DOI Heft:
No. 61 (April, 1898)
DOI Artikel:Khnopff, Fernand: Some artists at Liège
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18391#0201
Some Artists at Liege
proving a sculptor or a draughtsman, with force of remember these pregnant remarks in order properly
expression and style to boot, and he understands to understand the transitions and the circumstances
perfectly well the art of decoration, for in all these generally amid which what we may term " the
things his faculties of abstraction stand him in good Liege School " has been formed,
stead; but he generally fails at easel-painting, be- The characteristic feature of this school is,
cause he is no colourist. His hilly land, often indeed, easily defined. It consists of this—a truly
wrapped in fine bluish mist, offers him no limpid remarkable sense of the expressive value of lines
atmosphere, no soft outlines like those of the and their decorative application. The Liege artist
Flemish plains, with their free play of light. But, looks chiefly to his line; the colour is always sorae-
this material consideration apart, there is a moral thing additional, something put in apparently after
element in the matter, which is this—as a rule the realisation of the fact that it can add to the effect
Walloon artist grasps things by his sentiments of the line work.
rather than by his senses." These Walloons have not that natural instinct
I have thought it well to give this quotation at for colour which particularly distinguishes the
length, because the words express, better than any Flemish; but happily they are mindful of it, and
words of mine, something which I recognise to be a thus avoid the dangers of this defect. After a
truth, and because they summarise that truth in the good many attempts—some of them full of interest
completest manner. It is necessary, moreover, to —most of these artists have given up easel-work,
realising that they are not at home
in that branch of art; and one
and all, they have, without much
hesitation or delay, found the
means and the manner of giving
expression to their ideas.
At one time things had become
critical—as M. Mockel tells us—
and they might have fallen into
despair but for the timely arrival
of the Maecenas, the ideal patron,
without whom it had been impos-
sible for them to do themselves
justice. This benefactor appeared
in the person of M. A. Benard,
the art publisher, who took under
his wing MM. Berchmans, Don-
nay, and Rassenfosse. He saw
at once they were full of real
originality, although the public
knew nothing of it, and at the
same time he realised it was his
duty, so to speak, to aid and to
guide them. Accordingly he en-
trusted them with the illustration
of his books and publications,
and with the composition of his
posters. Without in any way
thwarting their aims he succeeded
by degrees in initiating his colla-
borators into all the mysteries of
typographical technique, an art
which he himself knows most
thoroughly from having gone
through every stage of it.
la toilette " fkom a soft-ground etching by a. rassenfosse M> Benard has often been
179
proving a sculptor or a draughtsman, with force of remember these pregnant remarks in order properly
expression and style to boot, and he understands to understand the transitions and the circumstances
perfectly well the art of decoration, for in all these generally amid which what we may term " the
things his faculties of abstraction stand him in good Liege School " has been formed,
stead; but he generally fails at easel-painting, be- The characteristic feature of this school is,
cause he is no colourist. His hilly land, often indeed, easily defined. It consists of this—a truly
wrapped in fine bluish mist, offers him no limpid remarkable sense of the expressive value of lines
atmosphere, no soft outlines like those of the and their decorative application. The Liege artist
Flemish plains, with their free play of light. But, looks chiefly to his line; the colour is always sorae-
this material consideration apart, there is a moral thing additional, something put in apparently after
element in the matter, which is this—as a rule the realisation of the fact that it can add to the effect
Walloon artist grasps things by his sentiments of the line work.
rather than by his senses." These Walloons have not that natural instinct
I have thought it well to give this quotation at for colour which particularly distinguishes the
length, because the words express, better than any Flemish; but happily they are mindful of it, and
words of mine, something which I recognise to be a thus avoid the dangers of this defect. After a
truth, and because they summarise that truth in the good many attempts—some of them full of interest
completest manner. It is necessary, moreover, to —most of these artists have given up easel-work,
realising that they are not at home
in that branch of art; and one
and all, they have, without much
hesitation or delay, found the
means and the manner of giving
expression to their ideas.
At one time things had become
critical—as M. Mockel tells us—
and they might have fallen into
despair but for the timely arrival
of the Maecenas, the ideal patron,
without whom it had been impos-
sible for them to do themselves
justice. This benefactor appeared
in the person of M. A. Benard,
the art publisher, who took under
his wing MM. Berchmans, Don-
nay, and Rassenfosse. He saw
at once they were full of real
originality, although the public
knew nothing of it, and at the
same time he realised it was his
duty, so to speak, to aid and to
guide them. Accordingly he en-
trusted them with the illustration
of his books and publications,
and with the composition of his
posters. Without in any way
thwarting their aims he succeeded
by degrees in initiating his colla-
borators into all the mysteries of
typographical technique, an art
which he himself knows most
thoroughly from having gone
through every stage of it.
la toilette " fkom a soft-ground etching by a. rassenfosse M> Benard has often been
179