DOI Heft:
No. 138 (September, 1904)
DOI Artikel:Frantz, Henri: Modern French pastellists - Jules Chéret
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19882#0342
Modern French Pastellists
sanguines. In these pastels, which seem as though
coloured by the flame of a Bengal fire, with its
thousand reflections, we meet once more the
favourite figures of Watteau and his disciples.
When we examine a certain number of these little
works, we discover in most of them the Pierrots,
the Harlequins, the Gilles, and the Columbines—
indeed, all the personages of the Italian comedy,
continuing their joyous dream.
But Cheret's characters, though at first sight
appearing very like those peculiar to the fetes
galantes, are appreciably different when one looks
at them more closely. They have not that same
ingenuous spirit—they no longer play their parts
with the old careless joy; a certain modern melan-
choly is mixed with their diversions, and a restless-
ness, almost a bitterness, may be read on their
faces, as though they were making haste to enjoy
delights which they knew must be brief—as though
they were rushing frantically in quest of a fugitive
joy!
Again—and this bears still further testimony to
Cheret's modernity—the setting, the decor, has
become transformed like the spirit of his figures.
Of course, Cheret's heroes stray at times in the
Trianons of the eighteenth century, among the foun-
tains, the parks, and the lovely rose-grown ruins; but
generally the artist gives them a new setting, one
more in conformity with their modern psychology.
They glide and float through the blue Empyrean,
enveloped in multi-coloured clouds. Cheret makes
them forget all the laws of gravity, as they fling
themselves skywards in a sparkling throng—these
masked-ball, music-hall beauties, their provoking
charms accentuated by the diapered gleam of the
electric lamps, or the factitious glitter of the foot-
lights. Cheret has indeed brought into being a
whole world of new creations. He has not been
afraid to mix with his Gilles and his Clitandres the
men and women of to-day, treating their costumes
in so personal a manner that therefrom he has
succeeded in creating a type.
One of Cheret's highest merits lies in this : that
while giving fullest freedom to his fancy he never
fails to show a clear knowledge of anatomy, a
profound understanding of every movement. Allied
with spontaneous genius we discover a great artistic
consciousness, for Cheret has studied long and
carefully every gesture from nature itself; hence
the accent of sincerity which springs from even the
least-considered of his pastels.
Cheret holds a place apart in the great art
'LE DEJEUNER CHAMPETRE " : STUDY FOR A HANGING BY J. CHERET
318
sanguines. In these pastels, which seem as though
coloured by the flame of a Bengal fire, with its
thousand reflections, we meet once more the
favourite figures of Watteau and his disciples.
When we examine a certain number of these little
works, we discover in most of them the Pierrots,
the Harlequins, the Gilles, and the Columbines—
indeed, all the personages of the Italian comedy,
continuing their joyous dream.
But Cheret's characters, though at first sight
appearing very like those peculiar to the fetes
galantes, are appreciably different when one looks
at them more closely. They have not that same
ingenuous spirit—they no longer play their parts
with the old careless joy; a certain modern melan-
choly is mixed with their diversions, and a restless-
ness, almost a bitterness, may be read on their
faces, as though they were making haste to enjoy
delights which they knew must be brief—as though
they were rushing frantically in quest of a fugitive
joy!
Again—and this bears still further testimony to
Cheret's modernity—the setting, the decor, has
become transformed like the spirit of his figures.
Of course, Cheret's heroes stray at times in the
Trianons of the eighteenth century, among the foun-
tains, the parks, and the lovely rose-grown ruins; but
generally the artist gives them a new setting, one
more in conformity with their modern psychology.
They glide and float through the blue Empyrean,
enveloped in multi-coloured clouds. Cheret makes
them forget all the laws of gravity, as they fling
themselves skywards in a sparkling throng—these
masked-ball, music-hall beauties, their provoking
charms accentuated by the diapered gleam of the
electric lamps, or the factitious glitter of the foot-
lights. Cheret has indeed brought into being a
whole world of new creations. He has not been
afraid to mix with his Gilles and his Clitandres the
men and women of to-day, treating their costumes
in so personal a manner that therefrom he has
succeeded in creating a type.
One of Cheret's highest merits lies in this : that
while giving fullest freedom to his fancy he never
fails to show a clear knowledge of anatomy, a
profound understanding of every movement. Allied
with spontaneous genius we discover a great artistic
consciousness, for Cheret has studied long and
carefully every gesture from nature itself; hence
the accent of sincerity which springs from even the
least-considered of his pastels.
Cheret holds a place apart in the great art
'LE DEJEUNER CHAMPETRE " : STUDY FOR A HANGING BY J. CHERET
318