International studio (35.1908)

The Salon of the Society Nationale

coming from this painter of dandyism. The
various greys are excellently graduated, and
altogether the picture is highly decorative. I con-
sider it to be quite equal to certain portraits by
Constantin Guys or Eugene Lami. M. Boutet de
Monvel proves to us that even the much-decried
costume of to-day may, in the hands of an artist of
imagination, be made to contain a motif of beauty.
Excellent landscapes by M. Raffaelli and M.
Billotte have won their customary success; M.
Waidmann, too, ranks among the best of them,
and M. Chevalier contributes a sea-piece of the
highest order. M. Stengelin is admirably repre-
sented by a landscape of masterly execution.
M. Pierre Bracquemond has three canvases on
view: a portrait, a nude, and an “interior.” The
second of these, full of red-hued reflections, reveals
the artist attacking the difficulties of technique
without fearing to face the most arduous of colour
problems. Hitherto M. Bracquemond has chiefly
been represented by portrait and figure work.
Now he has successfully taken up “ interior ”

painting, and in the picture mentioned above he
shows us the corner of a room containing a collec-
tion of Chinese works of art—porcelain, lacquer,
and gilded Buddhas, all these providing him with
opulent schemes of colour.
M. Caro-Delvaille’s nude lights up the whole
gallery. There is remarkable freedom and ease in
the execution of this rich and broadly-handled
work, which, it may fairly be said, is not far
removed from that of the old masters in plenitude
of form and in unity of tone and of matter. I feel
almost tempted to compare it with the Antiope of
Correggio. In the same salle are further to be
noted the portraits by Mme. de Boznanska, M.
Jef Leempoels, and that excellent Scandinavian
painter Osterlind, who maintains his own high level.
M. Lucien Monod shows landscapes and figure-
pieces full of seductive colouring; M. Wilfrid de
Glehn landscapes and portraits ; M. Prinet a triple
portrait which, at the very opening of the Salon,
was purchased by the State for the Luxembourg;
M. Zakarian exhibits some beautiful bits of still-life


PORTRAIT
66

BY BERNARD BOUTET DE MONVEL