DOI Heft:
No. 70 (January 1899)
DOI Artikel:Charles Cottet's "Au pays de la mer", and other works
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19230#0258
Charles Cottet
verging sometimes on roughness in its astonishing
freedom of treatment, one may discern the very soul
of the artist, and thus find oneself in touch with a
sensitive spirit of the rarest order.
He has not scattered his forces, but has been wise
enough to be on his guard against the temptation
of cheap success, and to concentrate his efforts in
one fixed direction, to be expanded more and more
by dint of study and labour. From among the in-
numerable spectacles presented by this vast world
of ours to the artist's curious eyes, he chose that
which was best suited to his temperament. Such a
choice seems simple enough ; yet how many artists
there are—admirably equipped too—who are want-
ing in the necessary perspicacity, and wander long
afield before finding their proper course. M. Cottet
may be congratulated on having avoided the tenta-
tive experiments which have wrecked so many
vigorous talents.
The domain he has conquered is vast and rich, as
everything is which is near akin to nature and to
life. This Pays de la Mer, of which he became
the moving and conscientious interpreter, this
Breton coast whose tragic aspects and whose simpler
phases he excels in portraying—these belong to him
by right, for he has made them his by his acuteness
of vision and his honest powers of observation. He
has discovered and placed in bold relief all there
is of heroic grandeur in these types and these land-
scapes, and that with the simplicity proper to an
artist of high race. The outcome of all his labours
is seen in the triptych exhibited by him in last year's
Salon of the Societe Nationale, one of the most
notable works produced during the past decade.
Cottet's genius has developed simply, in normal
fashion, and he has always been careful to "know
himself." Apart from draughtsmanship and colour-
ing, and beyond all questions of materialism, he has
found the moral essence of things, without ceasing
to be a painter—that is to say, in all he has done he
has used none but the purest plastic methods. This
in itself is a fresh conquest, on which he may be
unreservedly congratulated.
It would have been very easy for him, indeed,
CHARLES COTTET
228
FROM A PAINTING BY RENE MENARD
verging sometimes on roughness in its astonishing
freedom of treatment, one may discern the very soul
of the artist, and thus find oneself in touch with a
sensitive spirit of the rarest order.
He has not scattered his forces, but has been wise
enough to be on his guard against the temptation
of cheap success, and to concentrate his efforts in
one fixed direction, to be expanded more and more
by dint of study and labour. From among the in-
numerable spectacles presented by this vast world
of ours to the artist's curious eyes, he chose that
which was best suited to his temperament. Such a
choice seems simple enough ; yet how many artists
there are—admirably equipped too—who are want-
ing in the necessary perspicacity, and wander long
afield before finding their proper course. M. Cottet
may be congratulated on having avoided the tenta-
tive experiments which have wrecked so many
vigorous talents.
The domain he has conquered is vast and rich, as
everything is which is near akin to nature and to
life. This Pays de la Mer, of which he became
the moving and conscientious interpreter, this
Breton coast whose tragic aspects and whose simpler
phases he excels in portraying—these belong to him
by right, for he has made them his by his acuteness
of vision and his honest powers of observation. He
has discovered and placed in bold relief all there
is of heroic grandeur in these types and these land-
scapes, and that with the simplicity proper to an
artist of high race. The outcome of all his labours
is seen in the triptych exhibited by him in last year's
Salon of the Societe Nationale, one of the most
notable works produced during the past decade.
Cottet's genius has developed simply, in normal
fashion, and he has always been careful to "know
himself." Apart from draughtsmanship and colour-
ing, and beyond all questions of materialism, he has
found the moral essence of things, without ceasing
to be a painter—that is to say, in all he has done he
has used none but the purest plastic methods. This
in itself is a fresh conquest, on which he may be
unreservedly congratulated.
It would have been very easy for him, indeed,
CHARLES COTTET
228
FROM A PAINTING BY RENE MENARD