DOI issue:
Nr. 164 (October, 1910)
DOI article:Honoré, Léopold: Alfred Philippe Roll, painter and sculptor
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19867#0366
Alfred Philippe Roll
BUST : "INDIFFERENCE." BY ALFRED PHILIPPE ROLL
scene of the first stages of an idyll; Le Sommeii, the
bust of a sleeping woman, the flesh tones of which
are painted with consummate art and modelled
with great strength, and finally his R'epublique, a
recent work, and one that aroused much interest
in last year's Salon, whence it passed by purchase
into the possession of the State.
An artist of such a temperament as M. Alfred
Roll could not possibly be indifferent to the plastic
arts, and one knows with what success he has
modelled a bust of M. Marcel Roll, as well as that
bust of a young girl so coquettishly unconcerned.
It is curious to call to mind as touching this side
of the artist's versatile talent that the teaching of
the designer and decorator Lienard, one of Roll's
earliest masters, was carried out with infinite taste
and appropriateness when the painter came to
design the frame for the Souvenir commemoratif de
la pose de la premiere pierre du Pont Alexandre III.
The model for this frame, cast in pewter by Siot-
Decauville, is in the possession of the Musee des
Arts Decoratifs.
This worthy scion of Alsace, M. Roll, was
made Commander of the Legion of Honour in
1900. Though his parents were Alsatian, he
himself was born in Paris in 1846, and received
his education at the College Chaptal. His father,
who was the head of a flourishing furniture
dealer's establishment in the Faubourg Saint
Antoine, thought to associate his son with
himself in the business, and with this intention
had the young man taught drawing and designing,
with a view to its commercial and decorative
application, in the studio of the decorator
Lienard, where he made his friendship for
Dalou. Alfred Roll's artistic aspirations were
not long, however, in declaring themselves, and
soon absorbed all his thoughts, all his energies.
Just at this time he made the acquaintance of
Andre Rixens, then a student at the 6cole des
Beaux Arts, and to him he confided his hopes and
ambitions—and following upon this, went and
sought lessons from Harpignies. The war, how-
ever, intervened, and cut short his studies. On
his return from serving his country in the field, he
entered the atelier of Gerome, and became the
pupil of Bonnat. It was in 1869 that Roll sent
his first picture to the Salon—a landscape painted
in the neighbourhood of Baccarat and which is
to-day in the Desalles Collection.
Since that date the stages of the career of the
artist followed brilliantly and rapidly in succession,
showering new laurels and even bestowing
BUST OF MARCEL ROLL. BY ALFRED PHILIPPE ROLL
265
BUST : "INDIFFERENCE." BY ALFRED PHILIPPE ROLL
scene of the first stages of an idyll; Le Sommeii, the
bust of a sleeping woman, the flesh tones of which
are painted with consummate art and modelled
with great strength, and finally his R'epublique, a
recent work, and one that aroused much interest
in last year's Salon, whence it passed by purchase
into the possession of the State.
An artist of such a temperament as M. Alfred
Roll could not possibly be indifferent to the plastic
arts, and one knows with what success he has
modelled a bust of M. Marcel Roll, as well as that
bust of a young girl so coquettishly unconcerned.
It is curious to call to mind as touching this side
of the artist's versatile talent that the teaching of
the designer and decorator Lienard, one of Roll's
earliest masters, was carried out with infinite taste
and appropriateness when the painter came to
design the frame for the Souvenir commemoratif de
la pose de la premiere pierre du Pont Alexandre III.
The model for this frame, cast in pewter by Siot-
Decauville, is in the possession of the Musee des
Arts Decoratifs.
This worthy scion of Alsace, M. Roll, was
made Commander of the Legion of Honour in
1900. Though his parents were Alsatian, he
himself was born in Paris in 1846, and received
his education at the College Chaptal. His father,
who was the head of a flourishing furniture
dealer's establishment in the Faubourg Saint
Antoine, thought to associate his son with
himself in the business, and with this intention
had the young man taught drawing and designing,
with a view to its commercial and decorative
application, in the studio of the decorator
Lienard, where he made his friendship for
Dalou. Alfred Roll's artistic aspirations were
not long, however, in declaring themselves, and
soon absorbed all his thoughts, all his energies.
Just at this time he made the acquaintance of
Andre Rixens, then a student at the 6cole des
Beaux Arts, and to him he confided his hopes and
ambitions—and following upon this, went and
sought lessons from Harpignies. The war, how-
ever, intervened, and cut short his studies. On
his return from serving his country in the field, he
entered the atelier of Gerome, and became the
pupil of Bonnat. It was in 1869 that Roll sent
his first picture to the Salon—a landscape painted
in the neighbourhood of Baccarat and which is
to-day in the Desalles Collection.
Since that date the stages of the career of the
artist followed brilliantly and rapidly in succession,
showering new laurels and even bestowing
BUST OF MARCEL ROLL. BY ALFRED PHILIPPE ROLL
265