DOI Artikel:
Frantz, Henri: The salon of the Société Nationale, Paris
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20778#0088
The Salon of the Societd Nationale
exhibiting a very fine portrait of a lady with a sup:
pleness of attitude and a grace of gesture which are
altogether remarkable. The “ material ” of this
portrait has all the beauty of enamel. One realises
that Mr. Stewart has a complete knowledge and
understanding of the modern woman; and the
striking thing in this work is the spontaneity, the
happy facility with which it has been conceived
and executed. Mr. Stewart also exhibits four
Venetian scenes full of character and fascinating in
their facture.
M. Charles Cottet makes his reappearance with
one of his loveliest inspirations; indeed it may
well be that he is here displaying his masterpiece,
for in the guise of a dramatic fait-divers we have a
work which reaches the very height of human
anguish and distress—a modern “Pieta” which
grips the soul as dolorously as those of other days.
In Cottet’s picture, styled La Donlevr, of which a
reproduction is now given, one sees in the fore-
ground the rigid corpse of one drowned, surrounded
by women in every atttiude of lamentation. Who,
looking at the anguished face of the mother, or this
weeping wife, can deny that this work is of the same
quality as that of the most moving productions of
the “primitives”?
I have just had occasion to refer to Simon and
to Cottet, and from them I will not separate their
friend, Rene Menard, whose fine classicism
enchants us once more.
Rene Menard’s work
marks the continuation of
the great classic landscape,
modernised by technique.
True successor as he is of
Poussin and of Claude
Gellee, he perpetuates their
sense of fine composition,
and their feeling for the
landscapes of Italy and
Greece. Unrivalled among
his exhibits is a little view
of The Appian Way — a
great pine-tree spreading
out against a clear sky, a
row of cypresses, the ruins
with their splendid stones,
the grandiose lines of the
Roman Campagna. All
these motifs, so dear to the
painters of the 18th cen-
tury, Menard utilists in
turn, with a pathcs all his
own. His big picture—a
64
storm over the Temples of Ptestum, with heavy
tragic clouds above, is a fine work, accentuating
in marvellous fashion, the sort of helpless soli-
tude which hangs over the feverish plains where
Temples sleep.
M. Lhermitte has put his name to a picture
which is one of his best, containing as it does all
the masterly qualities of this great landscapist,
who, with a technique which is all his own, carries
on the tradition of Millet. One cannot but admire
the painting of this family group, resting in the
shadow of a lofty rick, close by, but still better to
mind, is the painting of the draught oxen just
brought up by the driver. M. Lhermitte’s drawing
is of the utmost purity, and in thi^ work we find
that sincerity, that deep sense of nature, which
are the predominating qualities of the artist’s
genius.
A number of good portraits naturally attract
attention. M. Blanche’s brilliant virtuosity is con-
spicuous as ever, and his portraits have not failed
to earn the appreciation they deserve. This year
M. Bernard Boutet de Monvel has made a great
stride. Here is an artist belonging to the younger
generation of the Societe National whose efforts
are worth studying and following. This portrait of
a well-turned-out young man in “hunting” cos-
tume, with tall greyhounds beside him, standing
on a hillside, is a work marked by a somewhat
romantic note which is in no way displeasing,
“ LE BAIN DES VACHES ” BY A. STENGELIN
(By permission of MM. Braun Cttmcnl Cie.)
exhibiting a very fine portrait of a lady with a sup:
pleness of attitude and a grace of gesture which are
altogether remarkable. The “ material ” of this
portrait has all the beauty of enamel. One realises
that Mr. Stewart has a complete knowledge and
understanding of the modern woman; and the
striking thing in this work is the spontaneity, the
happy facility with which it has been conceived
and executed. Mr. Stewart also exhibits four
Venetian scenes full of character and fascinating in
their facture.
M. Charles Cottet makes his reappearance with
one of his loveliest inspirations; indeed it may
well be that he is here displaying his masterpiece,
for in the guise of a dramatic fait-divers we have a
work which reaches the very height of human
anguish and distress—a modern “Pieta” which
grips the soul as dolorously as those of other days.
In Cottet’s picture, styled La Donlevr, of which a
reproduction is now given, one sees in the fore-
ground the rigid corpse of one drowned, surrounded
by women in every atttiude of lamentation. Who,
looking at the anguished face of the mother, or this
weeping wife, can deny that this work is of the same
quality as that of the most moving productions of
the “primitives”?
I have just had occasion to refer to Simon and
to Cottet, and from them I will not separate their
friend, Rene Menard, whose fine classicism
enchants us once more.
Rene Menard’s work
marks the continuation of
the great classic landscape,
modernised by technique.
True successor as he is of
Poussin and of Claude
Gellee, he perpetuates their
sense of fine composition,
and their feeling for the
landscapes of Italy and
Greece. Unrivalled among
his exhibits is a little view
of The Appian Way — a
great pine-tree spreading
out against a clear sky, a
row of cypresses, the ruins
with their splendid stones,
the grandiose lines of the
Roman Campagna. All
these motifs, so dear to the
painters of the 18th cen-
tury, Menard utilists in
turn, with a pathcs all his
own. His big picture—a
64
storm over the Temples of Ptestum, with heavy
tragic clouds above, is a fine work, accentuating
in marvellous fashion, the sort of helpless soli-
tude which hangs over the feverish plains where
Temples sleep.
M. Lhermitte has put his name to a picture
which is one of his best, containing as it does all
the masterly qualities of this great landscapist,
who, with a technique which is all his own, carries
on the tradition of Millet. One cannot but admire
the painting of this family group, resting in the
shadow of a lofty rick, close by, but still better to
mind, is the painting of the draught oxen just
brought up by the driver. M. Lhermitte’s drawing
is of the utmost purity, and in thi^ work we find
that sincerity, that deep sense of nature, which
are the predominating qualities of the artist’s
genius.
A number of good portraits naturally attract
attention. M. Blanche’s brilliant virtuosity is con-
spicuous as ever, and his portraits have not failed
to earn the appreciation they deserve. This year
M. Bernard Boutet de Monvel has made a great
stride. Here is an artist belonging to the younger
generation of the Societe National whose efforts
are worth studying and following. This portrait of
a well-turned-out young man in “hunting” cos-
tume, with tall greyhounds beside him, standing
on a hillside, is a work marked by a somewhat
romantic note which is in no way displeasing,
“ LE BAIN DES VACHES ” BY A. STENGELIN
(By permission of MM. Braun Cttmcnl Cie.)