DOI issue:
No. 384 (March 1925)
DOI article:[Studio-talk]
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21402#0172
PARIS
PARIS.—The exhibition of oil-paintings,
water-colours and etchings by Mr.
William Walcot, held early last December
at the Devambez Galleries, represented the
first considerable one-man show in Paris
of this artist's work. Already, of course,
he was well-known to the British public
and the readers of The Studio, and now
Paris fell under his spell, welcoming him
also as an old student of the Ecole des
Beaux Arts. Connoisseurs were enthusi-
astic in their praise of the brilliant execu-
tion of these scenes of antiquity in which
the life of those early times was inimitably
portrayed ; and Mr. Walcot's freedom
from the dry and dull technique too com-
mon in this type of work, gained him very
high praise, a a a 0 a
Looking back over the last fifty years,
it is surprising how few painters of the
nude we can find whose works are likely
to resist the ravages of time and go down
to posterity as masterpieces. There is
Renoir, of course, whose naive sincerity
and charm of colour compensate for a
certain weakness in drawing ; but the two
dominant figures are undoubtedly Anders
Zorn and Albert Besnard, who respec-
tively take their places apart from all move-
ments. Zorn, whose works are well-
known to our readers, sought, in his
paintings and etchings, to represent the
splendour of sculptural bodies, fine women
at the toilet or bathing in the open air.
Most of his models were peasant girls of
Dalecarlia, of hardy stock, who had never
been subjected to the forced deformations
of a too-civilised existence, and thus,
technique apart, his nudes were distin-
quished by a noble simplicity.
M. Albert Besnard, a fervent admirer
of Zorn, has undoubtedly worked under a
similar impulse, with the same passion for
the beautiful living body (without which
passion there can be no painting of the nude)
but he has also made an intellectual study
" APRES LE BAIN." BY
ALBERT BESNARD
(Photo, Vizzavona)
PARIS.—The exhibition of oil-paintings,
water-colours and etchings by Mr.
William Walcot, held early last December
at the Devambez Galleries, represented the
first considerable one-man show in Paris
of this artist's work. Already, of course,
he was well-known to the British public
and the readers of The Studio, and now
Paris fell under his spell, welcoming him
also as an old student of the Ecole des
Beaux Arts. Connoisseurs were enthusi-
astic in their praise of the brilliant execu-
tion of these scenes of antiquity in which
the life of those early times was inimitably
portrayed ; and Mr. Walcot's freedom
from the dry and dull technique too com-
mon in this type of work, gained him very
high praise, a a a 0 a
Looking back over the last fifty years,
it is surprising how few painters of the
nude we can find whose works are likely
to resist the ravages of time and go down
to posterity as masterpieces. There is
Renoir, of course, whose naive sincerity
and charm of colour compensate for a
certain weakness in drawing ; but the two
dominant figures are undoubtedly Anders
Zorn and Albert Besnard, who respec-
tively take their places apart from all move-
ments. Zorn, whose works are well-
known to our readers, sought, in his
paintings and etchings, to represent the
splendour of sculptural bodies, fine women
at the toilet or bathing in the open air.
Most of his models were peasant girls of
Dalecarlia, of hardy stock, who had never
been subjected to the forced deformations
of a too-civilised existence, and thus,
technique apart, his nudes were distin-
quished by a noble simplicity.
M. Albert Besnard, a fervent admirer
of Zorn, has undoubtedly worked under a
similar impulse, with the same passion for
the beautiful living body (without which
passion there can be no painting of the nude)
but he has also made an intellectual study
" APRES LE BAIN." BY
ALBERT BESNARD
(Photo, Vizzavona)