DOI Heft:
American section
DOI Artikel:Noyes, Carleton: The portrait art of Orlando Rouland
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28251#0476
Orlando Rouland
of his skill as a painter but as the instrument of
expression which he employs for the greater pur-
poses of his art. His skill as such we may leave with
him. Our concern as appreciators is to note the
degree in which he has turned his skill to the uses
of efficient utterance. A portrait is the exposition
of a personality interpreted by a personality. The
sitter counts for much; his individual character is
the basis of the work. But the portrait is the ex-
pression also of what the painter thinks and feels
about him; and in the act of recording his impres-
sion, he reveals himself.
What traits he will see in
his sitter, whether the bet-
ter or the worse, whether
the strength or the weak-
ness, are determined by his
own attitude of mind and
the temper of his sensibili-
ties. In our contact with a
portrait, we touch two in-
dividualities, the sitter and
the painter. The fullest sig-
nificance of the picture is
to be won through an
understanding of what the
painter is in himself as
disclosed in his total work.
In the collected portrait
work of Orlando Rouland,
we find, thoughout, the rev-
elation of a fine and sympa-
thetic personality. Each
portrait is definitely char-
acteristic of the individual
sitter; and the series as a
whole manifests an extra-
ordinary variety. Yet all
in common are invested
with a quiet distinction
which we feel to be the
expression of the painter’s
own attitude toward his
subject, the radiation of
his own personality. There
is here no attempt to epater
le public, either by over-
emphasis of treatment or
by bravura of handling.
All is simple, modest, self-
contained, but none the
less positive and expressive
of profound conviction. In
spite of the wide diversity
of characters represented, we feel that they are all
one company, brought into a harmony of spirit by
the artist’s own pervasive sympathy of interpre-
tation.
As regards the qualities of execution in these
pictures, we recognise immediately that here is a
technique adequate for expression. Though still a
young man, Rouland is master of his means. Four
years in Weimar with Fritjhof Schmidt and Max
Thedy, several years in Paris with Jean Paul Lau-
rens and Benjamin Constant, followed by travel
cxxvi
of his skill as a painter but as the instrument of
expression which he employs for the greater pur-
poses of his art. His skill as such we may leave with
him. Our concern as appreciators is to note the
degree in which he has turned his skill to the uses
of efficient utterance. A portrait is the exposition
of a personality interpreted by a personality. The
sitter counts for much; his individual character is
the basis of the work. But the portrait is the ex-
pression also of what the painter thinks and feels
about him; and in the act of recording his impres-
sion, he reveals himself.
What traits he will see in
his sitter, whether the bet-
ter or the worse, whether
the strength or the weak-
ness, are determined by his
own attitude of mind and
the temper of his sensibili-
ties. In our contact with a
portrait, we touch two in-
dividualities, the sitter and
the painter. The fullest sig-
nificance of the picture is
to be won through an
understanding of what the
painter is in himself as
disclosed in his total work.
In the collected portrait
work of Orlando Rouland,
we find, thoughout, the rev-
elation of a fine and sympa-
thetic personality. Each
portrait is definitely char-
acteristic of the individual
sitter; and the series as a
whole manifests an extra-
ordinary variety. Yet all
in common are invested
with a quiet distinction
which we feel to be the
expression of the painter’s
own attitude toward his
subject, the radiation of
his own personality. There
is here no attempt to epater
le public, either by over-
emphasis of treatment or
by bravura of handling.
All is simple, modest, self-
contained, but none the
less positive and expressive
of profound conviction. In
spite of the wide diversity
of characters represented, we feel that they are all
one company, brought into a harmony of spirit by
the artist’s own pervasive sympathy of interpre-
tation.
As regards the qualities of execution in these
pictures, we recognise immediately that here is a
technique adequate for expression. Though still a
young man, Rouland is master of his means. Four
years in Weimar with Fritjhof Schmidt and Max
Thedy, several years in Paris with Jean Paul Lau-
rens and Benjamin Constant, followed by travel
cxxvi