New-York tribune., 1922-11-30
Young Boswell
InterOieu,s
WiMam Walcof

BECAUSE he is onc of the best knotcn
English etchega,
he is d fettom OF the Rogat Institute
| Of British Architects,
no 20 member Of the Royal Society
of Painter Etchers,
ne Is restoring ceiling IN Oeford, to
be presented TO the Queen,
he has been IN America to e1hibit his
cork,
he ltues IN London, Orford and Rome
WILLIAM WALCOT is small, prac-
ttodt looking man, fctth free toacing
beard and graping hair. His face is
tanned from Worhiag oat OF doors IL,
ipdfm countries. One Wou{d never sets-
pect that he possessed the intense iynag-
indtiue quality iohich dominates his etch-
an'gs and ipater colors. One acouid rather
think him an eaplorer, anisss one
matched his eyes, as Young Bos,oeu en-
dfnaned them, tchite the etcher talked of
dnctent rome oVer cup Of tea, He
'cds looking into. the FIRE, aud as he
talked ms eyes greto givid, as though
ne so1o fete day an the Coliseum, BE-
yoa,d the burning logs. He has go-
constructive imagination, rebuilding
fottb the strokes of his etching needle
the architectural soonders of the past,
popping them scith races lost eecept to
history and romance.
1t seas eorth riding do1on the Avenue
~ the biting cold for Young Boswell to
vislt the exhibition of WILLIAM WAL
COTS 1oork at Kmoedle,,s, IN the COM
pany of the English paiater Young
BosWetPs attention aoas first attracted to
q acater color sketch of lotoer Broadsvnv.
and another Of Fifth Avenue, looking I'D
from the University Club to the Fluxa.
WILLIAM WALCOT-I painted those
when | first came over. New York is
interesting to draw because architecture
is alive here. ! was talking this morn
ing about Moderna's facade across the
front or st. Peters in Rome. 1t ruins
the scale Of the dome. There are three
dozen architects in New York who could
nave solved the problem better. Park
Avenue is an interesting growth, and
the recessed roof is a new development.
and certainly the trend of future archi
lecture. | was practising architect
Tor hf@eeni years, but etching and paint
ing appealed to me strongly so gave UP
my active work as an architect.
Young Boswell (hesttating before an
etching depicting the siege of Troy. The
composition aoas almost entirely eiven
ooer TO the head of the aoooden horse,
'0ath human figures only an the distance,
so as to suggest no definite COMPARISON
or s1ze)---i like the way you have sup-
gested the horse. He might be anv size
And the way you have Reconstructed the
intimate life of Roman household is
interesting.
WILLIAM WALCoT-What have
tried to do is this: Take, for instance
the Villa Quintillii. The brothers Ouin.
tlill were very rich. The sons of Mar
Gus Aurehus wanted their house and
5he1r money, SO they simply contiscated
Doth. 1t was kind of Bolshevism from
the piutocratic point of view. That
mucn got from my reading. Now, that
particular part Of the villa still stands
and drew it as it is now. The rest !
reconstructed from imagination. nut in
people as they were then during an aft-
erhoon such as might have occurred in
Roman times. -
Young Boswell-You have done +bo
same with the Coliseum, l take it,
WILLIAM WALCOT-Yes. | am in
terested in sport from the historians
point OF view. What | have done is tn
Apply archaeology to art. should like
70 70 see game in progress in the Yale
BOWL or in the Harvard Stadium iust
to study sport from a modern noInf Of
MR, WALCoT has done, aohat the
trageter t.r' ,.EGgpt or Italy t7Ses to do
w has m1,ld's eye. To look at a ruin
aho ~ Wlt@ has hnoaoIedge of history to SEQ
use J~an reouatt and repeopled, aliue and
VaOaa' no longer a mere rock or O. coI,tna,
IRON some decoyed temple.
,. 40 quote Mr.. Malcolm Sal1a,ap. "Iv;y.
ftam Wetcot has so thoroughly saturated
hamsey aotth the spirit of ancient Gnws
t"ot mas imagination works crent;4,eg,
ana e ne {, has filed up the gops of cen.