DOI issue:
No. 386 (May 1925)
DOI article:[Studio-talk]
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21402#0296
PARIS
" THE COLLEONI MONU-
MENT, VENICE." WATER-
COLOUR BY E. VIGNAL
PARIS.—Although in France water-
colour drawing is not held in such
high esteem as in England, its traditional
home, we can nevertheless produce some
good artists in aquarelle. Bernard, Simon,
Costantini, for example — all adopt this
medium quite as much as oil for similar
kinds of work such as figure painting,
portraits or compositions. M. Vignal, on
the other hand, whose talent is devoted to
landscape painting, confines himself ex-
clusively to water-colour as a means of
expression, and indeed his mastery of this
method has won for him a place of honour
among the French water-colourists. a
He was born at Bordeaux, and after a
profitable course of study in his native
town under Lalanne, he came to Paris
in 1870. Lalanne, however, had been
content to concentrate upon drawing and
etching only, which did not satisfy his
pupil, for whom the charm of colour and
joy of luminous tone proved a greater
attraction. Vignal therefore took up the
study of water-colour, which appealed to
him as being so simple, but he never took
a lesson. When in Paris, however, feeling
that he could gain some useful advice
290
from Harpignies, he sought him out only
to be told by the master, contrary to all
expectation : " You must realise that
colour does not exist—all the great masters,
towards the end of their lives, had only
sepia on their palettes." A whim indeed,
this theory that form is everything and
that it is governed by drawing but that
colour is its subordinate! The eternal
quarrel! However, having been advised
to remain with Harpignies, Vignal obeyed
him implicity, but his obsession for colour
led him to follow his own penchant and
develop his talent in that direction inde-
pendently. The technique of water-colour
drawing in the hands of Vignal becomes
one of the simplest and most uncomplicated
of studies. I believe that he would quite
willingly say : " Make a good drawing,
see that it is well composed, take the
water, colours and brushes, and attack ;
lay the exact tone on at once and never re-
touch ! " As for scraping, blotting, paint-
ing, etc., M. Vignal, never having had re-
course to such artifice, thinks that they
should be avoided, for they spoil the
greatest charm of a water-colour, which
lies not only in the fluidity of its tones and
their absolute transparency, but also in
the execution itself, which should spring
from pure spontaneity. These are qualities
which characterise his own water-colours ;
they are remarkable for a very clear vision
and especially for their wonderful fresh-
ness, a a a a a 0
M. Vignal is a great traveller and has
been through Greece, Italy, Spain, Mor-
rocco, Holland, and of course, the whole
of France. And having studied so many
countries and so many different skies, he
makes this apparently paradoxical, but
nevertheless strictly accurate observation :
that in the East, nature itself bears a some-
what sombre aspect, so many of her tones
being consumed in the force of light, whilst
the country with the brightest colouring
is, in his view, Holland, where the humi-
dity of the atmosphere seems to act as a
sort of varnish and enhance all colour, a
M. Valotaire.
P.S.—-These lines were written before
we learnt with sorrow of the death of M.
Vignal. In him one of the glories of
French water-colour has passed away. 0
M. V.
" THE COLLEONI MONU-
MENT, VENICE." WATER-
COLOUR BY E. VIGNAL
PARIS.—Although in France water-
colour drawing is not held in such
high esteem as in England, its traditional
home, we can nevertheless produce some
good artists in aquarelle. Bernard, Simon,
Costantini, for example — all adopt this
medium quite as much as oil for similar
kinds of work such as figure painting,
portraits or compositions. M. Vignal, on
the other hand, whose talent is devoted to
landscape painting, confines himself ex-
clusively to water-colour as a means of
expression, and indeed his mastery of this
method has won for him a place of honour
among the French water-colourists. a
He was born at Bordeaux, and after a
profitable course of study in his native
town under Lalanne, he came to Paris
in 1870. Lalanne, however, had been
content to concentrate upon drawing and
etching only, which did not satisfy his
pupil, for whom the charm of colour and
joy of luminous tone proved a greater
attraction. Vignal therefore took up the
study of water-colour, which appealed to
him as being so simple, but he never took
a lesson. When in Paris, however, feeling
that he could gain some useful advice
290
from Harpignies, he sought him out only
to be told by the master, contrary to all
expectation : " You must realise that
colour does not exist—all the great masters,
towards the end of their lives, had only
sepia on their palettes." A whim indeed,
this theory that form is everything and
that it is governed by drawing but that
colour is its subordinate! The eternal
quarrel! However, having been advised
to remain with Harpignies, Vignal obeyed
him implicity, but his obsession for colour
led him to follow his own penchant and
develop his talent in that direction inde-
pendently. The technique of water-colour
drawing in the hands of Vignal becomes
one of the simplest and most uncomplicated
of studies. I believe that he would quite
willingly say : " Make a good drawing,
see that it is well composed, take the
water, colours and brushes, and attack ;
lay the exact tone on at once and never re-
touch ! " As for scraping, blotting, paint-
ing, etc., M. Vignal, never having had re-
course to such artifice, thinks that they
should be avoided, for they spoil the
greatest charm of a water-colour, which
lies not only in the fluidity of its tones and
their absolute transparency, but also in
the execution itself, which should spring
from pure spontaneity. These are qualities
which characterise his own water-colours ;
they are remarkable for a very clear vision
and especially for their wonderful fresh-
ness, a a a a a 0
M. Vignal is a great traveller and has
been through Greece, Italy, Spain, Mor-
rocco, Holland, and of course, the whole
of France. And having studied so many
countries and so many different skies, he
makes this apparently paradoxical, but
nevertheless strictly accurate observation :
that in the East, nature itself bears a some-
what sombre aspect, so many of her tones
being consumed in the force of light, whilst
the country with the brightest colouring
is, in his view, Holland, where the humi-
dity of the atmosphere seems to act as a
sort of varnish and enhance all colour, a
M. Valotaire.
P.S.—-These lines were written before
we learnt with sorrow of the death of M.
Vignal. In him one of the glories of
French water-colour has passed away. 0
M. V.