Studio: international art (89.1925)

PARIS

PORTRAIT DE JEUNE FILLE "
BY PAUL ALBERT LAURENS

PARIS.—Among those painters whose
emotional sensibility is expressed with
absolute probity of method, without re-
course to specious but artificial manoeuvres,
is M. Paul Albert Laurens, who, without
creating any great sensation, but in a sure
and steady progress, has reached a high
rank in the world of French painting. It
may be quite a natural thing to take a
genuine interest in the most daring pro-
ductions of the ultra-modernists, but one
feels that the proper place for these things
is the studio or a museum, and it is equally
pleasant to discover a canvas which one
might covet for the decoration of one's
own house, and above all, a portrait which
depicts a well-known face as one would
wish it to be depicted. M. Laurens's
pictures (above all his portraits) meet
these needs, and give an impression of
great style which puts them in the fore-
front of modern work. 000
In the 1890 Salon M. Laurens scored
his first success with his Femme au Tombeau
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de Christ, painted under the direct in-
fluence of Puvis de Chavannes. Thence-
forward his development was steady, and a
definite turning point is marked by his
Didon (1913), which gained him the
Henner prize, and which is now in the
Grand Palais. 00000
The much-abused word " style," seems
to be an absolute condition of his work,
but when we say " style " we must be
careful to point out that we do not mean
stiffness. M. Laurens is continually en-
deavouring to make his style more and
more pure, and he has attained a most
rigorous simplicity in his technique. The
portrait of his father, painted in 1900, is
good, but he has since travelled far, as may
be seen from the portrait of Andre Gide,
which is to appear at the next Salon. In
his work may be seen the happiest devel-
opment of the classical tradition, best of
all in VAmour et Psyche (Salon, 1921) and
the Portrait de Jeune Fille, painted this
year and here reproduced. M. Valotaire.