not adopted Claude
Monet's technique; but I have already said that the vague and inexact
term "Impressionism" must be understood to comprise a group of painters
showing originality in the study of light and getting away from the
academic spirit. As to this, Eugene Boudin deserves to be placed in the
first rank. His canvases will be the pride of the best arranged
galleries. He is an admirable seascape painter. He has known how to
render with unfailing mastery, the grey waters of the Channel, the
stormy skies, the heavy clouds, the effects of sunlight feebly piercing
the prevailing grey. His numerous pictures painted at the port of Havre
are profoundly expressive. Nobody has excelled him in drawing
sailing-boats, in giving the exact feeling of the keels plunged into the
water, in grouping the masts, in rendering the activity of a port, in
indicating the value of a sail against the sky, the fluidity of calm
water, the melancholy of the distance, the shiver of short waves rippled
by the breeze. Boudin is a learned colourist of grey tones. His
Impressionism consists in the exclusion of useless details, his
comprehension of reflections, his feeling for values, the boldness of
his composition and his faculty of directly perceiving nature and the
transparency of atmosphere: he reminds sometimes of Constable and of
Corot. Boudin's production has been enormous, and nothing that he has
done is indifferent. He is one of those artists who have not a brilliant
career, but who will last, and whose name, faithfully retained by the
elect, is sure of immortality. He may be considered an isolated
artist, on the border line between Classicism and Impressionism, and
this is unquestionably the cause of the comparative obscurity of his
fame. The same might be said of the ingenuous and fine landscapist
Hervier, who has left such interesting canvases; and of the Lyons
water-colour painter Ravier who, almost absolutely unknown, came very
close to Monticelli and showed admirable gifts. It must, however, be
recognised that Boudin is nearer to Impressionism than to any other
grouping of artists, and he must be considered as a small master of pure
French lineage. Finally, if a question of nationality prevents me from
enlarging upon the subject of the rank of precursor which must be
accorded to the great Dutch landscapist Jongkind, I must at least
mention his name. His water-colour sketches have been veritable
revelations for several Impressionists.