In 1924, Arthur Conan Doyle held an exhibition of his father's art. I've made a separate post where I've referenced his notebook discovered and published in the 1970s.
In Memories & Adventures ACD wrote of his father:
"His painting was done spasmodically and the family did not always reap the benefit, for Edinburgh is full of water-colours which he had given away. It is one of my unfulfilled schemes to collect as many as possible and to have a Charles Doyle exhibition in London, for the critics would be surprised to find what a great and original artist he was—far the greatest, in my opinion, of the family. His brush was concerned not only with fairies and delicate themes of the kind, but with wild and fearsome subjects, so that his work had a very peculiar style of its own, mitigated by great natural humour."
And it very quickly came to pass, for ACD was a man of action. In February of 1924, ACD exhibited a collection of his father's artworks at the Brook-Street Galleries, titled "The Humorous and the Terrible". Below I've compiled the relatively small number of newspaper notices I've found regarding the exhibition.
For some articles the repetitive/common backstory elements have been excluded, focusing on comments regarding the pictures in the exhibition.
Liverpool Daily Post - Saturday 26 January 1924
An Art Surprise.
It is thirty years since the death of Charles Doyle, the father of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and we are now to have the first opportunity of seeing a collection of his artistic work. It will be news indeed to many to know that the youngest of the five brilliant sons of John Doyle, himself famous as a caricaturist in the first half of the last century, is said to have been the greatest artist of them all. His life was spent in a Government office in Edinburgh, and his work never had a chance of challenging the verdict of London, but his famous literary son, realising an ambition he has long entertained, has succeeded at last in bringing together over a hundred exampes, which will shortly be shown in the Brook street Galleries.
Charles Doyle was influenced by his contemporary George Cruikshank, and his genius found expression not only in the humorous, but in the dainty and the terrible. A comparison of his work with that of his brother "Dicky" Doyle, of "Punch" should be interesting.
Belfast Telegraph - Saturday 26 January 1924
One of Charles Doyle's pictures, "The Death Coach," depicts a windy heath with two figures crouching in terror, while the ghostly coach carrying a row of corpses in shrouds passes along. In topical studies, such as "The Rogue's Progress," and "Curling," the study of a fat woman with billowy skirts at play on the ice, he expressed his sense of humour.
Daily Express - Saturday 26 January 1924
AN UNDISCOVERED GENIUS?
Painter-Father of a Famous Author
"The Sun Worshippers" one of the paintings by the late Mr. Charles Doyle, father of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which will be exhibited at the Brook-street Galleries. Daily Express exclusive.
Daily News (London) - Thursday 31 January 1924
HUMOROUS & TERRIBLE.
Exhibition of Drawings by Conan Doyle's Father.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle called in at the Brook-street Galleries yesterday afternoon to see the collection of drawings and studies, "The Humorous and the Terrible," the work of his father, the late Mr. Charles Doyle. "I like the terrible ones best." said Sir Arthur to a "Daily News" reporter. "I was very keen to arrange this exhibition. My father had real genius, but it was never recognised. He lived all his life in Edinburgh." Sir Arthur explained that many of the drawings now on view have been rescued from scrap-books and albums. The "terrible" drawings, which Sir Arthur likes, are remarkable. One, "The Drowning Seaman's Vision" is full of a bleak, cold light, such as is found only in the Dore drawings; others, "The Ghost House," "Hell's Blast," "The Death Coach," are full of the jolliest swinging frescoes of ghosts, imps, hobgoblins and fairies. They would do splendidly as illustrations for the Ingoldsby Legends.
There is at least one excellent joke— No. 5, "Explaining the Horse Chestnut to a Horse."
Newcastle Daily Chronicle - Thursday 31 January 1924
CHARLES DOYLE’S ART.
The value of the interesting exhibition of Charles Doyle’s works at the Brook Street Galleries is probably not greatly lessened through failure of the organisers to get into touch with owners of his larger pictures. Of the 125 drawings and studies which have been collected for this show, the biggest are not always best. In the technical employment of colour, the artist did not rank high, although his colour itself was often enough.
In a work like “Duddingstone Loch,” with its crowd of skaters, it goes hand in hand with clever characterisation. In line alone on the other hand he had more mastery. “Cricket,” and “Football” for instance are drawings of spirit and charm. The show does not confirm Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's estimate of his father as the greatest and most original artist of his artistic family, but certainly Charles Doyle had a large share of its talent.
Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser - Friday 01 February 1924
In his memoirs in the "Strand Magazine," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said of his father, "It is one of my unfulfilled schemes to collect as many as possible of his pictures and to have a Charles Doyle exhibition in London, for the critics would be surprised to find what a great and original artist he was - far the greatest, in my opinion, of the family.
The realisation of his laudable ambition was seen on Thursday at a private view at the Brook-street Galleries, W., of a collection of drawings, humorous and terrible, by the late Charles Doyle, who was the son of John Doyle ("H.B."), and brother of Richard Doyle, of "Punch," the delightful cover of which was drawn by him.
Westminster Gazette - Friday 01 February 1924
WAITED 30 YEARS FOR FAMEAUTHOR'S TRIBUTE TO FATHER'S WORK
The exhibition of drawings and studies, including a remarkable series from the "humorous to the terrible" by the late Mr. Charles Doyle, provides something absolutely unique in the London art world. The exhibition was opened at a private view yesterday at the Brook Street Galleries, W.1.
The painter was the father of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and the present exhibition is the realisation of one of the ambitions of the son to collect as many as possible of his father's pictures in London.
The collection numbers more than a hundred examples of Charles Doyle's work, furnishing evidence of great imagination and originality.
Humorous and Terrible.
There are many examples in the exhibition of the humorous - a series of seven watercolours, entitled "Three little pigs went to market." There are fine examples of the dainty revealed in a number of various fairy scenes. Finally, there is the terrible, exemplified by such pictures as "The Ghost Coach," "The Saving Cross," and "The Hell Blast."
Charles Doyle's life was spent in a Government office in Edinburgh, and his work has never before had a chance of challenging the verdict of London. Now, thirty years after his death, the son has essayed an attempt to get that verdict - in the hope that his father's "remarkable and original genius may meet ith recognition."
Time & Tide - Friday 01 February 1924
TIME TABLE
Friday, February 1, 10-5. Sats. 10-1.0
Exhibition of Drawings "The Humorous and the Terrible," by the late Charles Doyle (father of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) Brook Street Galleries, 14, Brook Street, W.1.
Western Morning News - Friday 01 February 1924
The Art of Charles Doyle. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's ambition, expressed in his memoirs, to get together a collection of the pictures of his father, Charles Doyle, has been partly fulfilled. I saw to-day in the Brook-street Galleries evidence about 120 pictures of the genius of that remarkable and little-known man.
Son of John Doyle, the famous caricaturist, and brother of Richard Doyle, famed of "Punch," Charles Doyle's creations were the hobby a man whose life was spent in an Edinburgh Government office. They were never exhibited, and his art now being recognized for the first time. It includes some wonderful fancies, both humorous and terrible. Some of his nightmare conceptions are both wonderful and fearful. Many of his sketches have a vivacious and an artistic wit.
The best of the exhibitions are the water-colour pictures, some which are a revelation in the wealth of impression end effect. Quite on of the best is a blue wash picture, vivid with detail, "The Drowning Seaman's Vision." The sinking man, in his last delusion on the lonely sea, sees myriads of angels shining through the mists. A similar and perhaps more ingenious suggestion is conveyed in "The Breaking Wave," the crest of which, falling over the man, spar-clinging in the trough of it, cascades in a host of mermaid forms.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle speaks of his father as far the greatest artist of the family.
The Irish Freeman's Journal recognized the Irish Catholic angle of the story:
Freeman's Journal - Thursday 07 February 1924
It is interesting to note that amongst the many art exhibitions at present attracting attention is one at the Brook street Gallery, London, consisting of water colours and sketches by the father of Sir A. Conan Doyle. In the Press references to the collection the fact is naturally noted that they creator of Sherlock Holmes comes of an artistic stock. But that they were "Irish" is conveniently ignored. Thus, the famous Richard Doyle, "clarum et veserabile nomen," was Irish and Catholic to the backbone, a fact quite overlooked. He it was who, in a sense at least, made the reputation of "Punch." He it was whose sketches of the adventures of "Brown, Jones, and Robinson," added to the gaiety of the nations, and whose cartoons lent such enormous value to the publication in the early Victorian days.
Portsmouth Evening News - Saturday 09 February 1924
All the pictures, however, are not of this more or less uncanny order, though all show a wide range of imagination. There are faces to be seen in the bindings of sheaves of corn: in the boughs of trees, clouds become animals chasing one another, and so on! "The Roaring Game" is a boisterous picture of curling on a frozen loch, and there is a football scene, as well as others full of vigorous movement, of which Charles Doyle was a master, as was his brother "Dickey" - vide again the cover of "Punch." He could not paint faces so as to be convincing, but neither could that master of crowds and grouping, Gustave Dore.
The Sphere - Saturday 16 February 1924
"A Fairy Meeting" One of the Weird and Clever Drawings by the late Charles Doyle Exhibited at the Brook Street Galleries. The late Charles Doyle (1832-1893) was the father of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. For years the latter has been collecting examples of his father's remarkable drawings in order to hold an exhibition of them in London The recent collection on view at the Brook Street Galleries is the result of this filial devotion. Charles Doyle was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Scottish Academy, and in his fantasy and humour he was representative of his age, the age of his own brother, Richard Doyle, "Phiz," and other distinguished men. The drawing reproduced here is one of the many examples of Charles Doyle's art shown in the exhibition
Truth - Wednesday 20 February 1924
A word must be given to the drawings and studies, "The Humorous and the Terrible," the late Charles Doyle—father of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and brother of "Dicky" Doyle, of Punch—at the Brook Street Galleries. They may be said to belong to the "Ingoldsby" period, and to represent the corresponding attitude to the supernatural world—whether of spooks or fairies. "Terrible" is certainly not the word for the delightful drawing of " The Ghost House," with its tenants making holiday in the moonlight, and even "The Death Coach" and "A Hell-Blast" produce only a comfortable thrill. Whimsicality, in fact, is the note of the exhibition—best . expressed in "Fairies Envying the Family Going to Church" — and one or two drawings of everyday subjects, "Windy Day," for example, show high technical powers.
The works. I have not identified a catalog for this exhibition. A significant number of items are held by the Huntington Art Museum in San Marino, California, acquired from Princess Nina Mdivani Conan Doyle (the widow of Denis Conan Doyle). One challenge with tracing artworks in the exhibition may be that their titling was arbitrary - ACD may have titled those he gathered.
Let's see what we can identify from those mentioned above:
- The Death Coach - depicts a windy heath with two figures crouching in terror, while the ghostly coach carrying a row of corpses in shrouds passes along
- The Rogue's Progress
- Curling (the study of a fat woman with billowy skirts at play on the ice)
- The Sun Worshippers
- Three little pigs went to market - a series of seven watercolours
- The Drowning Seaman's Vision - full of a bleak, cold light, such as is found only in the Dore drawings. The sinking man, in his last delusion on the lonely sea, sees myriads of angels shining through the mists.
- The Ghost House - full of the jolliest swinging frescoes of ghosts, imps, hobgoblins and fairies
- Hell's Blast/The Hell Blast - full of the jolliest swinging frescoes of ghosts, imps, hobgoblins and fairies
- Explaining the Horse Chestnut to a Horse - No. 5, an excellent joke—
- The Breaking Wave - the crest of which, falling over the man, spar-clinging in the trough of it, cascades in a host of mermaid forms
- Duddingstone Loch - with its crowd of skaters
- Cricket -
- Football -
- The Saving Cross
- A Fairy Meeting
- Fairies Envying the Family Going to Church
- Windy Day
Huntington Museum.
