FRENCH AND MODERN ART.

Shannon News, 26 July 1929, Page 3

FRENCH AND MODERN ART.

! MISS CADELL’S CONCLUDING i LECTURE.

GROWTH OF SPECIAL STYLES NOTED.

The twelfth and last lectuie- in the

series given before the Levin W.E.A. class by Miss Cadcll, 8.A., on “The ) History of Painting in Europe,” dealt with French painting and modem movements. The origins of painting, said the tutor, were similar throughout Northern Europe, but it had been noted that,in 1 France, after the 15th century, the invention of the printing-press and various foreign influences eiboweu out the delicate craftsmanship of mediaeval times. Francis I. was' indeed a munificent patron of art, and it would be remembered that Leonardo da 1 inci and other Italians of the period were employed in France. CLAUDE AND . POUSSIN.

■ The earliest French artists of wide renown owed their training to Italy. Claude (1000-82) was born in Lorraine, but at an early age went to Rome, where he spent most of his life. He devoted his attention to portraying the beauty of light, but out of consideration for the prevailing taste he inserted accessories of architecture and figures, for the drawing of which ho had little skill. Claude excelled in conveying th& effect of atniosr here, and it was this trait which later landscape artists had admired and observed. Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) was a contemporary, who also believed the natural scene to have a value beyond acting as a mere background for figures. Poussin, however, was a fine’ draughtsman, with a classic sense of desigu, as might, be seen in the grouping of “Shepherds in Arcady.” These painters found they could follow their calling more happily abroad, for the r.eign of Louis XIV. produced no pictures of note. The walls of Versailles were covered with decorations, but, though large in extent, these were limited in theme and style. LGUCHEB AND FRAGONARD. Under juouis XV., rather less pomp and a little more individuality were permitted; yet the paintings of Boucher (1703-70) and Fragonard (17321806) merely supplied aristocratic demands, Boucher depicted Madame de Pompadour in exquisite raiment, and the voluptuous doings of Greek gods. Fragonard created marvels of daintiness in surroundings of elaborate rusticity. ORIGINALITY OF WATTEAU.

Antoine Watteau (1683-1721), although he did not turn from the artificial aspect of the age, imparted to his expression of it a talent so delicate and so original that he brought a new distinction to the art of liis country. His childhood was lived in poverty and lie had to endure much drudgery. As a young man, he was employed by a painter of ornaments, who was also a guardian of the Luxembourg palace. His sojourn there had a profound influence on Watteau, for he was able to roam among the trees of the royal park and to saturate himself in the study of Rubens’s paintings. In th,is way. Watteau “arrived at 1 the point of preserving in his small canvasses all Rubens’s admirable breadth, while achieving a masterly originality of grouping.’’ “Jj’cmbarquement pour Cythere,” in the‘Louvre, was a fine ex ample of Watteau’s poetic conceptions in an age of ornamental prose. A crowd of gallant youths and exquisite maidens are about to embark for the legendary isle of perfect love. Watteau showed his power alike in the drawing of the figures grouped about the garlanded statue of .Venus on the right and in the effects of atmosphere in the trees sloping down to the edge of the water, where the ship might be faintly seen.

In his work Watteau revealed a science of colour harmony which was far in advance of his age. He had discovered a method of painting which was as successful as it was original. He would cover his canvas thickly with pigment, and on this he would proceed to chisel out his detail. Fi-. guros, landscape and skv were then built up by a series of minute touches, which gave to his pictures an effect of sparkling liveliness. His division of tones and his marshalling of complementary colours proclaimed Watteau a fore-runner of the prismatic colouring of the more scientific painters of the 15)th century. Literary comparisons with pictures were apt to be fallacious, but Watteau’s art was akin to that of the Caroline poets, in his choice of subject, in his perfection of accomplishment within a small compass, and in his wistful insistence on the ephemeral nature of existence.

GREUZE, CHARDIN AND MADAME LEBRUN. In the 18th century in France, as there were great gulfs between the aristocracy and the rest, so was there a sharp division between the painters patronised by the nobility and those who ministered to humble requirements, Greuze (1725-1805) painted some scenes of village life and achieved some reputation by his' studies of girls’ heads. The artist who expressed the concerns and feelings of the people was Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin (16991779). Like the Dutch masters of the previous century, he never wearied of simple domestic themes. His pictures had the same quality of faithful workmanship. He did not, however, imitate Dutch art, for his own genius was both individual and national._ There were some fine examples of iiis painting in Glasgow, among them “The Pancake Maker’’ and “Lady Making Tea.’’ With all the painstaking care that Chardin brought to his work, the effect was never laboured; in fact, the most remarkable qualities of his art were the grace and subtld charm with Which a commonplace scene was invested.

The opposite schools of painting

were submerged by the eataeylsm that overtook France towards the close of the 18th century, but Madame Vigee Lebrun (1755-1842) dissociated herself from France and continued in Die tradition of the painters to the monarchy, as might be seen in the wellknown portrait of the artist and her daughter, in the Louvre. DAVID’S REVIVAL OF CLASSICISM After 1789 it was inevitable that everything which had been favoured by immediately preceding generations should be cast away and that other objects of veneration should take their place. Jacques Louis David (1748-

1825) studied in Rome in his youth and became absorbed in the antique. Ills pictures of classical subjects were well received in Paris, and when, after the Revolution, David became virtually Dictator of Fine Arts, it was natural that he should turn men’s minds to the classics for fresh inspiration. He himself concentrated on formal composition both of portraits and of ceremonious groups. One of his most famous works was the portrait of Madame Recamier, in the Louvre, and a picture of historical value was the Consecration of Napoleon 1., in Notre Dame, where Na-

poleon was shown in the act of placing a crown on the head of Josephine. The prodigious extent of David’s influence was due to force of circumstances rather than of genius. To him was due the revival of a taste for the classics that penetrated . north-west Europe, and France owed to him, besides, the foundation of a tradition of fine drawing. INGRES’ TECHNIQUE. Draughtsmanship was brought to a rare perfection by Jean Dominique Auguste Ingres (1780-1867). During the most troublous years of French

history, a period of shattering vicissitudes," Ingres was in Italy, ‘ ‘ drawing to learn and painting to live/’ He was impressed by the purity and precision of drawing of the early Italians, and to emulate them was the desire of his life. When he returned to Paris in 1824, Ingres soon became the leader of the classic school of painters and proved himself to t be a master of figure drawing. His studies of the nude were the pictures that most surely upheld his fame, though his portraits were masterly likenesses. One of his most famous paintings was “La Source,” in the Louvre, a lovely study of a young girl. It was, perhaps, in his numerous drawings that Ingres’ quality was most perfectly revealed. DELACROIX BRIGHTENS COLOUR.

In due course there came a reaction to the ideals of the classical school Respect for form was not abandoned, but there was a general passion for further ■ (discovery*. Delacroix (1798ISG3) proved himself to be one of the world’s great colourists and laid the foundations of the new handling of pigments, which was to be the great technical triumph of . 19th century painting. Delacroix obtained his results not only by the happy choice of individual hues, but by the science with which he knew how to set one colour against another, so as to accentuate the brilliancy of each and secure a glowing "harmony.' A journey to Morocco further increased his knowledge, as he was able there to study the effect of very brilliant illumination on colour. THE BARBIZON SCHOOL. As Delacroix was leading the way

to new movements by his studies in the science of colours, a band of artists formed a colony in the village of Barbizon, set in the forest of Fontaihebleu. There they, retreated to paint Nature as she appeared to them, unnoticed by the public and uninfluenced by .prevailing-taste. Corot (17961875) interpreted landscape in his poetical way'. He delighted in the effects of early morning and evening, with delicate colouring and subtle effects of light and air. Occasionally he painted small figures indoors, and these studies shoyed a precision and illumination that rivalled the best Dutch work.

Other members of the Barbizon school were Theodore Rousseau (181267), famous for his majestic paintings of trees, which seemed to penetrate the stalwart character of the subject; Trovon (1810-65), who loved to draw cattle and could skilfully express the full glory of a summer morning. Daubigny, who depicted with tender feeling the placid beauty of river scenes. Jean Francois Millet (1814-75) devoted Ins talent to the study not only of the countryside, but of the peasants who toiled there. He was himself of peasan stock, and his inherent sympathy with his subject was shown in his pictures of farm labourers. “The Sower’’, revealed, too, Millet’s understanding of an almost monumental simplicity of design. The Barbizon painters were scantily appreciated during their lifetime, but their work was lasting and they spread abroad the seed which had first been sown in England by Constable and Crome. Their influence helped tq bring about another harvest in Holland, where Josef Israels, Mesdag, Bosdoom and Matthew and James Maris, among others, revived the glories of the 17th century. THE IMPRESSXO A UTS.

The lecturer spoke briefly on the achievements of the Impressionists and those who came after them. Delacroix, she stated, began researches into the science of colour, which .were to have far-reaching results. These studies were pursued with so much skill and success that the school who were called the Impressionists had at their fingertips all the technical lore which could assist in setting down the effect of light, and atmosphere. Broadly speaking, the aims of the school were: (1) To record the general impression that a scene first made upon the eye, before attention had been drawn to separate details; (2) instead of mixing -colour on the palette, to armly small touches of pure colour in justaposition, so that the brilliance of vibration of natural lines should be reproduced in a fashion unattainable Iby -flic method, of preliminary mixing of paint. The effects obtained in this way by Manet, Monet, Pissarro and other masters

were brilliant and striking, but as facility in the new technique came alarm was felt by some artists lest the technique should become an end in itself, making art superficial and ephemeral. To cdunteract Um tendency, Paul Cezanne, the great painter of the 19th century, sought to convey mass, as well as atmosphere, by his touches of colour. His aim was opposed- to the surface atmospheric achievements of the Impressionists, and was directed to restore to painting a sense of solidity and a feeling for grand design, lie was a man of lofty ideals, never satisfied with his work, which, in its simplicity and power, was supreme in his time.

CUBISM. An exaggeration, of Cezanne’s principles led to Cubism, which, at its greatest extreme, was a rendering of abstract forms and patterns. Cezanne’s genius, however, was a ; crystallisation of all the knowledge oi! art that had increased through the ages, tempered - by a magnificent technique. In conclusion, the lecturer said thatthe survey which she had given had of necessity been cursory, but the numerous illustrations that had been shown conveyed Letter than words an idea of the development of the art up to the present iay. AN OFFER TO STUDENTS. ;l At the end of the course, various students inquired how they might procure reproductions of pictures that had appealed to them. The lecturer offered to communicate with galleries in London and Paris with a view to obtaining postcards and prints if students _ i would let her know what they wished 1 for. As a speedier means of satisfying their desires, she suggested that if - at least twenty members of the class were willing to guarantee 4s each she would obtain from Sydney a set of _.'v, portfolios of international art reproductions. She thought that, out of the 120 copies therein included, there would be something for all tastes; and naturally, if more than twenty orders were ,’i forthcoming the cost would be proportionately cheaper, , 1 j ; * -'Aj