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#0126
Constantin Gtiys
Nadar, was one of the dominant features of which astounds one at first by its absolute
his character, he was present at all the chief novelty. Assuredly neither Raphael nor Titian
engagements of the campaign, including Inker- nor Van Dyck ever thought of drawing in that
mann, Balaklava, and Sebastopol; and everywhere way; but the more one becomes familiar with
his artist's eye retained that which, when put on the medium the better one is enabled to under-
paper, resolved itself into the most striking and stand all the charm that lies in these nervous,
marvellous visions. Back in Paris the triumphal rapid drawings, which give so precise a sensation
return of the victorious troops provided him with of life; never dallying with futile details, but
fresh military scenes to record. He witnessed the aiming at producing a profound impression on the
most brilliant period of the Second Empire. Paris spectator.
was then the meeting-place of monarchs, sovereigns, Look at some of the water-colours from the
and princes, and every day there were reviews and Musee Carnavalet, in which he represents the
galas and races and fetes of all kinds, organised by women of his time; recall certain wash-drawings
a society caring for nought but enjoyment. All exhibited in M. Moline's gallery, and one must
this Guys had full opportunity of seeing and noting, realise that, despite apparent differences, this art,
and his drawings, his records, he scattered broad- in its profound and instinctive elegance, approaches
cast. Such was Guys' life up till the age of eighty that of our most graceful artists of the eighteenth
years. Then, in 1882, one carnival
night, he had both legs crushed
under the wheels of a cab. He
lived for seven years longer in the
Dubois Hospital, amid friends who
yearly grew more scarce; and Nadar
alone it was who followed his coffin
when the oldartist, who had stoically
borne the sufferings of his malady
and looked death calmly in the face,
at last expired, Such are the bare
details we possess as to Guys' life
and personality, and these are sup-
plemented on the one hand by
several photographs by Nadar, and
on the other by a portrait wherein
Manet represents him already old,
with white beard, and thinning hair
covering a broad brow, and scruti-
nising eyes of great vivacity.
For the rest, the biographical
information is completed by the
work itself. What his life was—
that life so full of movement and
adventure—what were his tastes in
fashion and otherwise, how ardent
his love of every form of life, how
clear his comprehension of an ideal
of beauty undreamt of hitherto by
artists—all this is told in his works
better than in the best of bio-
graphies.
To begin with, there is a draw-
ing—one of those curious wash-
drawings, with accentuations like
the bite of a pencil, and other « la femme a la mantille" by constantin guys
parts in gouache or water-colour— (/„ the Gaubert de Sainte-Croix Collection)
Nadar, was one of the dominant features of which astounds one at first by its absolute
his character, he was present at all the chief novelty. Assuredly neither Raphael nor Titian
engagements of the campaign, including Inker- nor Van Dyck ever thought of drawing in that
mann, Balaklava, and Sebastopol; and everywhere way; but the more one becomes familiar with
his artist's eye retained that which, when put on the medium the better one is enabled to under-
paper, resolved itself into the most striking and stand all the charm that lies in these nervous,
marvellous visions. Back in Paris the triumphal rapid drawings, which give so precise a sensation
return of the victorious troops provided him with of life; never dallying with futile details, but
fresh military scenes to record. He witnessed the aiming at producing a profound impression on the
most brilliant period of the Second Empire. Paris spectator.
was then the meeting-place of monarchs, sovereigns, Look at some of the water-colours from the
and princes, and every day there were reviews and Musee Carnavalet, in which he represents the
galas and races and fetes of all kinds, organised by women of his time; recall certain wash-drawings
a society caring for nought but enjoyment. All exhibited in M. Moline's gallery, and one must
this Guys had full opportunity of seeing and noting, realise that, despite apparent differences, this art,
and his drawings, his records, he scattered broad- in its profound and instinctive elegance, approaches
cast. Such was Guys' life up till the age of eighty that of our most graceful artists of the eighteenth
years. Then, in 1882, one carnival
night, he had both legs crushed
under the wheels of a cab. He
lived for seven years longer in the
Dubois Hospital, amid friends who
yearly grew more scarce; and Nadar
alone it was who followed his coffin
when the oldartist, who had stoically
borne the sufferings of his malady
and looked death calmly in the face,
at last expired, Such are the bare
details we possess as to Guys' life
and personality, and these are sup-
plemented on the one hand by
several photographs by Nadar, and
on the other by a portrait wherein
Manet represents him already old,
with white beard, and thinning hair
covering a broad brow, and scruti-
nising eyes of great vivacity.
For the rest, the biographical
information is completed by the
work itself. What his life was—
that life so full of movement and
adventure—what were his tastes in
fashion and otherwise, how ardent
his love of every form of life, how
clear his comprehension of an ideal
of beauty undreamt of hitherto by
artists—all this is told in his works
better than in the best of bio-
graphies.
To begin with, there is a draw-
ing—one of those curious wash-
drawings, with accentuations like
the bite of a pencil, and other « la femme a la mantille" by constantin guys
parts in gouache or water-colour— (/„ the Gaubert de Sainte-Croix Collection)