French drawings interesting fare

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33261, 26 June 1973, Page 13

French drawings interesting fare

The forty French drawings on exhibition at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery were brought to New Zealand through the efforts of the director of the Govett Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, with financial support from the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council.

The drawings are on loan from the Lyman Allyn Museum, of New London, Connecticut. Many of the drawings are probably not of great importance as works in themselves, but it is of great interest to see something original by Cezanne, Degas, Sisley, Renoir, Rouault, Vlaminck, Dufy and Utrillo, and from further back in time, Rousseau, Delecroix, Ingnes, Tragonard, Chardin, Boucher and Poussin. “Head of a Bearded Man,” in red conte crayon, by Jean Baptiste Chardin, is a very fine example of light and shade modelling, and the two Ingnes drawings, “Portrait of Madame Moitessier” and "Portrait of Napoleon as First Consul,” are equally skilful examples of line drawing. The drawing by Eugene Delaroix, “Study for the Execution of Doge Marino Faliero” and Alexander De Camp’s “Study of Soldier— African Colonial,” illustrate clearly the political involvement and search after the exotic subject that marked the Romantic movement in France. DEGAS STUDY The simple, fleshy pastel, study of Degas “Woman i Bathing,” and Renoir’s? two street scenes appear as fresh as today, and Paul Cezanne’s little pencil portrait of his sister is from that period of his work when he was using overlapping planes as partjof

a new concept of space. But, the real gem of the Impres- j sionist works is Alfred Sis-)‘ ley’s “View along the;, Seine,” which clearly illu-!, strates the search after) atmospheric light effects so I ) favoured by the Impressionist painters. J Water-colour drawings by ) Georges Rouault, “Man in ' Top Hat,” and Maurice de 1 ; Vlaminck, “Village Street,” 1 )show something of the ( diverse and vigorous qualities ’ that mark the development I |of twentieth century art. ' With names like Manet, Courbet, Lautrec, Gaugin, c Matisse, Picasso and Braque r absent from the catalogue, e ) no-one could claim that this I exhibition is even vaguely ; representative of the period I it covers, yet there is suf- I ficient content for it to be r of value to candidates sitting t the University Entrance f examination as well as pro- a viding interesting visual fare t for the public. The exhibition will remain c open until July 16. —-G.T.M.