DOI article:
Segard, Achille: The recent work of Aman Jean
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43455#0105
M. Aman Jeans Recent Work
psychology, his customary attitude of mind, heredi-
tary traits, his personal temperament, and even,
if such be possible, his ideal and his individual
emotional attributes. Of interest to the subject,
who can here rediscover his own image, such a
portrait must also of necessity be of interest to the
world at large, for in it each beholder is able to
recognise a per¬
sonality signifi¬
cant of a social
category and an
individual cha¬
racter.
But, we ask,
by what succes¬
sive researches,.
by what pictorial
means, does M.
Aman Jean con¬
trive to approach
this ideal of por¬
traiture ? It is,
firstly, by the
drawing, then
by the use of
colour, and
finally by the
“ arabesque ”—
the decorative
composition —
at times some¬
what rigid when
the subject
seems to call for
such treatment,
but almost al¬
ways flexible
and infinitely
graceful; and,
as it were, ex¬
tending beyond
the restrictions
of the frame to
propagate itself
tion is the outcome of copying models. The
drawing must spring from the heart and the imagi-
nation of the artist rather than from his volition,
and still more so than from a mere study of classic
examples.
There is, said M. Ingres, no example of a great
draughtsman who did not find colour the most
suitable vehicle
for giving true
effect to his
drawing. It
would be equally
correct to say
there is no ex-
ample of a great
colourist who
did not find
draughtsman-
ship the most
satisfactory
means of giving
effectivevalue to
his colouring.
And such is the
case with M.
Aman Jean.
One might al-
most say that he
does not make
use of line in his
drawings. His
draughtsman-
ship is just the
reverse of calli-
graphy. He
regards things
with the eye of
a painter—that
is to say, he sees
in masses, in
tone, and in
juxtaposition of
tones. The
strokes which
PORTRAIT
BY AMAN JEAN
outside the confines of the picture, so as to asso-
ciate itself by a kind of occult sympathy with all
manner of indeterminate things. Each of these
points calls for a special study ; and, first of all, the
draughtsmanship. This, in the work of M. Aman
Jean, is of extreme novelty, elegance, and intensity.
It has nothing in common with that manner of
drawing “after the masters” which is part of the
curriculum of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and which
is inexpressive in definition in so far as its defini-
define the persons or objects he depicts are never,
even in his preparatory drawings or his most rapid
sketches, limiting lines. This they are, on the
contrary, in the drawings of Ingres, of Albrecht
Diirer, and of those who are classed as belonging
to the same school. M. Aman Jean sees things
surrounded by their own particular atmosphere;
he sees people bathed in circumfluent light and
air ; his draughtsmanship suggests to us at one and
the same time the form, the volume, and that
9°
psychology, his customary attitude of mind, heredi-
tary traits, his personal temperament, and even,
if such be possible, his ideal and his individual
emotional attributes. Of interest to the subject,
who can here rediscover his own image, such a
portrait must also of necessity be of interest to the
world at large, for in it each beholder is able to
recognise a per¬
sonality signifi¬
cant of a social
category and an
individual cha¬
racter.
But, we ask,
by what succes¬
sive researches,.
by what pictorial
means, does M.
Aman Jean con¬
trive to approach
this ideal of por¬
traiture ? It is,
firstly, by the
drawing, then
by the use of
colour, and
finally by the
“ arabesque ”—
the decorative
composition —
at times some¬
what rigid when
the subject
seems to call for
such treatment,
but almost al¬
ways flexible
and infinitely
graceful; and,
as it were, ex¬
tending beyond
the restrictions
of the frame to
propagate itself
tion is the outcome of copying models. The
drawing must spring from the heart and the imagi-
nation of the artist rather than from his volition,
and still more so than from a mere study of classic
examples.
There is, said M. Ingres, no example of a great
draughtsman who did not find colour the most
suitable vehicle
for giving true
effect to his
drawing. It
would be equally
correct to say
there is no ex-
ample of a great
colourist who
did not find
draughtsman-
ship the most
satisfactory
means of giving
effectivevalue to
his colouring.
And such is the
case with M.
Aman Jean.
One might al-
most say that he
does not make
use of line in his
drawings. His
draughtsman-
ship is just the
reverse of calli-
graphy. He
regards things
with the eye of
a painter—that
is to say, he sees
in masses, in
tone, and in
juxtaposition of
tones. The
strokes which
PORTRAIT
BY AMAN JEAN
outside the confines of the picture, so as to asso-
ciate itself by a kind of occult sympathy with all
manner of indeterminate things. Each of these
points calls for a special study ; and, first of all, the
draughtsmanship. This, in the work of M. Aman
Jean, is of extreme novelty, elegance, and intensity.
It has nothing in common with that manner of
drawing “after the masters” which is part of the
curriculum of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and which
is inexpressive in definition in so far as its defini-
define the persons or objects he depicts are never,
even in his preparatory drawings or his most rapid
sketches, limiting lines. This they are, on the
contrary, in the drawings of Ingres, of Albrecht
Diirer, and of those who are classed as belonging
to the same school. M. Aman Jean sees things
surrounded by their own particular atmosphere;
he sees people bathed in circumfluent light and
air ; his draughtsmanship suggests to us at one and
the same time the form, the volume, and that
9°