Saffron Hue..." (1902) in which all stops have been pulled. There is no demure, sedateness here, only the artist's blinding virtuosity. While the central details are painted beyond reproach, subtleties such as the toes and distant temple seem awkward and amateurish. An oil of much greater stature is the Ionian Dancing Girl (1902) which is a large picture (54" x 33") of a Greek girl with violets in her hair, holding a tambourine. Her voluptuous body, hardly hidden behind a sheer gown, radiates a "take it or leave it attitude." It was exhibited in the New Gallery in London that year, to welcome praise. We might call this picture Godward's quintessential canvas, in the sense that all the elements we know him by are present. Unlike his academic short-hand practiced on many other pieces, no time was spared on this extraordinary oil. The leopard skin was painted with such a remarkable facility and consideration that it betrays the fact that he would too often paint fa presto on his other pictures. Perhaps the best 'head' by Godward during the first years of the century was Contemplation (1903). It was a shaped circular canvas of a mere twenty inches in diameter. The unknown woman was Godward's steady model, of whom he might have had some affection. She is seen wearing a scarlet tunic with a crimson wrap, and a golden band in her hair. His Royal Academy Summer Exhibition entry for 1903 was the minuscule Phyrrha, etc. which measured only eleven by five inches! A far cry from his typical RA entries of huge pompier paintings.
It is often said that you can't tell one Godward from another, or earlier, middle or late Godward's apart. This is simply not the case through the development of his genre is subtle. For instance his 1903 oil, Summer Flowers is the first example by Godward where flowers are the dominate secondary feature of the picture. While the artist had used them extensively, never were they so profuse as in this painting of a young girl picking poppies and in the later pictures. For his dealer's son, Henry McLean's marriage Godward gave a small oil study for Rendezvous (1903) as a wedding present. The picture depicts a young patrician lady leaning against a marble wall, wearing an orange-red tunic and crimson robe, as she holds a peacock feathered fan. John William's aunt, Anna Maria Godward of Upper Tooting died as a spinster in January of 1904 and left the artist as the sole executor of her estate. Then on the 16th of August 1904 his father, John Godward, died at his home at 18 Denmark Avenue (Hill) in Wimbledon. He left the family £6,008 in his estate, a goodly amount at that time.150 Other than a gold watch and chain, John William received no money from the estate, since it all went to the surviving widow, Sarah E. Godward. In the wake of his father's death, John William purchased for himself a burial and interment plot at Brompton Cemetery, just behind his home. On the day after John Godward's death, probably because of preparations for the funeral arrangements for his father, he bought a piece of Ground in the cemetery for £21.151 There are five plots for the Godward family at Brompton. At this time the ostracized, Mary Frederica "Nin", returns to the family home at Denmark Hill in Wimbledon, to live with her mother. The reproach of her divorce to Mr. Scott seems to have faded with the death of her father. Her presence in the house seems to have also softened her mother's ill will against her favorite brother, John William, as well. In 1904 Godward produced two of his finest paintings. Dolce Far Niente was one of seven paintings of this title. It depicts an Italian model as an exhausted Bacchante after a frenzied dance. The oil is in the late 19th century Classical tradition's aesthetic branch of "collapsing" women. The viewer's eye is led to the slumbering beauty by her peacock fan, bear and lion furs and her sumptuous robes of saffron with crimson stola. These are faintly reminiscent of Lord Leighton's oil Flaming June now in the Ponce Museum in Puerto Rico. The languorous damsel dreamily reclining in sweet idleness, now owned by Lloyd-Webber of Phantom fame, was lambasted by The Daily Telegraph: The other painting of note was In the Days of Sappho (1904), now in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibou California. Like so many of the artist's paintings the female figures engages the viewer by gazing out of the picture.153 This device adds emotional thrust to what might otherwise seem like a grandiose set-piece painting. While puissant in its design and beautifully rendered the painting's piece de resistance is its original colour scheme. The ethereal saffron dress with academy blue and tan stola adds intelligence to a discerning artistic effort by Godward. | |
 |
