Studio: international art (11.1897)

Studio-Talk

On the other hand, we may well pause before
tin' two canvases by M. Fantin-Latour—La Nuit
and Tentation de Saint Antoine, and before M.
LeVy-Dhurmer's Au paradis. These two artists
seem as though they had lost themselves in the
coarse and noisy crowd around them. Fantin-
Latour's supreme art fascinates us, and he is at his
1 u st in scenes from the land of fancy. He possesses
the secret of those fine and delicate harmonies
known only to the true masters of the art, and he
can create an atmosphere of poetry wherein he
calls to life the loveliest forms which move in a
mystic light of dreams. Fantin-Latour's work is a
real oasis in a desert of dull, pretentious mediocrity.
He opens wide for us the gates of a fairy garden
where our eyes may rest enchanted, and our soul be
filled with the tenderest melancholy

Standing, like a flower in her delicate flesh,
amid the blooms of Eden, sheltered 'neath the
Tree of Knowledge, writh all the wonders of the rosy
sunset gleaming in the peaceful wraters, is M.
Levy-Dhurmer's Eve. Temptation lurks in all
around. The blossoms at her feet cast their sweet
scent upward ; the butterflies flutter by, the blue
lizards run through the grass. Everything teems
with life, seduces and suggests; and there above
her head, uncoiling his jewelled rings, the legendary
serpent utters the tempting words. She is half-
smiling, and emotion trembles on her drooping eye-
lids. In her all womankind is seen ! This is the
work of painter and poet at once, a real wrork of art,
delicate and sincere, a work which must attract
all those who look for something more in painting
than a mere display of startling skill or virtuosity.

The sculpture is poor stuff, not excluding M.
Falguiere's Le Poete, conventional in pose and in
modelling, and with that particular soft and artifi-
cial touch befitting works of this kind, destined as
they are to adorn some bourgeois chimney-piece,
flanked by a pair of lamps in imitation bronze.

We shall find something more satisfying at the
Champ de Mars. First we have a landscapist of
such class as M. J. Cazin, whose exhibits this year
are unquestionably of the highest order, and a
portrait-painter like M. A. Besnard, whose Portrait

de M. L. D--is almost a masterpiece. These

two men alone would suffice to prove the superiority
of this Salon over the other. But there is more
still. Canvases of great power we have from M.
Charles Cottet, who, some slight coarseness apart,
is fast developing into an artist of the first rank ;
62

from M. Lucien Simon, whose great abilities are
amply confirmed here, and whose Les //a/curs,
like his portraits, is a fine piece of colouring; and
from M. Rene Menard, forceful and charming as
ever. Then we have M. Jacques Blanche, more
and more characteristic in his work, and showing
really remarkable gifts of composition and technique
in his Portraits dans un Interieur; M. Rene
Billotte, still the graceful landscapist enamoured
of half-tints we know so well; M. Dagnan-Bouveret,
sincere and original as always, and M. Aman-Jean
who retains all the qualities by which his work has
so greatly endeared itself to us.

Among the exhibits which are attracting most
attention are those of M. Fritz Thaulow; and
justly so, for there is nothing here more fully
charged with truth and with poetry, or showing
greater certainty of touch. His canvases are
scarcely covered ; there is no plastering, but the
richness and delicacy of his effects are truly extra-
ordinary. M. J. Iwill also excels in representing
twilight and night effects. A Pheure da si/e?ice and
Un soir a Ve?iise reveal the most delicate apprecia-
tion of nature. Such an artist deserves unstinted
praise. Noteworthy, too, are the landscapes of M.
Damoye, and those of M. P. Helleu, whose personal
vision is very convincing in his bits of the park at
Versailles, and particularly in his Yacht pavoise.
The two landscapes and the interior by M. Paul
Froment, who is making his first appearance at the
Champ de Mars, are worthy of mention for their
justness of effect and the sincerity of their manner.
A pronounced colourist, M. Maurice Eliot is
clever as always in showing the play of the sun-
light among the flowers. His work is fresh and
clear, and delightful in its atmosphere. M. Guill
aume Roger, always charming, remains where he
was, and M. Berton is perhaps somewhat too
devoted to the style of his master, E. Carriere;
but M. Georges Hugo, on the other hand, has
strengthened his position, his Inondation and his
Portrait de Pierre Manse// emphatically calling for
attention. M. Jeanniot, too, has some powerful
portraits; while M. de la Gandara, despite all his
efforts towards depth of feeling, is superficial and
over-elaborate. His portraits of women are really
nothing more than studies of dresses. M. Eugene
Carriere's Le Christ en Croix, is indeed a powerful
and moving work. Although in monochrome, it
has wonderful variety of colour.

The foreign painters are well represented in
portrait work by the productions of Mr. J. W.