Catherine Wallace (1)

Catching the Light traces the Henry Scott Tuke’s family background and follows chronologically, over the course of sixteen chapters, his career alongside his work. Among other things Wallace attempts to explain Tuke’s interest in his chosen subject matter, stripped of partially stripped boys on boat or beach, suggesting it is a natural extension of his life classes as s student at The Slade. Wallace also tries to put this in its Victorian context and the then prevalent attitude of relative acceptance towards such subject matter, so dispelling any thought of Tuke’s having any deviant proclivities. The text is interesting and illuminating, and it along with the reproductions of his work shows there is much more to Tuke than boys on the beach.

Wallace acknowledges David Wainwright’s earlier study, Henry Scott Tuke 1858- 1929 Under Canvas, and sheds further light on some points raised there, even suggesting alternative views. However I did not find the text here as engaging as Wainwright’s. I also puzzled over the apparent contradiction regards one of Tuke’s models, on page 42 Wallace says of Tuke’s friend and frequent model Jack Rowlings that he posed “always clothed”, yet page 53 carries an illustration of Tuke’ s Perseus and Andromeda, with Rowlings as the model for Perseus with nothing but a wind blown cloth to cover his modesty.

There are nearly 150 illustrations, all in full colour apart from a few period photographs, many of the images are full or half-page. What is without question is the beauty of the paintings, covering the full range of Tuke’s output from very his early works, the formal portraits, his interest in ships and the coast, and paintings from his travels in Italy and the West Indies in addition the beautifully rendered fair skinned boys. The colour reproduction here is richer and altogether more vibrant than in Wainwright’s; they are quite simply stunning, the subtly of the flesh tones and the sense of light fully justifying the books title: Catching the Light.… (mer)

Catching the Light traces the Henry Scott Tuke’s family background and follows chronologically, over the course of sixteen chapters, his career alongside his work. Among other things Wallace attempts to explain Tuke’s interest in his chosen subject matter, stripped of partially stripped boys on boat or beach, suggesting it is a natural extension of his life classes as s student at The Slade. Wallace also tries to put this in its Victorian context and the then prevalent attitude of relative acceptance towards such subject matter, so dispelling any thought of Tuke’s having any deviant proclivities. The text is interesting and illuminating, and it along with the reproductions of his work shows there is much more to Tuke than boys on the beach.

Wallace acknowledges David Wainwright’s earlier study, Henry Scott Tuke 1858- 1929 Under Canvas, and sheds further light on some points raised there, even suggesting alternative views. However I did not find the text here as engaging as Wainwright’s. I also puzzled over the apparent contradiction regards one of Tuke’s models, on page 42 Wallace says of Tuke’s friend and frequent model Jack Rowlings that he posed “always clothed”, yet page 53 carries an illustration of Tuke’ s Perseus and Andromeda, with Rowlings as the model for Perseus with nothing but a wind blown cloth to cover his modesty.

There are nearly 150 illustrations, all in full colour apart from a few period photographs, many of the images are full or half-page. What is without question is the beauty of the paintings, covering the full range of Tuke’s output from very his early works, the formal portraits, his interest in ships and the coast, and paintings from his travels in Italy and the West Indies in addition the beautifully rendered fair skinned boys. The colour reproduction here is richer and altogether more vibrant than in Wainwright’s; they are quite simply stunning, the subtly of the flesh tones and the sense of light fully justifying the books title: Catching the Light.… (mer)