International studio (21.1903/1904(1904))

yi zf. z?/<wr/%<?

their influence he produced Z'y7aA, a vigorous
composition, wherein he depicts a group around a
piece of still life. M. Barres wrote of this work
as follows : " One sees therein what he has gained
—what was left for him to gain; and he was
left absolute master of that which he understood.
His works are happily conceived, and treated with
simplicity."
At this same period Blanche was painting por-
traits of men, including that of M. J. de Saint-Cere ;
of the dramatic author "G. de Porto Riehe"; of
Henri de Regnier, the poet; and of the novelist,
Pierre Louys. From that time forward he was no
longer content to paint portraits of ladies amid the
old Studio or drawing-room surroundings, but chose
to depict them against a background of park-land.
Thus his careful study of composition had full
scope, what time his palette grew richer day by
day under the influence of the open air. He took
a fancy then to frank and fluid painting—to that
which shows us, with marvellous freshness and
limpidity, portraits such as those of Madame de
Bonnieres, Madame Jeanniot, Mlle. Bartet, and
Madame Yvette Guilbert. In the portrait of the
7HazzAzzz ZäzzzzTr we find the final realisation of
all his work. I will not attempt to describe
this characteristic and felicitously-grouped
work, wherein he depicts the stalwart
Scandinavian, surrounded by his fair-haired,
rosy-coloured, clear-eyed children. The
picture has been reproduced in these
columns, and must be in everyone's memory.
It may now be seen in the Luxembourg
Gallery.
Henceforward, Jacques Blanche was
famous. Everyone knew him after the
success of the Z%a?zZw ZwzM'/r; honours
and success — and we all know what
that means, with regard to portraits—
honours of all sorts, were within his reach.
All that Blanche needed to do was to
conüne himself to the style which had
proved so attractive, for the public does
not like changes, and will not admit that
an artist should budge from the corner
assigned to him. Many would have acted
accordingly. But herein Blanche reveals
to us the full measure of his strong will,
of his grand artistic conscience—or, to use
a word dear to English people—of the Self-
government which seems to be one of the
dominant traits of his character. Is not in-
deed his entire life the perpetual striving of a
man, whose opinion is law unto himself,
194

and who, wholly untrammelled, seeks to* devote
his whole existence to the quest of a formula
both traditional and modern. And so, in spite
of the success of the Z%a?/Aw ZäzzzzT)', he does
not settle down irrevocably to any style, but
begins his work anew, conscious that his drawing
is not sufficiently precise, and returns to drawing
studies, to reservations of the brush, to a
thousand worries concerning methods, canvases,
and colours, to a period of burning activity and of
indefatigable labour, to which we owe in turn the
portraits of ZZzZazzzF ^?/azzr^ (the wife of the artist,
with his mother-in-law and his sisters-in-law), in the
Salon of 1896, ZZ'rjM Ca/W ht/ffz/g 7Pa ((Karls-
ruhe Museum), of Z/zw. of Z/rzzAzzzzzA^/Z
C&zZazzz/y) of ArwTzw AW/Az-F, of AZztfazzz^ Z.
TZ'A, of dAzAztzzzg Zazz^AA, the daughter of the
great scientist Berthelot, and of many more.
Several of his works no longer exist, unfortunately,
having been painted out by the artist, and among
them Z^ylzzzA Z'^zzAz-^ CziA.
The ease and huidity of the portrait of the
ZXazzAw Zhzzzz'/f, combined with a greater intensity
in the character of thefaces and a more penetrating
reproduction of the personality, such seem to us,


PORTRAIT OF AUBREY BEARDSLEY BY J. E. BLANCHE