The Illustrators of Montmartre/Chapter 5
V
FRÉDÉRIC VALLOTTON
VALLOTTON'S work has probably appeared less frequently in the French press than that of many of his confréres to whom we are directing our attention.
His drawings are marked by a singular boldness of execution; and his skilful manipulation of masses of pure black gives his work distinction, and makes them attractive on any page.
Good draughtsmanship, and this clever use of unbroken black masses — wherewith ta indicate and model both his shadows and his half-tones — is wherein Vallotton struck out a new line for himself, and established his individuality, This he did, too, at a time when there was a lamentable aberration evident among the ranks of the French illustrators. It became the fashion for the comic draughtsmen to draw as though they could not draw — a proceeding which provided a grand opportunity for those who could not draw if they would to join their ranks on even terms, and to pass as geniuses of a very "spirituel" order.
The irritating group to whom I refer, in its frantic efforts to be original, hit on the idea of drawing with the "naïveté" of the untutored child; and this "rôle" was for several years acted se thoroughly that some of the papers looked as if their illustrations had been copied from a collection of babies' slates. Terrible examples of this evident incapability passing muster as genius may be seen in the ludicrous discords by "Bob," and, in a less degree, in the many works by Dépaquit, Delaw, Rabier and others.
Midway between this group of "soidisant" on actual incompetents, and the valiant band of thorough unflinching draughtsmen of realism — in whose ranks we find Renouard, Steinlen, Léandre, Huard, Malteste, Wély, and others — came an intervening group. Their work was, and is, extremely interesting. They adopted much of the naïveté of the enfantillistes, but wedded to it much knowledge and artistic feeling, In this class one may mention Lautrec, who wavered between one group and the other, Ibels, who did much the same, Jossot, who, amongst a large number of weird drawings, has produced some really fine, strong work in black and white and in an Metivet, who has similarly produced both classes of work, Hermann Paul, an undeniably great draughtsman, and the subject of this chapter, Frédéric Vallotton. The curious thing about Vallotton's drawings is that we do not miss the half-tones; the unbroken blacks are so skilfully managed that we do not feel the want of Nature's intervening tones between pure black and pure white. His convention in no wise shocks one, but gives keen artistic pleasure.
This question of the accepting of conventions must strike one as a very remarkable matter. The human face, in reality covered with a smooth, soft skin, delicately gradated in tone and colour, is quite completely and satisfactorily conveyed to us by Vallotton, in a cunning arrangement of black splotches; while Huard will model the delicate roundness of a cheek with two or three bold black lines in curves. In both cases we at once realise the truth to Nature, and can even from such suggestions conjure up the particular colouring and flesh texture of the person represented,
Vallotton adds a keen sense of humour to his great ability as a draughtsman. Look at his coloured drawing Don't Move, in Le Rire, where we see a petty official and his family, tidied up for the occasion, being photographed on a national fête day. A typical photographer, engrossed in his work, counts one! two! three preparatory to removing the cap from his camera. So engrossed in his counting is he that he does not notice that his carefully composed group is becoming rapidly discomposed. In the foreground is fat nou-nou, beaming down at the youngest hopeful in her arms; yet more bulgy maman swerves over to tickle her youngest, while the next eldest clutches her mother's skirts in terror of the great ugly man with the camera,
In the background is the father of the family, looking over his wife's shoulder at the baby; while he places one hand on the shoulder of his eldest boy, who is rapidly outgrowing his knickerbockers, but is nevertheless determined to "come out well" in the group. The party is completed by the grown-up sister, who toys coyly with a straw flower lent her for that exact purpose.
A. couple of drawings record with equal force and truth the effect on the public of the cry "Stop Thief." First we sec the excited rabble in full chase; and then the victim {absolutely innocent) being hurried off to the police station by victorious gendarmes, followed by a gesticulating crowd of knowing ones, who declare the prisoner is a murderer who has killed a woman and six children. On another page are two street wrestlers, drawn to the life. One of them is shouting himself hoarse in his endeavours to collect a crowd to witness the marvellous accomplishments of his colleague, a mountain of flesh who is about to lift a stupendous pair of dumb-bells.
Yet another coloured drawing in Le Rire, called Le Coup de Main is very remarkable in its composition and handling, and like most of Vallotton's work shows an appreciation of Japanese methods, It depicts a team drawing a huge block of stone which has come to a standstill, while a group of labouring men are all lending a helping hand to get the huge white mass on the move.
Among the papers which Vallotton has helped to illustrate may be mentioned Le Cri de Paris, Le Sifflet, and Le Canard Sauvage.
The hoardings of Paris have been enlivened from time to time by vigorous posters by Vallotton, a class of work to which his art is eminently adaptable. A most notable example was the bold and telling one he cut on the wood, for the publisher Sagot. But itis Vallotton's portraits of contemporary celebrities that entitle him most to lasting fame. Some of these have appeared in the French journals, as a magnificent set of powerful woodcuts, done in a large style and on a large scale.
A fine example of this work was published in The Studio in 1899, in a portrait of Puvis de Chavannes, which Vallotton drew and cut on the wood specially for that journal.
A very subtle and delicately coloured reproduction of Vallotton's work in colour appeared also in The Studio a few years back; and an excellently rendered landscape woodcut by him appeared in the volume that so fully indicated the claims of modern wood engraving, namely, "L'image."