Tuesday, January 11, 2011

a cattle painter from france by henry eckford

      Character in beasts and birds--the bovine in cattle, the swinish in pigs, the self-complacency betrayed by geese in their waddle--is one of the traits of Japanese art. It is largely due to the glad, unfettered study of external nature by artists of Japan that men of the West have taught themselves to see character in animals. At the same time, the great movement of philosophy on the track of evolution has made the public more tolerant and observant of our humble fellow-creatures in fur. feather, and scales. Artists have helped in this work by showing that beast, bird, and fish are beautiful and worthy of deep study for their colors and forms.
    Among the French artists at the World's Fair new to Americans was the maker of "The Road to Vaudancourt," a cattle-piece with the herd coming forward by the dusty road. Realism is at its best in the varied groups of kind by M. Aymar Pezant. Cows prone and standing, cows in movement and sluggishly chewing the cud, fetlock-deep in water. The lively gait of steer and heifer, the slow, sagacious look of udder-bearing kind, the menace in the uplifting muzzle and wide-spread ears of bull-or ox--all these traits he knows how to give in summary scratches of the crayon and to paint in oils. M. Pezant is a worthy successor of Troyon and Van Marcke. By Henry Eckford, Quarterly Illustrator

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