Studio: international art (68.1916)

Studio-Talk

attributes of the destitute and of beggars and other
species of nomads. His numerous drawings thus
inspired perpetuate the great tradition of Abraham
Bosse, of Jacques Callot and Goya. To this same
category belong the two etchings here reproduced,
Le Remouleur and La Roulotte. Many others of
his compositions are carried out with a much greater
degree of elaboration than these, but all are the
work of an artist perfectly familiar with the resources
of the etcher's art, a knowledge of which he
acquired by a close and assiduous study of the
work of the Old Masters.

In time Naudin became an illustrator much
appreciated by connoisseurs, and in the silence of
his studio he composed on his own account several
series of drawings heightened with colour. Two
of these series are particularly remarkable—one of
them consecrated to music and the other designed
to illustrate the "Gold Bug" of Edgar Allan Poe.
Neither series has yet been published, but a pub-
lisher of strong artistic leanings and one whose

name is inseparably linked with Naudin's has
arranged to bring them both to the notice of the
public after the war. The artist's ardent imagina-
tion and profound sensibility have had full play in
these compositions, in which the influence of the
great romanticists may be discerned. To the same
epoch belong numerous drawings made for various
books and concert and theatre programmes
(one of the most notable of these being a drawing
for " Les Tisserands ") and some poster designs.
A certain melodramatic tone which is not always
absent from Naudin's early work soon gave place
however to studies of humanity, all the more
impressive because seen and expressed in quite
simple terms.

This was the stage he had reached when war
broke out. He hastened to join his regiment, and
shared alike the emotions and burdens of his com-
rades. He became a living witness of their calm,
heroic courage, their kindheartedness and devo-
tion, their soldierly ardour and prodigious tenacity.

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