DOI Heft:
No. 85 (April, 1900)
DOI Artikel:Mourey, Gabriel: A master draughtsman: Paul Renouard
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19784#0179
A Master Draughtsman
are extraordinarily bright and piercing, and there
is something of irony in his smile. As for his
conversation, it sparkles with originality and happy
phrases ; and that same lively force which animates
his drawings is revealed in all he utters. For the
rest, picture a man of the simplest manners, some-
what shy, yet at once enthusiastic and sceptical,
and fortified by a powerful will and an independent
spirit that nothing can shake.
Renouard's work and success afford the clearest
possible proof of the power of draughtsmanship on
the masses; moreover, he has had the rare good
fortune to please the many and the few at the same
time—surest sign of excellence. The crowd is
enchanted by his love of truth and by the expres-
sive force of his pencil; the critic is disarmed by
his incomparable technical gifts, his suppleness,
his alertness, his suggestion, his prodigious dex-
terity. Renouard is a "journalist" in the very
HENRI ROCHEFORT BY l'AUL RENOUARD
highest sense of the word ; and in
using this oft-abused term, needless
to say, I imply no depreciation of
the artist. What I mean is that he
has the knowledge, the vivacity of
touch, the assimilative power, the
capacity to rise to the occasion,
which mark the work of the ablest
writers for the press. Besides, he has
style, a living style which expresses
everything in a few lines, which notes
the fluctuations of ideas, the move-
ments, the characteristics, the gestures
of his subjects, and reveals the very
thoughts, the very instincts by which
they are inspired. How masterly is
his gift of seizing on the essential
point of a scene, the chief charac-
teristic of a person or of a crowd '
And all this without bias, without
effort, and by the simplest possible
means.
All circumstances attract him ; he
is fascinated by all he beholds ; thus
he takes an active part in the life
around him, interested in everything
that comes within his ken. He goes
everywhere: to the Opera, to the-
Hourse, to La Salpetriere, to the
Assize Court; he will wander through
the working quarters, or spend his
166
are extraordinarily bright and piercing, and there
is something of irony in his smile. As for his
conversation, it sparkles with originality and happy
phrases ; and that same lively force which animates
his drawings is revealed in all he utters. For the
rest, picture a man of the simplest manners, some-
what shy, yet at once enthusiastic and sceptical,
and fortified by a powerful will and an independent
spirit that nothing can shake.
Renouard's work and success afford the clearest
possible proof of the power of draughtsmanship on
the masses; moreover, he has had the rare good
fortune to please the many and the few at the same
time—surest sign of excellence. The crowd is
enchanted by his love of truth and by the expres-
sive force of his pencil; the critic is disarmed by
his incomparable technical gifts, his suppleness,
his alertness, his suggestion, his prodigious dex-
terity. Renouard is a "journalist" in the very
HENRI ROCHEFORT BY l'AUL RENOUARD
highest sense of the word ; and in
using this oft-abused term, needless
to say, I imply no depreciation of
the artist. What I mean is that he
has the knowledge, the vivacity of
touch, the assimilative power, the
capacity to rise to the occasion,
which mark the work of the ablest
writers for the press. Besides, he has
style, a living style which expresses
everything in a few lines, which notes
the fluctuations of ideas, the move-
ments, the characteristics, the gestures
of his subjects, and reveals the very
thoughts, the very instincts by which
they are inspired. How masterly is
his gift of seizing on the essential
point of a scene, the chief charac-
teristic of a person or of a crowd '
And all this without bias, without
effort, and by the simplest possible
means.
All circumstances attract him ; he
is fascinated by all he beholds ; thus
he takes an active part in the life
around him, interested in everything
that comes within his ken. He goes
everywhere: to the Opera, to the-
Hourse, to La Salpetriere, to the
Assize Court; he will wander through
the working quarters, or spend his
166