DOI article:
Thovez, Enrico: Artistic photography in Italy
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27086#0153
ITALY
devotees among all nations : nevertheless there is in M. Rey some-
thing special, something personal, which sets him well ahead of his
confreres and rivals. The chief detect in picturesque compositions,
whether they be of the genre type or have a sentimental, idyllic, or
tragic motif is generally the lack of intimate conviction. One sees
only too clearly that the artist has placed his models in position and
made them pose before him : the too-evident photographic reality
has prevented the composition from gaining the impersonal region
of art. With that defect is usually associated a lack of care as to
the milieu, which too often reveals a setting hastily improvised and
devoid of all illusion. This is particularly evident in those com-
positions which aim at reviving the days gone by. One has seen all
sorts : Greek scenes or Roman scenes, mediaeval or Renaissance,
Seventeenth-Century or the 1830 period, wherein the modern model
was but too clearly visible beneath its stage garments and false hair,
and had nothing whatever to do with its surroundings.
There is nothing of that sort with M. Rey’s work. His merit
consists precisely in the fact of his having realised that in order to
obtain complete illusion and poetic suggestion one needs remorselessly
to banish painted backgrounds and rocks of cardboard. When
M. Rey desires to represent scenes of antiquity he chooses in the open
air the poetical spot required, and there, on the grass and near the
cypress trees, he disposes real fragments of Greek or Roman archi-
tecture, low-reliefs and Hermes, exedras and altars.
This ardent and discriminating collector of draperies, arms, and
ceramics had only to turn to his own “ properties ” to find the
wherewithal to supply his decor with the complete illusion necessary.
But that would have availed him nothing had he not possessed the
faculty of seeking out, and the good luck of finding, exceptional
models capable of grasping the artist’s ideas and identifying
themselves with their parts.
These are the elements : to extract therefrom the Work of Art, the
talent, the taste, the knowledge of M. Rey were required. In the
art of distributing masses, calculating effects of light and shade,
lowering tones, melting outlines and filtering light he is unsurpassed.
He has no pretension to pose as a creator ; indeed, he honestly
acknowledges his indebtedness to those who have inspired him.
And rightly he has chosen his masters from among the great
painters, and has sought to discover the secret of their beauty and to
follow the example of their teaching. Seeing that he has adventured
into almost every period M. Rey has had to change his guide very
frequently. When he was composing his Grsco-Roman scenes he
3
devotees among all nations : nevertheless there is in M. Rey some-
thing special, something personal, which sets him well ahead of his
confreres and rivals. The chief detect in picturesque compositions,
whether they be of the genre type or have a sentimental, idyllic, or
tragic motif is generally the lack of intimate conviction. One sees
only too clearly that the artist has placed his models in position and
made them pose before him : the too-evident photographic reality
has prevented the composition from gaining the impersonal region
of art. With that defect is usually associated a lack of care as to
the milieu, which too often reveals a setting hastily improvised and
devoid of all illusion. This is particularly evident in those com-
positions which aim at reviving the days gone by. One has seen all
sorts : Greek scenes or Roman scenes, mediaeval or Renaissance,
Seventeenth-Century or the 1830 period, wherein the modern model
was but too clearly visible beneath its stage garments and false hair,
and had nothing whatever to do with its surroundings.
There is nothing of that sort with M. Rey’s work. His merit
consists precisely in the fact of his having realised that in order to
obtain complete illusion and poetic suggestion one needs remorselessly
to banish painted backgrounds and rocks of cardboard. When
M. Rey desires to represent scenes of antiquity he chooses in the open
air the poetical spot required, and there, on the grass and near the
cypress trees, he disposes real fragments of Greek or Roman archi-
tecture, low-reliefs and Hermes, exedras and altars.
This ardent and discriminating collector of draperies, arms, and
ceramics had only to turn to his own “ properties ” to find the
wherewithal to supply his decor with the complete illusion necessary.
But that would have availed him nothing had he not possessed the
faculty of seeking out, and the good luck of finding, exceptional
models capable of grasping the artist’s ideas and identifying
themselves with their parts.
These are the elements : to extract therefrom the Work of Art, the
talent, the taste, the knowledge of M. Rey were required. In the
art of distributing masses, calculating effects of light and shade,
lowering tones, melting outlines and filtering light he is unsurpassed.
He has no pretension to pose as a creator ; indeed, he honestly
acknowledges his indebtedness to those who have inspired him.
And rightly he has chosen his masters from among the great
painters, and has sought to discover the secret of their beauty and to
follow the example of their teaching. Seeing that he has adventured
into almost every period M. Rey has had to change his guide very
frequently. When he was composing his Grsco-Roman scenes he
3