Harold Speed
Harold Speed was an influential English painter renowned for his portraits, figures, and historical subjects. Born in London to an architect, he initially pursued architecture at the Royal College of Art but soon shifted his focus to painting. His formal training continued at the Royal Academy Schools from 1891 to 1896, where he distinguished himself by winning a gold medal and a travelling scholarship in 1893. Speed's artistic prowess led to his election as a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 1896, and he later became a prominent figure in the Art Workers' Guild, serving as its Master in 1916. His work was regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy, and he held his first solo exhibition in 1907 at the Leicester Galleries. In addition to his painting career, Speed made significant contributions to the art community through his instructional books for artists, which have remained in print and continue to influence aspiring painters. His participation in the 1928 Summer Olympics art competition further showcased his talent on an international stage. Speed's legacy is marked not only by his artistic achievements but also by his dedication to educating future generations of artists, solidifying his place in the history of British art.
Famous Quotes
View all 3 quotes“For colour is one of the most rapturous truths that can be revealed to man.”
“The search for this inner truth is the search for beauty. People whose vision does not penetrate beyond the narrow limits of the commonplace, and to whom a cabbage is but a vulgar vegetable, are surprised if they see a beautiful picture painted of one, and say that the artist has idealised it, meaning that he has consciously altered its appearance on some idealistic formula; whereas he has probably only honestly given expression to a truer, deeper vision than they had been aware of. The commonplace is not the true, but only the shallow, view of things. [...] Our moments of peace are, I think, always associated with some form of beauty, of this spark of harmony within corresponding with some infinite source without. [...]. In moments of beauty (for beauty is, strictly speaking, a state of mind rather than an attribute of certain objects [...]) we seem to get a glimpse of this deeper truth behind the things of sense. And who can say but that this sense, dull enough in most of us, is not an echo of a greater harmony existing somewhere the other side of things, that we dimly feel through them, evasive though it is”
“It is this perfect accuracy, this lack of play, of variety, that makes the machine-made article so lifeless. Wherever there is life there is variety, and the substitution of the machine-made for the hand-made article has impoverished the world to a greater extent than we are probably yet aware of. Whereas formerly, before the advent of machinery, the commonest article you could pick up had a life and warmth which gave it individual interest, now everything is turned out to such a perfection of deadness that one is driven to pick up and collect, in sheer desperation, the commonest rubbish still surviving from the earlier period.”
