Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May
TOM MOSTYN
(1864 - 1930)
Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May
Oil on canvas
36 x 60 inches
Signed
He is an illustrator of ideas and a painter of emotions, dealing with them with a firmness betraying a real knowledge of human nature

The Magazine of Art, 1899

Born in Liverpool in 1864 and raised in Manchester, Tom Mostyn, the son of the artist Edwin Mostyn, studied at the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts. He had his first local exhibition in 1880, and was showing at the Royal Academy by the age of 29.  He is mainly recognized for his romantic garden scenes, although his style was so eclectic through out his career that it is hard to believe that the same artist created all of his paintings.

His earliest paintings were highly influenced by the strong anti-"Victorian Materialist" sentiment of his teacher Sir Hubert Von Herkomer (whose school he entered in 1893).  In these early works Mostyn depicted the poverty of the working classes in the style of the realists, an effective way of raising social consciousness.  Among his most important works from this period are The Torrent (R.A. 1895), The Dreamers (R.A. 1897) and The Doss-house (R.A. 1905).

In the late 1890's, Mostyn painted a group of religious paintings for which he received recognition as “one of the few modern painters who can paint a religious picture with absolute sin­cerity" (Daily Mail, June 27, 1907). Although he readily changed styles, Mostyn was always praised.
Mostyn’s most important transition took place between 1911 and 1912.  The works from this period feature the large figures that are so predominant in his earlier works, in sumptuous garden settings – a foreshadowing of things to come.

In c.1918 after WWI Tom Mostyn moved to Devon, where he began a series of enchanted garden scenes for which he would become best known.

Leaving realism behind, Mostyn began to paint dream-like landscapes, idealizing nature by working with, and building upon, his knowledge of nature's strength and beauty.  By piling thick layers of intensely bright colors onto the canvas with a palette knife, he overwhelmed the viewer with a barrage of visual stimuli evoking imagination and fantasy.  Mostyn was not content to soften down facts and realities by veiling them in an atmo­sphere of subtle illusion, like so many of the Impressionists did.  Reality became of small importance to the artist's scheme.   Instead he set out to create a world of his own, in which romance was the dominant note.  Because of Mostyn's use of color as form these works caused some controversy, and were criticized by some to be little more than “orgies in paint".

Mostyn refused to succumb to any of the contemporary fallacies (ie: materialism and technology). He did not confine himself to paint with any set formula nor did he limit his choice of subject matter to any popular mannerism. On the contrary, he felt that every moment called for its individual way of being seen and therefore its unique way of being painted.

Until his death in 1930, Mostyn's own convictions guided him in a struggle for expression, which became the main influence in his work. It caused his style to undergo the many changes that we can observe in the body of his work today.
Mostyn exhibited at the Royal Academy, and was a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, The Royal Cambrian Academy, and the Royal West of England Academy.  He also exhibited in the Paris Salon, and at the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh.

Literature:
The Magazine of Art, "Our Rising Artists: Thomas Mostyn". 1899 v.22 p.129-133.
International Studio, "Painter of Romance: Mr. Tom Mostyn" v. 46
The Antique Collector, "Tom Mostyn 'A Full Blooded Romantasist’", November 1989.
"My School & My Gospel", Sir Hubert Von Herkomer; Archibal Constable & Company, 1908.
 
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INDEX - A VISUAL HISTORY > <
Virtual Exhibition Index next prev
AIRY, ANNA (1882 - 1964)The Little Mirror
BARBER, CHARLES BURTON (1845 - 1894)Off to School
BOLOTOWSKY, ILYA (1907 - 1981)Abstract
BONHEUR, AUGUSTE (1824 - 1884)Ploughing in the Nivernais
BONHEUR, ROSA (1822 - 1899)Couching Lion
BOUDIN, EUGENE LOUIS (1824 - 1898)La bassin, Deauville
BOUGUEREAU, WILLIAM A. (1825 - 1905)La Frileuse
BOUGUEREAU, WILLIAM A. (1825 - 1905)Marchande de grenades (Pomegranate Seller)
CHAIGNEAU, JEAN F. (1830 - 1906)Le Jardin de l'Artiste
CHOULTSE, IVAN F. (b.1877)Nuit de Mars, Russie
CLAYS, PAUL JEAN (1819 - 1900)Shipping on the Scheldt
COALE, GRIFFITH BAILEY (1890 - 1950)The Baltimore Flower Mart - 1915
COROT, JEAN-BAPTISTE-CAMILLE (1796 - 1875)Pâturage dans les marais (Souvenir des environs d'Amiens)
CORTÈS, EDOUARD LEON (1882 - 1969)The Breton Family
DAWSON, MONTAGUE (1895 - 1973)The Pirate's Cove, Wafer Bay, Cocos Island
DIÉTERLE, MARIE (1856 - 1935)Troupeau dans un chemin creux
DRUMMOND, ARTHUR (1871 - 1951)Victorian Fantasy
DUPRÉ, JULES (1811 - 1889)Environs de Plymouth
DUPRÉ, JULIEN (1851 - 1910)La rentrée au village
DUPRE, JULIEN (1851 - 1910)La Prairie
DUPRE, JULIEN (1851 - 1910)Glaneuses
ELSLEY, ARTHUR J. (1860 - 1952)Good Night
FISHER, R.A., WILLIAM MARK (1841-1923)In the Garden
FRERE, CHARLES THEODORE (1814 - 1888)A Caravan Crossing the Desert
GIRARDET, EUGENE ALEXIS (1853 - 1907)Outside the Mosque
GIRARDET, EUGENE ALEXIS (1853 - 1907)The Wailing Wall
HERBO, LEON (1850 - 1907)La Charmeuse
ISRAELS, ISAAC (1865 - 1934)Dancing at the Moulin de la Galette
JOUBERT, LEON (fl.1883 - 1900)Un Coin de Seine a Lavacourt
KNIGHT, DANIEL RIDGWAY (1839 - 1924)A Pensive Moment
KNIGHT, DANIEL RIDGWAY (1839 - 1924)En Vendanges
LUNY, THOMAS (1759 - 1837)Engagement Between Sir George Brydges Rodney and the Spanish Squadron, Commanded by Don Juan de Langara, Near Cape St. Vincent, January 16, 1780
MARCKE DE LUMMEN, EMILE VAN (1827 - 1890)Vaches a Pâture
MOREAU, ADRIEN (1843-1906)Une Mascarade au XVII Siecle
MOSTYN, TOM (1864 - 1930)Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May
MUNIER, EMILE (1840 - 1895)La retour du marché
MUNIER, EMILE (1840 - 1895)May I Have One Too
PERRAULT, LEON J.B. (1832 - 1908)Away From Home
PERRAULT, LEON J.B. (1832 - 1908)Sleeping Putto
PERUGINI , CHARLES EDWARD (1839-1918)The Green Lizard
RIGOLOT, ALBERT GABRIEL (1862 - 1932)Soleil Levant dans la Brume
ROSSI, ALEXANDER MARK (FL.1870 - 1903)Forbidden Books
ROSSI, ALEXANDER MARK (FL.1870 - 1903) May I Have This Dance?
SALMON, ROBERT (1775 - c.1845) The Estridge off Dover
SCHIELE, EGON (1890 - 1918)Semi-nude with Green Stockings from the Back
SCHRYVER, LOUIS MARIE DE (1862 - 1942)A Young Man's Fancy
SCHRYVER, LOUIS MARIE DE (1862 - 1942)Après l’averse; - place du Théâtre-Français
SEIGNAC, GUILLAUME (1870 - 1924)Reflections
SISLEY, ALFRED (1839 - 1899)La Seine à Suresnes
TOPHAM, FRANCIS W.W. (1838 - 1924)Young Girl on a Swing
WARDLE, ARTHUR (1864 – 1949)The Deer-Stealer
WILLIAMS, EDWARD CHARLES (1807 - 1881)The Old Roadside Inn