International studio (34.1908)

Gaston La Touche

how a poet like himself may observe and note the
genuine gesture, may display his irony, may conjure
up all the intimU'e of the modern home, may catch
the spirit of the moment, give proof of humour,
pass straight from the adornments of the dim
past to the swallow-tail coat and the ball dress,
while losing nought of his charm or his transfigura-
tive force, and preserving the true character beneath
its decorative aspects.”
In point of technique, too, La Touche is
extremely modern; his highly personal colour
harmonies never fail to impress one, no matter
what the nature of his work may be. He has a
particular affection for the yellows which spring
from wainscoted rooms with furniture gilded by
the sunlight, subdued by window blinds or heavy
damask hangings ; he loves the haloes of soft light
made by the pink lamp-shades
on restaurant tables, the
mingling of tones shimmering
above the stained glass win-
dows of chapels. Nothingcould
be more extraordinary than the
luminous effects produced by
La Touche, for while many
of our painters, even the
greatest of them, are content
with the monotony of a dash
of colour almost always the
same (I cannot refrain from
thinking of certain colourists
in the highest favour at the
Nationale), La Touche is in-
finitely various, like the solar
prism itself. Here on the
white table-cloth in his Dejeu-
ner sur VHerbe, beneath the
shade of a big tree in full
flower, the bright spring sun-
shine floods the faces seen
under these big straw hats;
then, in DHeure Mysterieuse,
from the Chouanard Collec-
tion, we have on the mottled
waters wherein the white
swans disport themselves, the
soft reflection of jets seen
in the moonlight; then again,
in the Fete de JVuit, under a
sky bestrewn with stars, is
this charming group of girls
dancing, all in white, and seen
in a sort of half-light. And
still more plein-air lightings :
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autumnal forests, with leaves yellow and red
reflected in the roadside puddles; solitary pools
with swans whose snowy plumage, mirrored in
the waters, mingles with the whiteness of the
clouds.
The azure of the sky, the verdure of the leaves,
make up most adorable harmonies to the eye.
Thus, as a colourist, La Touche is well-nigh
universal in his effects. Whether one prefer him
in this or that production ; whether one like most
his sparkling mid-days or his mysterious nights, is
all a matter of personal appreciation; but what
should be noted by the impartial student of his
work, with all its research and its labour, is that
La Touche is not merely the painter of a single
hour, of one landscape, of one decor, but has
loyally set himself to “ fix ”—and.how wonderfully


“LA COLLABORATION” BY GASTON LA TOUCHE

( The property of Alons. A. )