Studio: international art (83.1922)

STUDIO-TALK

LE JARDIN MALADE ”
PAINTING BY JEAN
JACQUES GAILLIARD

BRUSSELS. — Modern science tells
us that in the human brain there is
a tract lying dormant, as yet unused : and
a great deal of modern art goes to support
the assertion. Therefore, the young
Belgian painter, Jean Jacques Gailliard, a
creature of the spirit, working out the
visions and dreams of his active mind in
symbolic painting, is a person to watch. To
him colour and form, flowers and animals
are means of symbolising the experiences
of the soul in its errors, temptations,
glories. Colours especially have a specific
meaning—as when the blue of intellect
and the rose red of love lead us up to the
gold and white light of Divinity. This
scheme is carried out in the decorative
panel of an angel which forms part of his
decoration of the Swedenborgian Chapel
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at Ixelles, a suburb of Brussels, where the
American branch of the New Jerusalem
Church has a mission. The little chapel,
formed out of a room in a private house
is a triumph of colour with meaning. 0
A Latin, with the Latin freedom from
convention, a Swedenborgian with a high
religious instinct, a disciple of Maeterlinck
and Fernand Khnopff and yet a pronounced
individualist, this young man is a problem
for the lovers of the accustomed. If we
accept Browning's “ One may do what
one likes in Art " and wish (and will take
pains) to read allegory, the problem be-
comes a delight, and more than a delight
from every point of view. 000
Monsieur Gailliard's mental attitude is
ancient enough, although his method is
decorative and has a kinship with the