International studio (52.1914)

M. Aman Jeans Recent Work

M. Aman Jean, as it were, an accent of universality.
It is by purely pictorial means, but more especially
by the invisible prolonging of his “ arabesque ” that
M. Aman Jean succeeds in establishing an intimate
relationship between his paintings and the surround¬

treating the subject that lies before him. Absolute
independence of vision, ease of execution, and the
communicative joy of work accomplished with love
and in perfect liberty of spirit, all result in giving
us the sensation of happiness and security. M.

ings amid which they are placed.

Each of his

Aman Jean

pictures seems, as it were,
to radiate out beyond the
natural limits of the frame, to

flow out upon the environing
surfaces, enveloping them and
creating around itself a kind
of atmosphere which prevents
it from ever appearing as
though concentrated upon
itself and isolated from the
rest of the world.
That M. Aman Jean has
only little by little attained
such profound originality,
such extreme distinction and
such fortuitous freedom in
execution will surprise no
one. In the exhibition of
his work, held not long ago
at the Manzi Galleries in
Paris, were hung, not far
from the painter’s most recent
productions, several portraits
painted about twenty years
ago, including two or three
which were reproduced in
this magazine as illustrations
to an article by M. Mourey
on the artist’s work. (See
vol. viii, pp. 197 el seq.} PUBI
There was, for instance, a
portrait of the sculptor
Dampt painted in 1894, a
portrait of a young woman in
a black dress trimmed with
lace, which dates from ap¬


proximately the same period,
and a portrait of his wife,
also signed in 1894. A little
dryness, something a trifle

DECORATIVE PANEL
BY AMAN JEAN

has

advanced progressively from
timidity to full confidence in
himself, from a delicacy at
times almost ultra-refined to
a perfectly harmonious equi-
librium, and one feels that he
has renounced all melancholy
nostalgia in favour of a com-
plete comprehension of the
joy of life and of the delights
of painting.
So then it is in this sense
that his evolution is apparent,
and thus he prepares for us
fresh surprises. His period
of culmination will coincide
with one of certitude and
serenity. A. S.
The small French room
at the National Gallery (No.
xxvm) has recently under-
gone a complete rearrange-
ment. The pictures are now
disposed in approximately
chronological order so as to
exhibit the course of French
art from the fifteenth to the
nineteenth century, beginning
with the St. Clement and
Donor by the Master of Jean
Perreal from the Salting col-
lection and ending with works
of the Barbizon masters and
Fantin-Latour. An additional
room (No. xvm) has also been
provided for the exhibition
chiefly of Dutch “ conversa-
tion” pictures. Works by the
Maris brothers, Josef Israels,
Bosboom and other modern

restrained and almost angular, makes us realise, in
looking at these portraits, what great progress the
artist has made as he has advanced towards a more
complete expression of his artistic ideal. At that
time, delicate as his vision and consequently his
colour already was, he was submissive to his model
and dominated by his subject. Nowadays it is the
artist who dominates and who reveals himself in

Dutch masters have been placed in this room.
An important exhibition of pictures by French
artists of the nineteenth century will be held in the
galleries of the Royal Museum, Copenhagen, in
May and June. An influential committee in Paris
is supporting the undertaking and it is hoped to
make it one of the most representative exhibitions
of French art ever held outside Paris.

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