At The Vallottons

It's called The Effect Of Light, this portrait of the Vallotton family at supper, and its ordering principle is reiterated in subtle ways, in the green-on-green-on-green of the houseplant refracted through the glass of the wine bottle that also reflects light from the silhouette lamp overhead.  Continuity reaches across five years as the red and white cloth is again on the dining table though the lamp has been replaced by an electric chandelier.

Felix Vallotton (1865-1925) was a Swiss artist who met Edouard Vuillard during his brief connection with Nabi group in Paris.  Their friendship was close and life-long.  Vuillard's portrait of his friend, shows Vallotton sitting  on a table in his Parisian studio at 6 Rue de Milan. With arms folded on his chest and legs twined together, Vallotton looks the picture of the retiring person his friends described.  Vuillard barely suggest his facial features, choosing rather to accentuate Vallotton's red slippers and the art works hanging on the walls.    At  right a Vallotton woodcut hangs, while at left a painting of a  Chinese wedding scene may be a reference to Vallotton's recent marriage to Gabrielle Rodrigues-Henriques, sister of Parisian art dealers Gaston and Josse Bernheim. Vuillard, the  confirmed bachelor, disapproved of the marriage in spite of its useful connections.

 While critics have often admired Vuillard's mastery of muted tones, Vallotton's sharp-edged uncompromising realism has been underrated.  His cropping of images is decisive and adds to the interest of his domestic scenes.  Vallotton may have shunned the limelight but, in  a telling gesture, he attempted to enlist in the French Army in 1914, although he was disqualified by his age.

Images:
1. Felix Vallotton - The Effect Of Light, 1899, Musee d'Orsay, Paros.
2. Felix Vallotton - The Dining Room - Evening, 1904, Swiss Art Research Institute, Zurich.
3.  Edouard Vuillatrd - Felix Vallotton In His Studio, 1900, Musee d'Orsay, Paris.
4.  Felix Vallotton - Corner Of The Apartment, 1904, Swiss Art Research Institute, Zurich.
5.  Edouard Vuillard - Afternoon At The Vallottons', 1899, private collection, France.