Picture and Text
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''Picture and Text'' is a collection of essays by
Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
on the art of illustration, published in 1893. The essays are brief profiles of the principal illustrators for Harper and Brothers books and magazines, and has been remembered for extensive and perceptive essays on
John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...
and
Honoré Daumier Honoré-Victorin Daumier (; February 26, 1808February 10, 1879) was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the Revolution of 1830 to the fall of the second N ...
. Included with the essays on black-and-white illustration of texts is a discussion in dialogue form about the similar relation between scenery and play in the theater.


Summary and themes

Although originally conceived as an extended puff for Harper artists, who were also personal friends, the book presents some general ideas about the relation between author and illustration, picture and text, as well as the advancing technology of illustration. Both in print and in the theater, James welcomes advances in the technology of realism, but complains if the visual dominates author and actor. He praises the black-and-white engravings of the illustrators for their tact and their illumination of settings, but criticizes elaborate modern stage scenery that overwhelms the actor's art. These essays, although slight, are illustrated with drawings of each other by the artist subjects, and is itself an example of what James extols, as well as being a rare extended essay by James on the unity of the arts. The illustrators of whom he wrote were an Anglo-American group, all personal friends, at a time when Harper was his principal publisher. They were known in the day for their summer gatherings at the village of Broadway in the Cotswolds, where for several years James joined them, and where Sargent gained his first footing among British artists. Among the artists in the group, Charles Reinhart illustrated some of James' own fiction, Alfred Parsons designed James's gardens at
Lamb House Lamb House is a Grade II* listed 18th-century house situated in Rye, East Sussex, England, and in the ownership of the National Trust. The house is run as a writer's house museum. It has been the home of many writers, including Henry James f ...
, and the sets for James' play '' Guy Domville'' whose first, raucous performance he attended. Edwin Abbey and Sargent later collaborated on the enormous wall paintings for the
Boston Public Library The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonweal ...
, and were among the leading artists of their day. James' treatment of his friend Honore de Daumier was a welcome effort on behalf of an artist many considered little more than a
political cartoon A political cartoon, a form of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine a ...
ist. James found an "impressive depth" in Daumier's portrayal of the peculiar and the (sometimes) ugly. Many of Daumier's subjects are now remembered only in his often slashing work, but that's appropriate because all art "prolongs...preserves...consecrates...raises from the dead." In his essay on his protégé John Singer Sargent, James marvels at the painter's complete knowledge of his art and his unfailing technical proficiency. James particularly admires Sargent's portraits of women, such as ''Miss Burckhardt'' (not identified by name but illustrated in the magazine text of the article) and ''
Madame X ''Madame X'' (original title ''La Femme X'') is a 1908 play by French playwright Alexandre Bisson (1848–1912). It was novelized in English and adapted for the American stage; it was also adapted for the screen twelve times over sixty-five ...
'' (called ''Madame G'' in the essay). "There is no greater work of art than a great portrait," James concludes, and Sargent's portraits combine "quick perception" and "lingering reflection." The essays on Daumier and Sargent have frequently been reprinted, but the book as a whole has been out of print since its first edition, in part because the black-and-white engravings that are its principal subject were so soon to be displaced by photographs and colored illustrations.


Table of contents


Critical evaluation

The book has not attracted much attention. In the 1950s some
critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...
s held James' enthusiasm for Sargent against him. When Sargent's own critical position improved, James' appreciation of his fellow expatriate seemed more perceptive and praiseworthy. Many critics have lauded James for his warm and humorous essay on Daumier, which helped establish the caricaturist as a serious artist. James' essays on the other artists in the book have sometimes been dismissed as little more than cheerful compliments for professional acquaintances. In the second volume of his biography of James, Sheldon Novick has noted the importance of the Broadway group of artists to James personally, reproduced some of their portraits and discussed the broader ideas visible in these slight essays.


References

*''A Henry James Encyclopedia'' by Robert Gale (New York: Greenwood Press, 1989) *''Henry James: The Mature Master"'' by Sheldon M. Novick (New York: Random House, 2007)


External links


Original magazine publication of the essay ''Black and White'' under the title ''Our Artists in Europe'' (1889)Original magazine publication of the essay ''John S. Sargent'' (1887)Original magazine publication of the essay ''Honoré Daumier'' under the title ''Daumier, Caricaturist'' (1890)
{{Henry James 1893 non-fiction books Books by Henry James