Studio: international art (15.1899)

Charles Cottet

church, and its group of women in great black capes And what shall I say further of this Soir Orageux,
kneeling around the bier ! The candle-flames-light (see "Art at the Salon, Champ de Mars, 1897"),
up the white cross upon the pall, and the faces of wherein M. Cottet shows us a crowd of young girls
the women behind the coffin, while the heads in the and lads and children filing along the quay in some
foreground are in darkness. I do not believe it little Breton town in the stormy nightfall, their faces,
were possible better or more faithfully to suggest as they pass to and fro, standing out in dark sil-
the sense of overwhelming sorrow produced by houettes against the fiery background of sky and sea ?
Death on these simple beings, the total lack of And what remains to be said of his Deuil (see
reasoning power in these rudimentary minds face to The Studio, vol. ix. page 290), which represents a
face with Fate. group of women seated, as though petrified, in the

death - chamber ? They
sit there motionless, with
eyes fixed in mournful con-
templation, unable to turn
their gaze from the rigid
form before them.

Here and there we come
across scenes of Breton
life rendered with a simple
art to which no painter
having Brittany for his field
had hitherto accustomed
us.

A beautiful thing, too,
is the Dimanche an bord
de la Mer—four young
girls sitting at rest, their
snow-white caps fluttering
in the breeze, with the
luminous sea for back-
ground. Strange faces,
these, and very primitive,
with their large mouths,
their strange long eyes, and
their instinctive charm.
The picture is nothing but
a bit of the artist's fancy,
a piece of pure impres-
sionism ; but the certainty,
the breadth of touch, the
honesty, the astonishing
dexterity of the execution
are patent to the most cur-
sory observer. One must
see the painting to judge
of the freshness and the
variety in the whites of the
head-dresses and the pinks
of the faces, slightly shaded
with the blueplein-air tint.
Altogether it makes a mas-
terly study.

Many other canvases by

' au pays de la mer : vieille aveugle " by charles cottet M. Cottet there are which,