DOI Heft:
Nr. 77 (August 1899)
DOI Artikel:Mourey, Gabriel: The work of Emile Claus
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19232#0180
Emile Claus
nearer to absolute freedom of execution, with
increased originality and sentiment. At last he
has thrown off the old academic shackles, and
begins to break new ground for himself, as in his
Le r'ecolte des betteraves en Flandre, by which he
was represented for the last time at the Salon of
the Champs Elysees in 1890. This vast canvas,
crowded with figures full of characteristic attitude
and gesture, showed clearly how great his advance
had been.
Henceforward Claus triumphed of himself, by
himself. His old supporters refused to follow
him any longer, and once more he became, so to
speak, the beginner before whose works the masses
pause in hesitation, waiting the authoritative order
to praise or to blame.
In the following year (1891) he began to exhibit
at the Champ de Mars, where each year since he
“ FACADE ENSOLEILLEE
J52
has astonished us with the steady, healthy growth
of his talent. How great the difference between
the old things, like the Combat de Coqs, and
these Facades ensoleillees, this Quai de Veere; La
Barnere; the Retour du Alarcte, or this Ferme eti
Zuid-Beveland, now reproduced, which gives a
good impression of his colouring, and is one of
the most exquisitely luminous of his pages.
Wonderful the art with which he seizes the play
of light on these broad tracts of land which,
treated by most other artists, would be dull and
monotonous, but under his loving touch are full
of incident and beauty, with their sunny horizons,
their red-roofed houses, their tall windmills, their
herds of cattle grazing idly on the banks of the
Lys, with the boats passing to and fro on the
peaceful waters.
By dint of perpetual contact with Nature Claus
daily enlarges his range,
ripens his sensibility, in-
creases his means of dis-
covering fresh effects and
experiencing new impres-
sions. Thus he has be-
come one of the most able
and versatile of out-door
painters, and has acquired
moreover a freedom of
execution equalled only
by his clearness of vision.
The artist whose acade-
mic tuition had taught
him to paint all things
according to fixed rule in
the studio can now do
absolutely nothing unless
it be direct from Nature.
Even his largest canvases
are composed in the open
air, under the shade of a
sort of tent, or on a boat
in summer-time. In the
winter he sits at work with
his feet in the snow, if
need be. In his studio
I saw recently certain
snow studies commenced
more than three years
ago, but left unfinished
because no snow had
fallen in that district
meanwhile. Such is his
honesty, such his respect
by emile claus for Nature ! Claus was
nearer to absolute freedom of execution, with
increased originality and sentiment. At last he
has thrown off the old academic shackles, and
begins to break new ground for himself, as in his
Le r'ecolte des betteraves en Flandre, by which he
was represented for the last time at the Salon of
the Champs Elysees in 1890. This vast canvas,
crowded with figures full of characteristic attitude
and gesture, showed clearly how great his advance
had been.
Henceforward Claus triumphed of himself, by
himself. His old supporters refused to follow
him any longer, and once more he became, so to
speak, the beginner before whose works the masses
pause in hesitation, waiting the authoritative order
to praise or to blame.
In the following year (1891) he began to exhibit
at the Champ de Mars, where each year since he
“ FACADE ENSOLEILLEE
J52
has astonished us with the steady, healthy growth
of his talent. How great the difference between
the old things, like the Combat de Coqs, and
these Facades ensoleillees, this Quai de Veere; La
Barnere; the Retour du Alarcte, or this Ferme eti
Zuid-Beveland, now reproduced, which gives a
good impression of his colouring, and is one of
the most exquisitely luminous of his pages.
Wonderful the art with which he seizes the play
of light on these broad tracts of land which,
treated by most other artists, would be dull and
monotonous, but under his loving touch are full
of incident and beauty, with their sunny horizons,
their red-roofed houses, their tall windmills, their
herds of cattle grazing idly on the banks of the
Lys, with the boats passing to and fro on the
peaceful waters.
By dint of perpetual contact with Nature Claus
daily enlarges his range,
ripens his sensibility, in-
creases his means of dis-
covering fresh effects and
experiencing new impres-
sions. Thus he has be-
come one of the most able
and versatile of out-door
painters, and has acquired
moreover a freedom of
execution equalled only
by his clearness of vision.
The artist whose acade-
mic tuition had taught
him to paint all things
according to fixed rule in
the studio can now do
absolutely nothing unless
it be direct from Nature.
Even his largest canvases
are composed in the open
air, under the shade of a
sort of tent, or on a boat
in summer-time. In the
winter he sits at work with
his feet in the snow, if
need be. In his studio
I saw recently certain
snow studies commenced
more than three years
ago, but left unfinished
because no snow had
fallen in that district
meanwhile. Such is his
honesty, such his respect
by emile claus for Nature ! Claus was