Talk:John William Waterhouse

Oil painting
Does he work primarily in oil? --Morbid-o 16:58, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Rfc re Hylas and the Nymphs controversy section
Should this article contain the section currently titled "Hylas and the Nymphs controversy" which relates to a 2018 controversy at the Manchester Art Gallery? 18:40, 3 June 2019 (UTC)

Responses

 * Exclude (nominator) - I believe that this controversy, which occurred over 100 years after Waterhouse's death, should be excluded from this biographical article. While inclusion at the painting's article is likely warranted, including it here is misleading and would imply that this controversy somehow had a profound or important effect on Waterhouse's life or legacy - I think it is clear that it does not. This would appear to be a very isolated incident relating to a single painting and a single art gallery. I believe this is a clear case of recentivism, where this was added soon after the event in question, without considering whether the impact of the event was significant. I think in 2019 we can analyze this and see it does not belong. ‡ Єl Cid of ᐺalencia  ᐐT₳LKᐬ  18:43, 3 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Keep, even if recentism played a part in its inclusion here it shows it's still a relevant painting and Waterhouse a relevant artist in the 21st century. A good publicity stunt by the gallery in the midst of international discussions about women and objectification, it introduced many new readers to Waterhouse's artworks and made this particular painting a tourist destination. I hope their p.r. person got a raise. Randy Kryn (talk) 20:48, 3 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Keep I agree with Randy Kryn's argument above. Wayne Jayes (talk) 04:47, 4 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Keep. The issue of removing the painting is evidently important. Substantial issues were raised and publicly debated, such as the potentially "very old-fashioned" way of presenting images of women's bodies as "passive beautiful objects" or "femmes fatales", along with the issues of alleged "puritanism" and "political correctness." And the debate has been widely reported in the media, among which are obviously reliable sources. Therefore, we should assess this not as being about a permission to include the relevant information, but as an obligation to do so. -The Gnome (talk) 10:24, 4 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Keep - Artists don't exist in the vacuum of history, but are largely defined by their legacy and how their works are seen decades or centuries after their death. This publicity stunt by the Manchester Art Gallery proves the strong feelings Waterhouse's art can still provoke among the art public even in the 21st century and it IS important when discussing his legacy. Yes, the controversy in this case had more to do with art in general, rather than with the works of this specific artists (unlike in the case of, say, Balthus), but the fact that this specific work by this specific artist was chosen to make this specific statement is relevant to the way Waterhouse is judged by history. PraiseVivec (talk) 11:59, 4 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Weak exclude, or pare to a minimum and link. This content would clearly belong on the Gallery page, but it isn't clear to me that it imparts any useful info about the artist. If more specific criticism of this artist or this work had been made, I might lean the other way, but the protest seems against a generic class of paintings. Whether the whole incident was a PR gaffe or PR stunt, it doesn't seem to have much to do with Waterhouse. Pincrete (talk) 21:24, 6 June 2019 (UTC)

Hobson archives
I am Wikimedian in Residence at Coventry University, where we have the Hobson archives. I would like to suggest that someone add a sentence at or near the end of the article:


 * The archives of Waterhouse's biographer, Anthony Hobson, relating to Waterhouse, are held at Coventry University.

-- Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 10:38, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Hole in the picture
Quite amazing there is no mention of the models he repeated used. Dozens of paintings of the same women. Why? Shenme (talk) 21:13, 3 August 2022 (UTC)
 * This was the reason I looked at the article today. No mention, but I was more surprised how little there is about him, his work, inspiration, style, technique, et cetera, other than a just brief outline of his life and a bunch of pictures. — al-Shimoni  (talk) 03:19, 3 February 2024 (UTC)