The Project Gutenberg eBook ofBurlesquesThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: BurlesquesAuthor: H. M. BatemanRelease date: May 3, 2012 [eBook #39604]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Chris Curnow, Mark Young and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Thisfile was produced from images generously made availableby The Internet Archive)*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BURLESQUES ***
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: BurlesquesAuthor: H. M. BatemanRelease date: May 3, 2012 [eBook #39604]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Chris Curnow, Mark Young and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Thisfile was produced from images generously made availableby The Internet Archive)
Title: Burlesques
Author: H. M. Bateman
Author: H. M. Bateman
Release date: May 3, 2012 [eBook #39604]
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Chris Curnow, Mark Young and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Thisfile was produced from images generously made availableby The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BURLESQUES ***
MR. GEORGE GRAVES IN "PRINCESS CAPRICE"MR. GEORGE GRAVES IN "PRINCESS CAPRICE"
WITH AN INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY A. E. JOHNSON
First Published 1916First Published 1916
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY WM. BRENDON AND SON, LTD.PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND
Mr. H. M. Batemanpossesses in remarkable degree thatrare gift, a real power of comic draughtsmanship. He is capable not only of comic vision, but of comic expression. His "line" is an instinctive expression of the comic: it reveals an innate feeling for the essentially humorous. To put it briefly, if somewhat vaguely, he "draws funnily." He is the terse and witty pictorialraconteur—a shrewd observer who can sum up a character, or conjure up a scene, with a few strokes of such penetrating insight that they carry instant conviction.
Humour of the kind which the drawings in this volume embody is so spontaneous, and the expression of it so direct and incisive, that there is perhaps a tendency to overlook the intensity of the effort which produces the seemingly effortless result. Mr. Bateman's method is sometimes described as caricature, but that is to miss its true significance, though the term may seem, upon the surface, appropriate enough. Caricature is the art of inducing humour, by dint of satirical exaggeration, in a subject not necessarily humorous of itself. Mr. Bateman's more difficult function is to reveal humour, not to impose it.
There is no trace of the self-conscious humorist in these drawings. Facetiousness is a quality conspicuously and gratefully absent. The artist's only concern is to pluck the very heart out of his subject, and that his mind has a trend towards the humorous aspect of life is merelyaccidental. For it is the humour of life, not merely of men, that attracts him, and even when he deals with seemingly quite trivial subjects, there is nothing petty or trite about his comic treatment of them.
He generalises. His observations are of types, not of individuals, of situations rather than of scenes. He draws for us people whom we all know but none of us have actually seen, for when he portrays a type his sketch embodies all the salient characteristics that go to make that type. If he draws a plumber, for example, he shows us the Compleat Plumber—more like a plumber than any plumber ever was. And as with character, so with action—whatever Mr. Bateman elects to make his puppets do, they do it with an intensity and vigour beyond all practical possibility, but not (and this is the artist's secret) beyond the bounds of imagination and belief. When a man is seen running in a Bateman drawing he does not merely run—heruns; if he slumbers, one can veritably hear him snore! The intensity of the artist's imaginative effort visualises for us that which cannot humanly be, but would be if it could.
Pictorial exponents of the comic art are few, for of so-called "humorous drawings" not many are inspired by the true comic spirit. It is a fortunate opportunity, therefore, which the present volume provides of preserving in collected form so much that bears the evident stamp of the real thing.
A. E. J.
The drawings contained in this book originally appeared,with some exceptions, in "The Sketch," "London Opinion,""The Graphic," "The Bystander," "Printer's Pie" and"Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News." The author isindebted to the proprietors of these journals for permission toissue them in this volume.
THEY CALL IT "FAME"THEY CALL IT "FAME"
MAESTROS I. The Impressive: Rachmaninoff's "Prelude"MAESTROS I. The Impressive: Rachmaninoff's "Prelude"
MAESTROS II. The Unemotional: Bach's "Italian Fugue"MAESTROS II. The Unemotional: Bach's "Italian Fugue"
MAESTROS III. The Sentimental: A Chopin NocturneMAESTROS III. The Sentimental: A Chopin Nocturne
STUDIES OF A RESPECTABLE MIDDLE-AGED GENTLEMAN WEARING A NEW WINTER VEST FOR THE FIRST TIMESTUDIES OF A RESPECTABLE MIDDLE-AGED GENTLEMAN WEARING A NEW WINTER VEST FOR THE FIRST TIME
THE MAN WHO WON A MOTOR-CARTHE MAN WHO WON A MOTOR-CAR
THE ACCOMPANIST WHO DID HER BESTTHE ACCOMPANIST WHO DID HER BEST
HOTEL HOGS The potter-about-the-hall-all-day-and-watch-the-new-arrivals personHOTEL HOGS The potter-about-the-hall-all-day-and-watch-the-new-arrivals person
HOTEL HOGS The grumble-at-the-food-and-everything-else personHOTEL HOGS The grumble-at-the-food-and-everything-else person
"I REMEMBER IN 1870——" London clubmen in war-time parading for practice in writing to the papers"I REMEMBER IN 1870——" London clubmen in war-time parading for practice in writing to the papers
THE TEMPERTHE TEMPER
The GobletsThe Goblets
GENUINE ANTIQUESGENUINE ANTIQUES
SIGHTS UP IN TOWNSIGHTS UP IN TOWN
SIGHTS DOWN IN THE COUNTRYSIGHTS DOWN IN THE COUNTRY
LITTLE TICHLITTLE TICH
THE BLUETHE BLUE
PREPARATIONS FOR—PREPARATIONS FOR—
—A GREAT OFFENSIVE—A GREAT OFFENSIVE
"GARÇON!""GARÇON!"
MAN AND WIFEMAN AND WIFE
SPEECHES AND THEIR MAKERS The Faithful Old DogSPEECHES AND THEIR MAKERS The Faithful Old Dog
SPEECHES AND THEIR MAKERS The WormSPEECHES AND THEIR MAKERS The Worm
TWINSTWINS
PLATONICPLATONIC
ALL THIS FOR 3D., 6D., AND 1/-ALL THIS FOR 3D., 6D., AND 1/-
THE MISSED PUTTTHE MISSED PUTT
THE MAN WHO ONLY WANTED TWO HALFPENNIES FOR A PENNYTHE MAN WHO ONLY WANTED TWO HALFPENNIES FOR A PENNY
PSYCHICPSYCHIC
LOST—A PEKINESE DOGLOST—A PEKINESE DOG
DANCERS AND DANCES SpanishDANCERS AND DANCES Spanish
DANCERS AND DANCES AmericanDANCERS AND DANCES American
DANCERS AND DANCES OrientalDANCERS AND DANCES Oriental
THE PUBLIC LIBRARYTHE PUBLIC LIBRARY
MERELY A MATTER OF SECONDSMERELY A MATTER OF SECONDS
A HEART-TO-HEART TALKA HEART-TO-HEART TALK
HOW I WON THE MARATHONHOW I WON THE MARATHON
99° IN THE SHADE99° IN THE SHADE
Transcriber's NotesObvious punctuation and spelling errors repaired.
Obvious punctuation and spelling errors repaired.