DOI Heft:
No. 190 (December, 1912)
DOI Artikel:Laurvik, J. Nilsen: Gari Melchers-painter
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43451#0392
Gari Melchers—Painter
Copyright, 1907, by The Detroit Publishing Co.
Ann Mary Brown Memorial Collection
BRABACONNE BY GARI MELCHERS
The picture that was to mark this mile post in
his career represented the bleak interior of a little
Lutheran church, filled with its worshippers, in-
tently listening to the sermon being delivered by
the preacher, who is not visible. The women are
shown sitting apart in the body of the church,
while the men are seated along in the high-backed
blue benches against a whitewashed wall that
accentuates the stark austerity of this bare in-
terior, as well as the grim immobility of the
worshippers.
While it is not a profound psychological study
of facial expression it none the less reveals a depth
and sincerity of observation that is quite unusual
in the first pictures of a nouveau. It is remark-
able chiefly for its great simplicity, its good
draughtsmanship and its naturalistic, unhack-
neyed treatment of a chapter out of the inner life
of the people. However, the fact of his having
been drawn to this simple, unaffected life is in
itself noteworthy and significant of the man’s
inherent simplicity of character, to which he has
remained true from the moment he found himself.
This canvas won him an honorable mention.
It was quickly followed by The Communion and
The Pilots, which, together with The Sermon, were
awarded one of the two medals of honor given in
the American section of fine arts in the Inter-
national Exhibition of 1889. This honor he
shared with Sargent, to whom the other medal was
awarded. These pictures were painted with an
almost brutal directness that conveyed a strong
impression of elemental life.
The people in these canvases are no anemic
abstractions; they have the maximum number of
red corpuscles in their even-flowing blood. They
are distinguished by a sane forthrightness of out-
look and execution that holds on to the real and
lets the sentimental go. To me these pictures
constitute a truer interpretation of the every-day,
actual life of Holland than anything done by
Israels, whose representations of Dutch life are
slurred over with a romantic and poetic glamour
such as never was on dune or sea.
I recall vividly the strong impression of actual-
ity made upon me by Melchers’ paintings when I
first saw them after several years’ sojourn in
Flanders. And I remember how, in the first flush
of enthusiasm, I hailed him as a new Dutch
painter who had succeeded at last in interpreting
the spirit as well as the outward aspect of his
people. These peasants were painted with a
genuine appreciation of their life and its narrow
round of interests.
The name as well as the point of view revealed
in these canvases led me to the easy conclusion
that this must surely be the work of a Dutchman,
nor was I set straight by the Americans whom I
then knew; none of them seemed to be aware of
the fact that he was a compatriot; all regarded him
at that time as either Dutch or German, and I
XXVIII
Copyright, 1907, by The Detroit Publishing Co.
Ann Mary Brown Memorial Collection
BRABACONNE BY GARI MELCHERS
The picture that was to mark this mile post in
his career represented the bleak interior of a little
Lutheran church, filled with its worshippers, in-
tently listening to the sermon being delivered by
the preacher, who is not visible. The women are
shown sitting apart in the body of the church,
while the men are seated along in the high-backed
blue benches against a whitewashed wall that
accentuates the stark austerity of this bare in-
terior, as well as the grim immobility of the
worshippers.
While it is not a profound psychological study
of facial expression it none the less reveals a depth
and sincerity of observation that is quite unusual
in the first pictures of a nouveau. It is remark-
able chiefly for its great simplicity, its good
draughtsmanship and its naturalistic, unhack-
neyed treatment of a chapter out of the inner life
of the people. However, the fact of his having
been drawn to this simple, unaffected life is in
itself noteworthy and significant of the man’s
inherent simplicity of character, to which he has
remained true from the moment he found himself.
This canvas won him an honorable mention.
It was quickly followed by The Communion and
The Pilots, which, together with The Sermon, were
awarded one of the two medals of honor given in
the American section of fine arts in the Inter-
national Exhibition of 1889. This honor he
shared with Sargent, to whom the other medal was
awarded. These pictures were painted with an
almost brutal directness that conveyed a strong
impression of elemental life.
The people in these canvases are no anemic
abstractions; they have the maximum number of
red corpuscles in their even-flowing blood. They
are distinguished by a sane forthrightness of out-
look and execution that holds on to the real and
lets the sentimental go. To me these pictures
constitute a truer interpretation of the every-day,
actual life of Holland than anything done by
Israels, whose representations of Dutch life are
slurred over with a romantic and poetic glamour
such as never was on dune or sea.
I recall vividly the strong impression of actual-
ity made upon me by Melchers’ paintings when I
first saw them after several years’ sojourn in
Flanders. And I remember how, in the first flush
of enthusiasm, I hailed him as a new Dutch
painter who had succeeded at last in interpreting
the spirit as well as the outward aspect of his
people. These peasants were painted with a
genuine appreciation of their life and its narrow
round of interests.
The name as well as the point of view revealed
in these canvases led me to the easy conclusion
that this must surely be the work of a Dutchman,
nor was I set straight by the Americans whom I
then knew; none of them seemed to be aware of
the fact that he was a compatriot; all regarded him
at that time as either Dutch or German, and I
XXVIII