DOI Heft:
No. 40 (July, 1896)
DOI Artikel:Mourey, Gabriel: The Salon of the Champs-Elysées
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17297#0122
The Salon of the Chamfts-Elysees
equal poetry and truth. One must admit that have almost ignored this artist's work, which is to
he has all the qualities of the true landscapist, be regretted, for here is an artistic temperament,
and his picture Le Soir is worthy of unqualified combining the painter and the artist in a way that
praise, for it is instinct with intense feeling, is rare indeed. But M. Lomont is a timid and
The foreground is a magic feerie of reflections retiring person, and his pictures are, as may be
cast on a peaceful stream across the broad leaves imagined, but little calculated to attract the
of the water-lilies. The reeds and the rushes sway ignorant crowd, engrossed in the contemplation
to and fro and scarcely ripple the exquisitely trans- of the profusion of startling colours and coarsely
parent water, stirred by the night breeze coming treated anecdotes around them. His Femme a sa
on; while the delicate leafage of poplar and willow Toilette is nevertheless one of the best pictures this
forms a soft and misty background of tender fleecy year in either of the Salons. I greatly admire its
green. There is only one fault to be found with M. logical and original construction, its beautiful
Marche's work : at times his treatment is some- execution, and its deep and skilful study of shaded
what soft and undecided, indicating a certain want light. M. Lomont is sure to be heard of in the
of mastery; but, all this apart, his picture must future.
certainly rank among the few works of interest in I have referred more than once in these pages
the Salon. Le dernier Rayon, by M. Paul Chabas, to M. Levy-Dhurmer, but never at so great
is another water scene, but relieved this time by a length as I could wish j and even now space
figures of women and child-
ren bathing in a lake, lit up
by the last splendid glow of
the setting sun. It was no
easy task to render with so
much energy and, at the
same time, so fine a touch,
the shimmering glory of
the sun upon the waters.
The figures stand out with
remarkable truth of tint
and line, bathed in the
flood of glowing light.
The whole scene is in per-
fect harmony, and it is no
small achievement in a
work of this kind to have
been able to avoid the
slightest suggestion of in-
congruity.
M. Eugene Lomont, on
the other hand, devotes
himself to interior effects
of a more restrained and
subtle type. There is great
refinement here, both in
conception and in realisa-
tion, with every evidence
of knowledge and taste and
confidence. Unfortunately
a reproduction—no matter
how perfect—can give but
a very faint idea of a work
of this kind. The stock
critics, who fly by instinct
to the loudest pictures, " notre dame de penmarch " from a painting by levy-dhurmer
107
equal poetry and truth. One must admit that have almost ignored this artist's work, which is to
he has all the qualities of the true landscapist, be regretted, for here is an artistic temperament,
and his picture Le Soir is worthy of unqualified combining the painter and the artist in a way that
praise, for it is instinct with intense feeling, is rare indeed. But M. Lomont is a timid and
The foreground is a magic feerie of reflections retiring person, and his pictures are, as may be
cast on a peaceful stream across the broad leaves imagined, but little calculated to attract the
of the water-lilies. The reeds and the rushes sway ignorant crowd, engrossed in the contemplation
to and fro and scarcely ripple the exquisitely trans- of the profusion of startling colours and coarsely
parent water, stirred by the night breeze coming treated anecdotes around them. His Femme a sa
on; while the delicate leafage of poplar and willow Toilette is nevertheless one of the best pictures this
forms a soft and misty background of tender fleecy year in either of the Salons. I greatly admire its
green. There is only one fault to be found with M. logical and original construction, its beautiful
Marche's work : at times his treatment is some- execution, and its deep and skilful study of shaded
what soft and undecided, indicating a certain want light. M. Lomont is sure to be heard of in the
of mastery; but, all this apart, his picture must future.
certainly rank among the few works of interest in I have referred more than once in these pages
the Salon. Le dernier Rayon, by M. Paul Chabas, to M. Levy-Dhurmer, but never at so great
is another water scene, but relieved this time by a length as I could wish j and even now space
figures of women and child-
ren bathing in a lake, lit up
by the last splendid glow of
the setting sun. It was no
easy task to render with so
much energy and, at the
same time, so fine a touch,
the shimmering glory of
the sun upon the waters.
The figures stand out with
remarkable truth of tint
and line, bathed in the
flood of glowing light.
The whole scene is in per-
fect harmony, and it is no
small achievement in a
work of this kind to have
been able to avoid the
slightest suggestion of in-
congruity.
M. Eugene Lomont, on
the other hand, devotes
himself to interior effects
of a more restrained and
subtle type. There is great
refinement here, both in
conception and in realisa-
tion, with every evidence
of knowledge and taste and
confidence. Unfortunately
a reproduction—no matter
how perfect—can give but
a very faint idea of a work
of this kind. The stock
critics, who fly by instinct
to the loudest pictures, " notre dame de penmarch " from a painting by levy-dhurmer
107