DOI issue:
No. 327 (June 1920)
DOI article:Valotaire, Marcel: Auguste Brouet, painter-etcher
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21360#0141
AUGUSTE BROUET, PAINTER-ETCHER
proof obtained from a single biting of this
little plate, Les petits Joueurs de Dis, is quite
remarkable, and arrests attention because
it immediately reminds one of Rembrandt,
although at that time the youthful debu-
tant was completely unaware of the great
Dutch master's existence as an etcher, and
certainly had never seen one of his etch-
ings. Thus from this early beginning as
an aquafortist, Brouet has remained him-
self, and his manner and style are borrowed
from no one, but are peculiarly his own. 0
We will not follow him through all the
vicissitudes of his life as an artist without
means, obliged to undertake any sort of
odd job to get a living—drawing, painting
water-colours, executing engravings after
the masters, making colour-prints as much
on behalf of other artists better known than
himself as on his own account. Such
worries are so frequent in the careers of
artists of talent that we need not dwell on
them. Rather let us turn to what he has
accomplished. 0000
Among the subjects which Brouet has
chosen for his plates are interior scenes,
landscapes, picturesque bits of Rouen, of
Moret, of Pont de l'Arche, and they are
not without merit. But those in which he
distinguishes himself as indeed a master
are his little etchings inspired by the life
of the humble denizens of Montmartre and
the outlying quarters of Paris—humble
folk with whose mode of life he is familiar
through having shared it, and whose types
he has set down with all the ability of
which he is capable. They are all small
prints, of a format appropriate to the sub-
ject and in keeping with the artist's tech-
nique. They make no pretence of decora-
tive effect, and have been made solely for
the portfolio of the amateur. There, how-
ever, they justly claim a leading place. See
the intensity of expression in every one of
them, whether isolated silhouettes or scenes
of family life ; observe how accurate is the
observation and the precision with which
the rendering is effected, not only without
hardness, but on the contrary with a most
skilful enveloppement of contours; and
then ask yourself how many etchers possess
in an equally high degree the qualities here
revealed. 00000
This incontestable superiority is largely
due to the fact that Brouet has never
strained his powers by essaying extraordi-
nary or out-of-the-way subjects. He has
just simply taken his models from among
the artisans, the “ little merchants," the
street types that have come under his
‘'GRAND CIRQUE PINDER”
ETCHING BY AUGUSTE BROUET
135
proof obtained from a single biting of this
little plate, Les petits Joueurs de Dis, is quite
remarkable, and arrests attention because
it immediately reminds one of Rembrandt,
although at that time the youthful debu-
tant was completely unaware of the great
Dutch master's existence as an etcher, and
certainly had never seen one of his etch-
ings. Thus from this early beginning as
an aquafortist, Brouet has remained him-
self, and his manner and style are borrowed
from no one, but are peculiarly his own. 0
We will not follow him through all the
vicissitudes of his life as an artist without
means, obliged to undertake any sort of
odd job to get a living—drawing, painting
water-colours, executing engravings after
the masters, making colour-prints as much
on behalf of other artists better known than
himself as on his own account. Such
worries are so frequent in the careers of
artists of talent that we need not dwell on
them. Rather let us turn to what he has
accomplished. 0000
Among the subjects which Brouet has
chosen for his plates are interior scenes,
landscapes, picturesque bits of Rouen, of
Moret, of Pont de l'Arche, and they are
not without merit. But those in which he
distinguishes himself as indeed a master
are his little etchings inspired by the life
of the humble denizens of Montmartre and
the outlying quarters of Paris—humble
folk with whose mode of life he is familiar
through having shared it, and whose types
he has set down with all the ability of
which he is capable. They are all small
prints, of a format appropriate to the sub-
ject and in keeping with the artist's tech-
nique. They make no pretence of decora-
tive effect, and have been made solely for
the portfolio of the amateur. There, how-
ever, they justly claim a leading place. See
the intensity of expression in every one of
them, whether isolated silhouettes or scenes
of family life ; observe how accurate is the
observation and the precision with which
the rendering is effected, not only without
hardness, but on the contrary with a most
skilful enveloppement of contours; and
then ask yourself how many etchers possess
in an equally high degree the qualities here
revealed. 00000
This incontestable superiority is largely
due to the fact that Brouet has never
strained his powers by essaying extraordi-
nary or out-of-the-way subjects. He has
just simply taken his models from among
the artisans, the “ little merchants," the
street types that have come under his
‘'GRAND CIRQUE PINDER”
ETCHING BY AUGUSTE BROUET
135