DOI Heft:
Nr. 148 (July 1905)
DOI Artikel:Frantz, Henri: The salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20712#0136
Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, 1905
possessing influences, will find this show on the
whole rather disappointing. This does not mean
that one cannot find here and there some good,
indeed very good, pictures; but the general effect
of the exhibition is somewhat flat, and it must
be regretfully admitted that many of the members
have not this year risen to the level of their reputa-
tion, or of the work exhibited by them on previous
occasions. It would be very unfair to deduce
from this any inference as to the decadence of
this or that artist. It is but too natural that a
painter should find it impossible always to main-
tain the same degree of perfection, and he has
every right to try experiments, or even to make
mistakes, without its being necessary, for that
reason, for us to declare that his talent is falling
short. It seems to me that people are nowadays
too ready to arrive at conclusions of this sort,
although the whole history of art is there to prove
that a painter may produce a bad picture and yet
remain a great artist. The only thing that' one
must sometimes lament is that artists are not apt
enough at self-criticism, and do not abstain from
exhibiting when they have nothing to say.
I cannot see, tor instance, how Mr. Lavery’s-
fame can be increased by his three portraits now
exhibited, which are most unfortunate in treatment-
This rather uninteresting work makes us look back
with regret to his charming portraits of young,
women shown last year. Neither do I think that
the large portrait of The Duchess of S. can add
anything to Mr. Sargent’s renown. The head and
shoulders are certainly excellent, and the pose is-
fine; but the green dress clashes unpleasantly with
the landscape background. There is not here, in.
short, the dash/the fire, the ioie de peindre which
distinguished this remarkable portraitist’s contribu-
tions to former exhibitions. M. Boldini, another
celebrated portrait painter, shows in his three
portraits those qualities of dexterous draughtsman-
ship which are all his own, and even, be it said,
sometimes carry him too far, so that the artist, led
away by his mere cleverness, thinks only of pro-
ducing an astounding effect, and thus ends by
getting impossible and unnatural attitudes. M-
Boldini’s colour, moreover, is always frankly dis-
agreeable. It is different with M. de la Gandara,
whose portrait of Mme. G. one may not like, but
“place de segovie”
118
BY CHARLES COTTET
possessing influences, will find this show on the
whole rather disappointing. This does not mean
that one cannot find here and there some good,
indeed very good, pictures; but the general effect
of the exhibition is somewhat flat, and it must
be regretfully admitted that many of the members
have not this year risen to the level of their reputa-
tion, or of the work exhibited by them on previous
occasions. It would be very unfair to deduce
from this any inference as to the decadence of
this or that artist. It is but too natural that a
painter should find it impossible always to main-
tain the same degree of perfection, and he has
every right to try experiments, or even to make
mistakes, without its being necessary, for that
reason, for us to declare that his talent is falling
short. It seems to me that people are nowadays
too ready to arrive at conclusions of this sort,
although the whole history of art is there to prove
that a painter may produce a bad picture and yet
remain a great artist. The only thing that' one
must sometimes lament is that artists are not apt
enough at self-criticism, and do not abstain from
exhibiting when they have nothing to say.
I cannot see, tor instance, how Mr. Lavery’s-
fame can be increased by his three portraits now
exhibited, which are most unfortunate in treatment-
This rather uninteresting work makes us look back
with regret to his charming portraits of young,
women shown last year. Neither do I think that
the large portrait of The Duchess of S. can add
anything to Mr. Sargent’s renown. The head and
shoulders are certainly excellent, and the pose is-
fine; but the green dress clashes unpleasantly with
the landscape background. There is not here, in.
short, the dash/the fire, the ioie de peindre which
distinguished this remarkable portraitist’s contribu-
tions to former exhibitions. M. Boldini, another
celebrated portrait painter, shows in his three
portraits those qualities of dexterous draughtsman-
ship which are all his own, and even, be it said,
sometimes carry him too far, so that the artist, led
away by his mere cleverness, thinks only of pro-
ducing an astounding effect, and thus ends by
getting impossible and unnatural attitudes. M-
Boldini’s colour, moreover, is always frankly dis-
agreeable. It is different with M. de la Gandara,
whose portrait of Mme. G. one may not like, but
“place de segovie”
118
BY CHARLES COTTET