DOI Heft:
Nr. 188 (November 1908)
DOI Artikel:Frantz, Henri: Auguste Lepére: painter and engraver
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20965#0108
A itguste Left ère
nality of colour. Of the same period is a rather
celebrated canvas by Lepère which now belongs to
the Musée Carnavalet. I refer to Le Poste de la
Rue des Rosiers à Montmartre, the little house,
since demolished, where the two generals, Clément
Thomas and Lecomte, were shot under the
Commune.
About 1878 Lepère seems to have engaged in
a new series of works—seapieces. But in truth
he ‘'never deserted” Paris, where still later he
was to produce many a rich morceau, such as his
Quai de l'Hôtel de Ville—effet de neige, and his
Péniches amarrées au Quai de la Râpée, which are
now reproduced. During a stay in that quaint
Norman town, Fécamp, he was seized with great
fondness for the aspects of the ocean and for the
life of the harbour and the beach, thus carrying
on the tradition of Bonington, Isabey and Hervier.
Somewhat later the settings of Lepère’s paintings
came to simplified. For some years past he has
spent the summer and autumn months at St. Jean du
Mont on the Vendée coast, and there he has signed
the pictures which to my mind are his freest as
regards handling and his absolutely finest in matter.
Nothing could be more simple than this landscape
so often repeated in Lepère’s work—the long,
white, sandy line of the shore, now seen under the
beating of the waves at high tide, now left dry,
with great pools here and there, and away on the
other side the sea in all its immensity. But above
this landscape is the sky, which with Lepère formed
the ever-changing motif whereon he embroidered
such splendid variations. At one time we have
the great clouds, in all their firm and puissant
architecture, gilded by the rays of the setting sun ;
at another the pale and milky blue of the horizon
raises thoughts of the first days of Autumn.
Lepère adores the sun and delights in painting it
face to face—as Turner so frequently did—or in the
midst of some big cloud pierced by its rays.
All these broad and beautiful motifs, which were
painted by Lepère with so much enthusiasm, may
be rediscovered in his water-colours and retouched
drawings. Since the 18th century no one has
practised the “dessin rehaussé” with more ease
than Lepère. One has only to look at the two
examples reproduced in these pages. Could any-
thing be more simple, more precise, more true?
In a few strokes, with a few rapid touches of
colour, Lepère depicts a Vendéean cottage; and
“le quai de la rue des tanneurs à Amiens” (gouache)
86
BY AUGUSTE LEPÈRE
nality of colour. Of the same period is a rather
celebrated canvas by Lepère which now belongs to
the Musée Carnavalet. I refer to Le Poste de la
Rue des Rosiers à Montmartre, the little house,
since demolished, where the two generals, Clément
Thomas and Lecomte, were shot under the
Commune.
About 1878 Lepère seems to have engaged in
a new series of works—seapieces. But in truth
he ‘'never deserted” Paris, where still later he
was to produce many a rich morceau, such as his
Quai de l'Hôtel de Ville—effet de neige, and his
Péniches amarrées au Quai de la Râpée, which are
now reproduced. During a stay in that quaint
Norman town, Fécamp, he was seized with great
fondness for the aspects of the ocean and for the
life of the harbour and the beach, thus carrying
on the tradition of Bonington, Isabey and Hervier.
Somewhat later the settings of Lepère’s paintings
came to simplified. For some years past he has
spent the summer and autumn months at St. Jean du
Mont on the Vendée coast, and there he has signed
the pictures which to my mind are his freest as
regards handling and his absolutely finest in matter.
Nothing could be more simple than this landscape
so often repeated in Lepère’s work—the long,
white, sandy line of the shore, now seen under the
beating of the waves at high tide, now left dry,
with great pools here and there, and away on the
other side the sea in all its immensity. But above
this landscape is the sky, which with Lepère formed
the ever-changing motif whereon he embroidered
such splendid variations. At one time we have
the great clouds, in all their firm and puissant
architecture, gilded by the rays of the setting sun ;
at another the pale and milky blue of the horizon
raises thoughts of the first days of Autumn.
Lepère adores the sun and delights in painting it
face to face—as Turner so frequently did—or in the
midst of some big cloud pierced by its rays.
All these broad and beautiful motifs, which were
painted by Lepère with so much enthusiasm, may
be rediscovered in his water-colours and retouched
drawings. Since the 18th century no one has
practised the “dessin rehaussé” with more ease
than Lepère. One has only to look at the two
examples reproduced in these pages. Could any-
thing be more simple, more precise, more true?
In a few strokes, with a few rapid touches of
colour, Lepère depicts a Vendéean cottage; and
“le quai de la rue des tanneurs à Amiens” (gouache)
86
BY AUGUSTE LEPÈRE