DOI Heft:
Nr. 144 (March 1905)
DOI Artikel:Frantz, Henri: A forgotten artist: Constantin Guys
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20711#0124
Constantin Guys
the best artists of his day. Moreover, not long
since that weighty writer, Gustave Geffroy, devoted
to Guys a volume copiously illustrated with wood
engravings by the lamented Tony Beltrand and his
son, while M. Armand Dayot in a fine preface, M.
Sarradin, M. Arsene Alexandre, M. G. Babin, and
other notable critics, by means of newspaper articles,
combined to celebrate this art so captivating in its
modernity. And now, further to render homage
to Guys and to repair the injustice and the forgetful-
ness of his generation, a committee has been formed
to raise a monument to his memory.
Hitherto it would seem that Guys, while passion-
ately admired by a select few, had scarce been known
beyond this small circle, and that, despite the study
by Baudelaire (truly the most imperishable monu-
ment of French art - criticism in the nineteenth
century) ; despite the moving pages devoted to him
in the " Figaro " by Nadar on the morrow of his
death; despite the article by Roger Marx in
" L'I mage " (1897), and that of Octave Uzanne,
Guys has remained unknown or despised by the
collector ; and I feel quite sure that only the other
day even there were people regarding themselves
as well informed who knew neither Guys' work
nor even his name. Truth to tell, this strange
artist lived the most extraordinary life imaginable.
All his life he strove to preserve his anonymity,
never signing a drawing or a water-colour, attaching
no importance to the pages which to-day thrill us
with delight; carrying his eccentricity to the extent
of preventing Baudelaire from mentioning his
name in the study which he devoted to him under
the title of Le Peintre de la Vie Moderne, and
even expressing indignation " as though at an
outrage on his modesty," against Thackeray who
had sung his praises in a London journal! But
while long ignored by the public Guys was admired
by all the great minds of his time. The Goncourts,
in their "Journal" (April 23, 1858), inform us that
Gavarni had completed some drawings by Guys in
London in 1848. Theophile Gautier collected
them eagerly, and Manet, Saint-Victor, Celestin
Nanteuil, Sainte-Beuve, Champfleury, and the great
Delacroix held them in infinite esteem. To-day
the circle of Guys' admirers is steadily increasing,
"LA SORTIE DE TIVOLI " BY CONSTANTIN GUYS
I08
the best artists of his day. Moreover, not long
since that weighty writer, Gustave Geffroy, devoted
to Guys a volume copiously illustrated with wood
engravings by the lamented Tony Beltrand and his
son, while M. Armand Dayot in a fine preface, M.
Sarradin, M. Arsene Alexandre, M. G. Babin, and
other notable critics, by means of newspaper articles,
combined to celebrate this art so captivating in its
modernity. And now, further to render homage
to Guys and to repair the injustice and the forgetful-
ness of his generation, a committee has been formed
to raise a monument to his memory.
Hitherto it would seem that Guys, while passion-
ately admired by a select few, had scarce been known
beyond this small circle, and that, despite the study
by Baudelaire (truly the most imperishable monu-
ment of French art - criticism in the nineteenth
century) ; despite the moving pages devoted to him
in the " Figaro " by Nadar on the morrow of his
death; despite the article by Roger Marx in
" L'I mage " (1897), and that of Octave Uzanne,
Guys has remained unknown or despised by the
collector ; and I feel quite sure that only the other
day even there were people regarding themselves
as well informed who knew neither Guys' work
nor even his name. Truth to tell, this strange
artist lived the most extraordinary life imaginable.
All his life he strove to preserve his anonymity,
never signing a drawing or a water-colour, attaching
no importance to the pages which to-day thrill us
with delight; carrying his eccentricity to the extent
of preventing Baudelaire from mentioning his
name in the study which he devoted to him under
the title of Le Peintre de la Vie Moderne, and
even expressing indignation " as though at an
outrage on his modesty," against Thackeray who
had sung his praises in a London journal! But
while long ignored by the public Guys was admired
by all the great minds of his time. The Goncourts,
in their "Journal" (April 23, 1858), inform us that
Gavarni had completed some drawings by Guys in
London in 1848. Theophile Gautier collected
them eagerly, and Manet, Saint-Victor, Celestin
Nanteuil, Sainte-Beuve, Champfleury, and the great
Delacroix held them in infinite esteem. To-day
the circle of Guys' admirers is steadily increasing,
"LA SORTIE DE TIVOLI " BY CONSTANTIN GUYS
I08