DOI Heft:
No. 51 (June 1897)
DOI Artikel:Mourey, Gabriel: Fritz Thaulow: the man and the artist
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18389#0025
Fritz Thaulow
out fettering oneself by all sorts of restrictions. ful. These qualities of softness and strength rarely
One feels grateful to an artist who can shake off go together nowadays ; for delicacy speedily lapses
all these shackles, for it is a clear proof that he into flabbiness, power into coarseness, and refine-
looks on all concerning art from a lofty stand- ment into trickery. Thaulow's work affords a rare
point; and so it must be regarded if strong and example of perfect balance. His brush has a touch
lasting work is to be the result. of extraordinary delicacy, allied with a truly mascu-
Dealing as I am with a landscapist, I have not line force. It must not be imagined from what I
attempted—for reasons which will no doubt be have already said that he bestows an exaggerated
appreciated—to give minute descriptions of his care upon detail, upon the superfluous realisation
works in detail; for the title of a picture, here of minute trifles. On the contrary, he wields his
" LE VILLAGE BLEU " FROM A PAINTING BY FRITZ THAULOW
more than in any other branch of art, means brush in the broadest, freest manner, and never
absolutely nothing, and tells one nothing. Work fails to produce a beautiful and noble harmony of
such as this must be estimated by its colouring, by effects—as witness his Village Bleu, his Nocturnes,
the fidelity of its effects, by its accuracy of ex- his Riviere cFArques, his moonlight scenes at
pression, and particularly by the degree of emotion Montreuil, at Dieppe and in Norway, or his Piute
it produces. Thaulow's productions are very cPOctobre en Norwege, his Orage, or his La Vieille
numerous. He has worked with indefatigable Fabrique in the Luxembourg collection,
ardour, and with the utmost sincerity of purpose ; Thaulow has won the high position he holds
and I know of nothing which has proceeded from among the landscapists of our day by reason of his
his hand that does not bear the stamp of the most great gifts as painter and artist—I purposely draw
conscientious searching after truth, and does not a distinction between the art worker and the
contain something of his individuality. interpreter of Nature—and also by his particularly
Thaulow is an artist at once delicate and force- generous and sensitive temperament. His good
I 2
out fettering oneself by all sorts of restrictions. ful. These qualities of softness and strength rarely
One feels grateful to an artist who can shake off go together nowadays ; for delicacy speedily lapses
all these shackles, for it is a clear proof that he into flabbiness, power into coarseness, and refine-
looks on all concerning art from a lofty stand- ment into trickery. Thaulow's work affords a rare
point; and so it must be regarded if strong and example of perfect balance. His brush has a touch
lasting work is to be the result. of extraordinary delicacy, allied with a truly mascu-
Dealing as I am with a landscapist, I have not line force. It must not be imagined from what I
attempted—for reasons which will no doubt be have already said that he bestows an exaggerated
appreciated—to give minute descriptions of his care upon detail, upon the superfluous realisation
works in detail; for the title of a picture, here of minute trifles. On the contrary, he wields his
" LE VILLAGE BLEU " FROM A PAINTING BY FRITZ THAULOW
more than in any other branch of art, means brush in the broadest, freest manner, and never
absolutely nothing, and tells one nothing. Work fails to produce a beautiful and noble harmony of
such as this must be estimated by its colouring, by effects—as witness his Village Bleu, his Nocturnes,
the fidelity of its effects, by its accuracy of ex- his Riviere cFArques, his moonlight scenes at
pression, and particularly by the degree of emotion Montreuil, at Dieppe and in Norway, or his Piute
it produces. Thaulow's productions are very cPOctobre en Norwege, his Orage, or his La Vieille
numerous. He has worked with indefatigable Fabrique in the Luxembourg collection,
ardour, and with the utmost sincerity of purpose ; Thaulow has won the high position he holds
and I know of nothing which has proceeded from among the landscapists of our day by reason of his
his hand that does not bear the stamp of the most great gifts as painter and artist—I purposely draw
conscientious searching after truth, and does not a distinction between the art worker and the
contain something of his individuality. interpreter of Nature—and also by his particularly
Thaulow is an artist at once delicate and force- generous and sensitive temperament. His good
I 2