Henri Martin - Henri Le Sidaner, two fraternal talents

With admirable constancy, the Palais Lumière in Evian is working hard to (re)promote and above all exhibit artists considered to be out of fashion, from Jacques-Emile Blanche in the summer of 2015 (see article) to Albert Besnard the following year (see article) and, more recently, to the "last Impressionists" (see article), where the two Henris already took pride of place. This impression is confirmed by the book that completes the exhibition - difficult to describe as a catalogue, as we shall come back to - in which the artists are essentially studied separately. In the end, the common features between the artist from the Midi and the one from the "Hauts de France" (the new name for the Nord region) are hardly salient, as the book by Yann Farinaux-Le Sidaner and Marie-Anne Destrebecq-Martin admits, where we learn in particular that "Le Sidaner abandoned monumental composition very early on, whereas Martin had become the leading decorator of his time". The texts paradoxically underline the differences in taste and method between the two Henris, despite the sections that are supposed to unite them, one working on his easel paintings from the motif while the other was in fact recomposing his "illuminated mists". - this lovely word about Henri Le Sidaner was coined by Guillaume Apollinaire, against the grain - in his studio [1].

1. View of the exhibition "Henri Martin - Henri Le Sidaner, two fraternal talents"
Photo : La Nouvelle Image

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2. View of the exhibition "Henri Martin - Henri Le Sidaner, two fraternal talents’
Photo: La Nouvelle Image

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It has to be said that the scenography - entrusted to Frédéric Beauclair, even though he is accustomed to the thankless spaces of the Palais Lumière - does not really enhance the works on display or the subject matter, which is certainly as misty as Henri Le Sidaner’s best paintings. Some of the small and medium-format works have been placed in the vast upstairs rooms (ill. 1), where they seem to float on the walls, while the standing tables for which Henri Le Sidaner is - alas - famous are hung in an ugly corridor (!) in the basement, in defiance of common sense and the safety of these works, which have been protected by what we hope are deterrent cordons. As for the sketches for Henri Martin’s major sets, they are brought together in one of the best rooms in the exhibition (ill. 2), but there are no vignettes or even screens - the absence of which is regrettable for once - to contextualise them by showing the definitive works. We come away with a persistent impression of déjà-vu and slapdash work, despite some fine moments in front of these paintings, wise and nostalgic, and sometimes charming.

3. Henri Martin (1860-1943)
Harmony, 1894
Oil on canvas - 146 x 89 cm
Douai, Musée de la Chartreuse
Photo: Musée de la Chartreuse

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The Symbolist room has some very pleasant…