Studio: international art (27.1903)

Manuel Robbe

be kept in the collector's portfolio. In our
eyes this is a merit, and, at any rate, it is
a tendency in art worthy of enthusiastic en-
couragement. In fact, every endeavour towards
decorative effect aims at synthetical treatment, that
is to say, the expression of the absolute, the typical,
the ideal. Can there be a better school for form-
ing an artist, now especially, after many centuries
of experiments and struggles ?

We may therefore congratulate M. Manuel
Robbe on not remaining petrified in the worship
of ancient dogmas. He has hit on a new tech-
nique, and has striven to embody new impressions
in the series of etchings of which we have spoken.
And he has been most successful. Some of them,
by the admirable balance of line and colour-blots
that he achieves, and the harmonious key in which
he conceives and executes them, are really delight-
ful pictures, giving rise to quite a new scale of

" la critique "

160

sensation. The subjects even, trivial in themselves,
have a charm of their own. But it is the scheme
of colouring which more especially delights the
eye and holds our attention. Thus he excels, for
instance, in producing a vibrant effect of every
tone of white by skilful contrast, and by curious,
hard wiping which brings up the grain of the paper,
making it velvety or silvery, misty, grey and
mysterious; and he thus produces a richness of
surface rarely seen in an engraving—even in an
engraving in colour. I am also particularly fasci-
nated by his rich black, of velvety surface with under-
tones of iridescent quality—golden brown, deep
blue, gleaming green; and, as he prints off his
own plates, he obtains effects of the most subtle
quality and refinement by bringing out these deep
chords of colour, especially in his interiors. Con-
ventional effects, it must be owned : realistic scenes
imbued with a dreamlike haze, where solid shapes
are immersed, as it were, in
the dim moonlight of an
autumn evening coming in
through an unseen window.
And thus these dim embodi-
ments of women, somewhat
strangely garbed and so
elegantly slender, these still
rooms in which they dwell,
and where the introduction
of some work of art—a
statue or a cast by Rodin,
perhaps, a picture on an
easel, or some prints in a
portfolio—gives a touch of
subtle; refinement, ail assume
a strange implication of
acutely modern feeling.

In other plates, where
the artist, abandoning do-
mestic scenes, yields to the
witchery of broad outer day-
light and the strong influences
of nature, his touch is bright
and full of dazzling glow.
Whether he wanders across
the open country and loses
himself in the study of
landscapes and peasants; or,
strolling through Paris,
lingers in some swarming
square on Montmartre, at
the corner of a crowded
street, we find him always
by manuel robbe master of his expressive