Eric Newton

Eric Newton, who was born in 1893 near Manchester, returned from the 1914-18 war determined to be an artist, but only succeeded in turning himself into a craftsman (in mosaic). He has spent the rest of his life learning that his creative powers lag considerably behind his appreciative equipment and has become, in consequence, an art critic and an art historian. He is not unaware that unless enthusiasm is based on knowledge, art criticism becomes an unpalatable mixture of gush and prejudice. He is equally aware that unless knowledge is accompanied by enthusiasm (and, sometimes, boredom) art history can never become art criticism. He has been art critic of the Manchester Guardian and the Sunday Times, and now writes a weekly column for Time and Tide. His other books include Stanley Spencer (in the Penguin Modern Painters series), The Meaning of Beauty, and Tintoretto. He is an M.A. of Manchester University, President of the British Section of the International Association of Art Critics, and Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford, 1959-60.