DOI issue:
No. 106 (January, 1902)
DOI article:Proust, Antonin: The art of Fantin Latour
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19874#0249
The Art of Fantin Latour
gradually directed more and more to the cult of the tone exactly adapted to the thought. Both
reality. In the Nibelung's Ring and in the Rhein- were great idealists, men of melancholy, yet always
gold finale the artist's lights become clearer and the faithful servants of Truth,
simpler, the half-tints tend to disappear; the Among all Fantin Latour's works, his absolute
creation—tender, mysterious or tragic as the case masterpiece is the portrait of Edwards the Engraver
may be—approaches so closely to a literal transla- and his Wife, exhibited at the Salon of 1875, and
tion of the thing seen, that one no longer finds seen again in the "Centennale" in 1889. England
any trace of the superfluous. may be justly proud of having inspired this
Fantin Latour, indeed, has a profound con- superb work,
tempt for the ornamental accessories he regarded His lithographic production is considerable,
as indispensable at the outset of his career. M. Germain Hediard has drawn up a catalogue of
This incessant self-criticism and surveillance it, with remarks of much interest on the plates,
have produced extraordinary results. Unity which number no fewer than one hundred and
is achieved; the very flesh seems woven in twenty.
golden light, and in every detail, however small, Does the lithographic work of Fantin Latour
one feels that the master is in full command differ greatly from his paintings. Is it superior ?
of his art. The romantic and the realistic, I have no hesitation in declaring it is not.
which had long walked side by side in his works, Moreover, the sole essential in art is the faithful
now go hand in hand. expression of the visible object, the means
There was one man in the last century who employed by the artist to attain that end being
might be compared to Fantin Latour—I mean of quite secondary importance. Victor Hugo's
Gustave Flaubert. Both strove to attain pro- melodious prose cannot make me forget that I am
priety, exactitude of expression, to find the word in the presence of the poet. The form may be
which—so to speak—should cling to the idea, or different : that is all. The technical analogy, as
BY FANTIN LATOUR
(Salon, 18S4. hi the Van Cutsem Collection, Brussels)
236
gradually directed more and more to the cult of the tone exactly adapted to the thought. Both
reality. In the Nibelung's Ring and in the Rhein- were great idealists, men of melancholy, yet always
gold finale the artist's lights become clearer and the faithful servants of Truth,
simpler, the half-tints tend to disappear; the Among all Fantin Latour's works, his absolute
creation—tender, mysterious or tragic as the case masterpiece is the portrait of Edwards the Engraver
may be—approaches so closely to a literal transla- and his Wife, exhibited at the Salon of 1875, and
tion of the thing seen, that one no longer finds seen again in the "Centennale" in 1889. England
any trace of the superfluous. may be justly proud of having inspired this
Fantin Latour, indeed, has a profound con- superb work,
tempt for the ornamental accessories he regarded His lithographic production is considerable,
as indispensable at the outset of his career. M. Germain Hediard has drawn up a catalogue of
This incessant self-criticism and surveillance it, with remarks of much interest on the plates,
have produced extraordinary results. Unity which number no fewer than one hundred and
is achieved; the very flesh seems woven in twenty.
golden light, and in every detail, however small, Does the lithographic work of Fantin Latour
one feels that the master is in full command differ greatly from his paintings. Is it superior ?
of his art. The romantic and the realistic, I have no hesitation in declaring it is not.
which had long walked side by side in his works, Moreover, the sole essential in art is the faithful
now go hand in hand. expression of the visible object, the means
There was one man in the last century who employed by the artist to attain that end being
might be compared to Fantin Latour—I mean of quite secondary importance. Victor Hugo's
Gustave Flaubert. Both strove to attain pro- melodious prose cannot make me forget that I am
priety, exactitude of expression, to find the word in the presence of the poet. The form may be
which—so to speak—should cling to the idea, or different : that is all. The technical analogy, as
BY FANTIN LATOUR
(Salon, 18S4. hi the Van Cutsem Collection, Brussels)
236