The Dual Art of Albert P. Lucas
Owned by the National Callery, Washington, D. C.
OCTOBER BREEZES
BY ALBERT P. LUCAS
The dual art of albert p.
LUCAS
BY L. MERRICK
If it were expedient to determine the
position which Albert P. Lucas occupies among
present-day artists, he would doubtless be de-
scribed as an interpreter of lyrical and poetical
moonlights and nocturnes, a qualified draughts-
man and painter of the nude, and a colourist of
rare distinction. That he is a sculptor of equal
merit is not generally known, and that he is
practically the only American who possesses this
dual talent in so marked degree has not been
commented upon outside of select art circles.
The reason for this is that, having been gifted
with a colour sense even more powerful than his
feeling for form, the latter talent becomes subser-
vient to the former. It is, therefore, by his
achievements on canvas that his spurs have been
won.
At the outset of his artistic career, which began
in this country when a mere lad and later con-
tinued in Europe, he expressed himself with as
much facility in the manipulationfof clay as with
his brushes.
He cannot remember the time when he did not
draw; as a little boy at his mother’s knee his
artistic talents were manifested in the drawing of
animals, plants, etc., and his growth has been sure
and steady. It is, therefore, not surprising that
he has fulfilled his early promise while still a young
man, and reached a point of artistic success that
leaves many older men far in the wake.
It was about 1882 that he went to Paris and took
up his studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts under
Ernest Hebert, and later took instruction from
Coutois and Dagnan Bouveret. After completing
his studies he made a tour of Europe, visiting Hol-
land, Belgium and Italy, where he studied the
representative masters of each country. In Italy
Botticelli, Luini, Fra Angelico and Correggio
greatly impressed him.
Among his teachers, the one who most strongly
influenced him was Hebert, as some of his early
work betrays. But while his youth was controlled
to some degree by his masters, his mature art
bears every indication of a peculiarly personal
XIX
Owned by the National Callery, Washington, D. C.
OCTOBER BREEZES
BY ALBERT P. LUCAS
The dual art of albert p.
LUCAS
BY L. MERRICK
If it were expedient to determine the
position which Albert P. Lucas occupies among
present-day artists, he would doubtless be de-
scribed as an interpreter of lyrical and poetical
moonlights and nocturnes, a qualified draughts-
man and painter of the nude, and a colourist of
rare distinction. That he is a sculptor of equal
merit is not generally known, and that he is
practically the only American who possesses this
dual talent in so marked degree has not been
commented upon outside of select art circles.
The reason for this is that, having been gifted
with a colour sense even more powerful than his
feeling for form, the latter talent becomes subser-
vient to the former. It is, therefore, by his
achievements on canvas that his spurs have been
won.
At the outset of his artistic career, which began
in this country when a mere lad and later con-
tinued in Europe, he expressed himself with as
much facility in the manipulationfof clay as with
his brushes.
He cannot remember the time when he did not
draw; as a little boy at his mother’s knee his
artistic talents were manifested in the drawing of
animals, plants, etc., and his growth has been sure
and steady. It is, therefore, not surprising that
he has fulfilled his early promise while still a young
man, and reached a point of artistic success that
leaves many older men far in the wake.
It was about 1882 that he went to Paris and took
up his studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts under
Ernest Hebert, and later took instruction from
Coutois and Dagnan Bouveret. After completing
his studies he made a tour of Europe, visiting Hol-
land, Belgium and Italy, where he studied the
representative masters of each country. In Italy
Botticelli, Luini, Fra Angelico and Correggio
greatly impressed him.
Among his teachers, the one who most strongly
influenced him was Hebert, as some of his early
work betrays. But while his youth was controlled
to some degree by his masters, his mature art
bears every indication of a peculiarly personal
XIX