Studio: international art (8.1896)

A Modern Portrait-Painter

tive. And in almost all the women's portraits to
which I have alluded, the artist has been careful to
give to each of his figures just those surroundings
which are proper to that particular subject, without
regard to any one else, the result being that every
detail assists in emphasising the predominance of
the figure itself, which thus becomes the natural
centre of the work.

I have now to speak of the purely decorative
work of M. Aman-Jean—his Venise, in the Salon
of 1894; his piece of decoration of the same
name, his Venise, Reine des Men, in the 1893
Salon ; his Sirenes, in the same Salon; and his
two cartoons for tapestry, La Beaute and Le Regret
du Passe, in the Luxembourg Gallery. The artist
has given full rein to his fancy in these works,
breathing the soul of the Italian Renascence, in
all save its splendour. For M. Aman-Jean is fond
of sober shades, likes to strike rich chords, but
muffled as it were by the mists of his dreams.
His greens and subdued turquoise-blues produce a
strange glaucous light, while the faded rose tints,
the dead gold yellows, and the dull violets, shine
with the faint lustre of ancient gems. Delicate
poems these, with slender, graceful forms passing
rhythmically by, youthful faces showing in calm
repose on a background of heraldic trophies, telling
of glories past and gone ; or framed by the placid
sea rippled by the fresh breeze into tiny wavelets.
In this pure twilight air of other days appear the
lovely figures of the past, with robes floating in
the air, like rosy clouds ; while through the clear
blue waters glides a barque, sailing midst the pale
foam towards the land of happiness, and love, and
dreams.

As for M. Aman-Jean's technique, it will, no
doubt, be considered dull and soft by those who
can admire nothing but striking colours, and have
no idea of the art of the halftone; who are in-
capable of realising its charm and fascination;
those, in a word, who think that to be a colourist
an artist must be noisy and coarse; those who de-
light in the barbarous combinations of tones
introduced by certain of our portrait-painters, to
the taste of the retired grocers who employ them.
I can assure them they are strangely mistaken.
M. Aman-Jean is a colourist of the first order.
In proof of what I say, I will only mention three
of his portraits—but the pictures themselves must
be seen to be properly appreciated—a lady in red
in the 1893 Salon, Mme. B. ... in the last Salon,
an exquisite arrangement in violet, and Mile. Yvonne
Lerolle, in a white dress, a truly remarkable piece
of colouring.

And as much may be said of some of his men's
portraits, which show extraordinary power of ex-
pression—that of M. Jules Case, for instance, and
those of Besnard and Colonel de K. . . . , in a
white uniform, already referred to. They are broad
in treatment, and powerful without a trace of coarse-
ness. His brush never loses its rich and energetic
touch. One feels that he is master of himself,
master of those gifts so laboriously developed in
the conscientious study and observation of nature.

I doubt if M. Aman-Jean will ever attain the
great, but to my mind scarcely enviable, successes
of some of our fashionable " official" portrait-

PORTRAIT OF MADAME TERY BY E. AMAN-JEAN

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