DOI article:
Taylor, Ernest Archibald: The first exhibition of the Society of Wood-Engraving, Paris
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43452#0141
The Society of Wood-Engraving, Paris
The first exhibition of
THE SOCIETY OF WOOD-
ENGRAVING, PARIS.
To artist, student, and public alike there are no
more interesting exhibitions in Paris than those
held from time to time in the Pavilion de Marsan.
Their special feature has always been a lucid
display of each exhibitor’s work. The recent first
exhibition of the Societe de la Gravure sur Bois
Originale was in no way behind those pertaining
to other branches of art that preceded it. Apart
from the fascinating display of framed prints, one
could leisurely enjoy studying many of the artists’
original blocks in their various stages, as well as
the tools they had employed. The most attractive
exhibit of that kind shown was a series of blocks
and prints by Paul-Emile Colin. In viewing the
craftsmanship on the wood itself, one felt how
distinctly personal it was. The artist’s use of a
penknife was admirably shown on the wood, and
gave to his prints a rustic quality in excellent
harmony with similar characteristics in his subjects.
It is the recognition of this affinity of the subject
with the method and medium that gives vitality to
all good work, just as it is the lack of it that
produces lifelessness in otherwise excellent com-
positions whose rhythm has been destroyed by the
use of an unsympathetic metier.
In this exhibition there was much work reveal-
ing a technical excellence which was interesting,
but its brilliant superficiality was dimmed beside
the masterly achievements of the comparatively
few who had expressed their knowledge and power
by artistic means and not craftsmanship alone.
Standing before the works of Henri Riviere one
wished for nothing more and nothing less than he
had expressed. Each print contained that in-
definable essence of greatness which one recognises
in the work of a rare artist. He had lately shown
me some of his recent water-colours, and to have
seen them in conjunction with his coloured wood-
engravings was to fully realise his power of
abstracting from either medium only that which is
part of itself and was closely allied to his interpre-
tation of his subject. His large print, Le Pardon
“ l’abreuvoir ”
I 28
( Copyright E. Sagot)
FROM A MONOCHROME PRINT BY AUGUSTE LEPERE
The first exhibition of
THE SOCIETY OF WOOD-
ENGRAVING, PARIS.
To artist, student, and public alike there are no
more interesting exhibitions in Paris than those
held from time to time in the Pavilion de Marsan.
Their special feature has always been a lucid
display of each exhibitor’s work. The recent first
exhibition of the Societe de la Gravure sur Bois
Originale was in no way behind those pertaining
to other branches of art that preceded it. Apart
from the fascinating display of framed prints, one
could leisurely enjoy studying many of the artists’
original blocks in their various stages, as well as
the tools they had employed. The most attractive
exhibit of that kind shown was a series of blocks
and prints by Paul-Emile Colin. In viewing the
craftsmanship on the wood itself, one felt how
distinctly personal it was. The artist’s use of a
penknife was admirably shown on the wood, and
gave to his prints a rustic quality in excellent
harmony with similar characteristics in his subjects.
It is the recognition of this affinity of the subject
with the method and medium that gives vitality to
all good work, just as it is the lack of it that
produces lifelessness in otherwise excellent com-
positions whose rhythm has been destroyed by the
use of an unsympathetic metier.
In this exhibition there was much work reveal-
ing a technical excellence which was interesting,
but its brilliant superficiality was dimmed beside
the masterly achievements of the comparatively
few who had expressed their knowledge and power
by artistic means and not craftsmanship alone.
Standing before the works of Henri Riviere one
wished for nothing more and nothing less than he
had expressed. Each print contained that in-
definable essence of greatness which one recognises
in the work of a rare artist. He had lately shown
me some of his recent water-colours, and to have
seen them in conjunction with his coloured wood-
engravings was to fully realise his power of
abstracting from either medium only that which is
part of itself and was closely allied to his interpre-
tation of his subject. His large print, Le Pardon
“ l’abreuvoir ”
I 28
( Copyright E. Sagot)
FROM A MONOCHROME PRINT BY AUGUSTE LEPERE