DOI issue:
No. 60 (February, 1902)
DOI article:Proust, Antonin: The art of Fantin Latour
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22772#0300
The Art of Fant in Latour
in the works of all men of genius, remains, not-
withstanding, and impresses one instantaneously.
So with Beethoven. He wrote not only sym-
phonies but operatic music. Yet there is the
same character in all that proceeded from his
brain. Fantin Latour, in his lithographic work as
in his paintings, brought his full resources into
play; yet he remains essentially a painter. That
his first plates — Tcinnhauser at Venusberg and
Venus Disarmed—are inferior to those which he
produced fourteen years later in the admirable
Rheingold series cannot be denied; but the same
elements are there. The man is just as much
himself when he stammers the first words of the
sad and melodious phrase proper to his nature as
when he utters that same phrase with the accent of
a master.
One may say this of Fantin Latour’s litho-
graphic work. Certain early hesitations apart,
his 120 plates form an ensemble so admirable
and so remarkable that they ought to be ex-
hibited in every art gallery, and studied by
every art student.
Edgar Quinet, in his retreat at Veytaux, said to
me one day, “ When I am tired of dealing with a
subject I pass on to another, and feel altogether
different.” To which I replied, “You may deal
with all sorts of subjects, but you are always Edgar
Quinet.” It is one of the illusions dear to the
genius to imagine that he is in a perpetual course
of transformation.
The chief character of Fantin Latour’s work is,
I repeat, the instinct of the ideal blended with
observation of Nature. It was this made me
compare him with Flaubert. Both were at once
realists and idealists, and their creations will never
grow old. They will be refreshed and revived on
the slightest contact with Truth, which is “for all
time,” or with Imagination, which also is eternal.
Antonin Proust.
“ TANNHAUSER ”
BY FANTIN LATOUR
238
( Salon, 1886)
in the works of all men of genius, remains, not-
withstanding, and impresses one instantaneously.
So with Beethoven. He wrote not only sym-
phonies but operatic music. Yet there is the
same character in all that proceeded from his
brain. Fantin Latour, in his lithographic work as
in his paintings, brought his full resources into
play; yet he remains essentially a painter. That
his first plates — Tcinnhauser at Venusberg and
Venus Disarmed—are inferior to those which he
produced fourteen years later in the admirable
Rheingold series cannot be denied; but the same
elements are there. The man is just as much
himself when he stammers the first words of the
sad and melodious phrase proper to his nature as
when he utters that same phrase with the accent of
a master.
One may say this of Fantin Latour’s litho-
graphic work. Certain early hesitations apart,
his 120 plates form an ensemble so admirable
and so remarkable that they ought to be ex-
hibited in every art gallery, and studied by
every art student.
Edgar Quinet, in his retreat at Veytaux, said to
me one day, “ When I am tired of dealing with a
subject I pass on to another, and feel altogether
different.” To which I replied, “You may deal
with all sorts of subjects, but you are always Edgar
Quinet.” It is one of the illusions dear to the
genius to imagine that he is in a perpetual course
of transformation.
The chief character of Fantin Latour’s work is,
I repeat, the instinct of the ideal blended with
observation of Nature. It was this made me
compare him with Flaubert. Both were at once
realists and idealists, and their creations will never
grow old. They will be refreshed and revived on
the slightest contact with Truth, which is “for all
time,” or with Imagination, which also is eternal.
Antonin Proust.
“ TANNHAUSER ”
BY FANTIN LATOUR
238
( Salon, 1886)