BY BEATRICE CROSTI

This year’s Salon du Dessin more than fulfilled its promise to offer a selection of both beautiful and important works on paper from the French, Italian, English and Northern schools. Visitors were not only impressed by a range of A-listers like Tiepolo, Delacroix, Guercino, Ingres, Bonnard, and Louise Bougeois,  but also by the plethora of unique and elegant creations of less well-known artists.

The Salon du Dessin was founded in 1991 as a selective event-“elitist in the positive sense of term” says its Président  Hervé Aaron, with the goal of attract drawing aficionados. Since then, word has gotten around.  Collectors, experts, museum curators, academics and art lovers from around the world converge in Paris for a now internationally renowned exposition, which has grown from its modest beginnings of seventeen French exhibitors.

Today, in its eleventh edition, the site has long expanded to include foreign dealers, currently set in the lovely Palais de la Bourse, the former Parisian Stock Exchange. The Salon offers an international albeit western – ambience and content, with more than half of the 39 exhibitors foreign.  Initially covering only the Renaissance to the 1950s, it now embraces contemporary works and offers a prize for contemporary drawing offered by the Daniel and Florence Guerlin Foundation.

Wandering around the stands, the work of Theodore Gericault (1791-1824) immediately stands out. His work is frequently found on the market and several are present at the Salon, two of which are of particular significance. “Scène d’Après la Course des Chevaux Libres” (Scene after the Race of Wild Horses) from Stephen Ongpin Fine Art is a fine example of the artist’s capacity for tracing the movement and strength in the muscles of the horses.  Contrasting this is the somber and linear “Vue de Montmartre” from Jean Luc Baroni Ltd.  The dark yet simple view of a misty panorama is a far less typical example of Gericault’s oeuvre.

Wandering around the stands, the work of Theodore Gericault (1791-1824) immediately stands out. His work is frequently found on the market and several are present at the Salon, two of which are of particular significance. “Scène d’Après la Course des Chevaux Libres” (Scene after the Race of Wild Horses) from Stephen Ongpin Fine Art is a fine example of the artist’s capacity for tracing the movement and strength in the muscles of the horses.  Contrasting this is the somber and linear “Vue de Montmartre” from Jean Luc Baroni Ltd.  The dark yet simple view of a misty panorama is a far less typical example of Gericault’s oeuvre.

Works by another celebrated French painter of the end of the 18^th century were equally exciting. “Un Cavalier,” by Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863), present at W. M. Brady, although a slightly stiff portrait, it’s a delightful exemplar of the artist’s hand and use of colors. A drawing at La Claire Kunst, “Lionne Attaquant un Cavalier Renveré” (“Lioness Attacking an Overthrown Horseman”), is also particularly attractive. Although a rough sketch, the drawing conveys violence and vitality, while the three figures seem to converge through the intensity of the battle.

Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805) also makes a worthwhile appearance at W.M. Brady. “Tete d’Enfant” (“Head of a Child”) by the master of genre painting depicts a distraught boy, the delicate drawing testifying to Greuze’s ability to create stories from the simplest of images.  It’s hard not to look at this drawing without imagining the deep desires and torments of the pudgy child.

The Italian masters had their presence felt as well. Works by Gianbattista Tiepolo (1696-1779), Giovanni Francesco Barbieri known as Il Guercino (1591-1666), Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) and  the odd-duckling in the group,  the Spatlialist Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) were shown at the Salon.

Among the many Tiepolos, “Le Temps et la Veritè” (“Time and Truth”) at Jean Luc Baroni brilliantly shows Time with his scythe used to abridge time while Truth leans against him. The figures are the same as those of the magnificent Time of Unveiling Truth in the Palazzo Chiericati, Vicenza and the contrast of the delicate female body of Truth to the aged and darker Time is just as compelling.

Another superb example of Il Guercino’s skill as a draughtsman is “Deux Guerriers” (“Two Warriors”), a small piece with wonderful baroque lines representing two soldiers in armor found at Colnaghi-Bellinger.

Finally, lovers of this genre should not miss the exquisite miniature at Talabardon and Gautier, “The Portrait of Caspar David Friedrich” by Alphonse de Labroue (1792-1830). Its interest lies not only in the power of its subject, but also in the romantic and visionary portrayal it gives to the German artist. There’s a gravitas in this man’s expression that mirrors the power of his fantastical landscapes. Placed on a dark blue and red background, reminiscent of Friedrich’s own angst-ridden landscapes, the figure is wrapped in a black coat which shows only his head in three-quarter profile looking out into the distance.

One can only hope that the Salon will continue to draw such fine exhibitors in future editions as it has this one. However, the future Salon could open up even more to international galleries, allowing the still very French assortment of works to include more variety. Nonetheless, the these lovely works will open the eyes of lovers of the paint medium to the marvelous accomplishments of their favorite artists on paper, while the affirmed connoisseurs of works on paper will still find much to admire.

FURTHER:

Collectors enthuse over drawings offered by Katrin Bellinger at Colnaghi at Le Salon du dessin, Paris [elogedelart.canalblog.com]