DOI issue:
Nr. 100 (July 1901)
DOI article:Studio-talk
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19788#0167
Studio- Talk
these thirty-two sea-pieces and landscapes ! While
many of his canvases are in every respect red
" morceatix," models of execution—like Apres la
Pluie, Vers V Automne, La Levee des Nassis, Apres
un Jour de Neige, Les Bords de la Zaan au Matin,
and La Chevriere—others are painted—nay, brushed
—in hot haste, with wonderful facility and bold-
ness of touch—superb sketches of Nature's most
fugitive phenomena, seized on the instant with
dexterity and sureness of vision.
Courtens' art is beyond all else characterised by
its colouring. He possesses one of the most
marvellous palettes ever seen; in it he finds greens
with all the nobility of the emerald; blues
transparent as the finest mother-ot'-pearl; yellows
which gleam like gold. The intensity with which
he conveys the impressions felt amidst this Flemish
and Dutch scenery he knows and loves so well
should also be noted. It were surely impossible to
suggest the actual vision of things more closely
than Courtens has suggested it in this wonderful
Apres la Pluie —a chauss'ee bordered by leafless trees,
everything soaked and dripping after the cold
December showers) everywhere mud and spleen ;
Or again, in his Approche d'LLiver, or his La
Levee des Nasses.
The two most remarkable works ot this recent
Salon were, however, Vers PAutomne and La
Vache. Vers I'Automne is like an etching of
Rembrandt painted by the boldest of colourists.
Above the stagnant waters stretches like a roof
of gold the yellowed foliage of the ash-trees,
whose thousand branches mingle all black against
the storm-laden sky. La Vache, which the
artist terms a " study," is in reality the first
edition ot the famous picture in the Brussels
Gallery. This red cow,
gleaming in the sunshine
against a somewhat decora-
tive background, is painted
a la diable, with a masterly
power which is simply
bewildering. P. de M.
FT RANK FORT.—
4 It requires no
little courage to
do honour in art
to Goethe, for Goethe is
associated in thought with
a rare strength and magic
of facial expression rather
than with the structure and
drawing of the head and
features. His great and
fiery soul was said " to
flame out through his
eyes," and there can be no
question that his eyes were
more masterful in their
penetrating brilliance than
those of any other poet
of whom history speaks
in detail. Even the irre-
pressible Heine was awed
into stuttering nervousness
when Goethe looked at
him. He had previously
reflected on all sorts of
sublime things he would
like to say, but he had only
these thirty-two sea-pieces and landscapes ! While
many of his canvases are in every respect red
" morceatix," models of execution—like Apres la
Pluie, Vers V Automne, La Levee des Nassis, Apres
un Jour de Neige, Les Bords de la Zaan au Matin,
and La Chevriere—others are painted—nay, brushed
—in hot haste, with wonderful facility and bold-
ness of touch—superb sketches of Nature's most
fugitive phenomena, seized on the instant with
dexterity and sureness of vision.
Courtens' art is beyond all else characterised by
its colouring. He possesses one of the most
marvellous palettes ever seen; in it he finds greens
with all the nobility of the emerald; blues
transparent as the finest mother-ot'-pearl; yellows
which gleam like gold. The intensity with which
he conveys the impressions felt amidst this Flemish
and Dutch scenery he knows and loves so well
should also be noted. It were surely impossible to
suggest the actual vision of things more closely
than Courtens has suggested it in this wonderful
Apres la Pluie —a chauss'ee bordered by leafless trees,
everything soaked and dripping after the cold
December showers) everywhere mud and spleen ;
Or again, in his Approche d'LLiver, or his La
Levee des Nasses.
The two most remarkable works ot this recent
Salon were, however, Vers PAutomne and La
Vache. Vers I'Automne is like an etching of
Rembrandt painted by the boldest of colourists.
Above the stagnant waters stretches like a roof
of gold the yellowed foliage of the ash-trees,
whose thousand branches mingle all black against
the storm-laden sky. La Vache, which the
artist terms a " study," is in reality the first
edition ot the famous picture in the Brussels
Gallery. This red cow,
gleaming in the sunshine
against a somewhat decora-
tive background, is painted
a la diable, with a masterly
power which is simply
bewildering. P. de M.
FT RANK FORT.—
4 It requires no
little courage to
do honour in art
to Goethe, for Goethe is
associated in thought with
a rare strength and magic
of facial expression rather
than with the structure and
drawing of the head and
features. His great and
fiery soul was said " to
flame out through his
eyes," and there can be no
question that his eyes were
more masterful in their
penetrating brilliance than
those of any other poet
of whom history speaks
in detail. Even the irre-
pressible Heine was awed
into stuttering nervousness
when Goethe looked at
him. He had previously
reflected on all sorts of
sublime things he would
like to say, but he had only