# Figures and portraits in Western Art

Anne-Céline Callens

► To cite this version:

Anne-Céline Callens. Figures and portraits in Western Art. Feng Yuan (dir.). From Monet to Soulages: paths of Modern Western painting, Tsinghua University Art Museum, pp.36-37, 2017, 978-73-02-48733-3. hal-04619440

HAL Id: hal-04619440

https://hal.science/hal-04619440v1

Submitted on 25 Apr 2025

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Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
1850 — 1980

西方艺术中的人物与肖像

FIGURES AND PORTRAITS IN WESTERN ART
西方艺术中的人物与肖像

安-赛琳·卡伦

在古典艺术中,肖像画被认为是模仿的最纯粹形式:对人物客观及忠实地再现。肖像画旨在将有身份地位的模特形象记录到画布上,最初的肖像画描绘的都是特定人物。加布里埃尔·蒂尔、查尔斯·毛林的无名肖像以及阿尔伯特·杜波依斯-皮勒的肖像,揭示了建立在分析、研究和诠释基础上的绘画技术。虽然蒂尔和毛林使用的都是古典技术和传统绘画方式,但他们的风格各异,蒂尔探索的是神话的再现,而毛林则侧重某种情感的视角。通过阿尔伯特·杜波依斯-皮勒《穿白裙子的女人》这件作品的名称,我们可以得知他所绘的是一位特定的人物。

阿方斯·奥斯伯特和亚历山大·塞昂的象征主义作品是有寓意且富于想象力的,随意色彩的使用加强了作品的梦幻之感。象征主义文学和艺术运动反对自然主义,它们在19世纪末的法国、比利时和俄罗斯迅速发展。象征主义艺术家往往用比喻来回应现实,塞昂在参考了关于俄耳浦斯的美丽神话传说后,在里拉琴上画出了俄耳浦斯的脸。

在《领圣餐者》中,莫里斯·德尼专注于再现天主教仪式中年轻女孩的轮廓,并以模糊的线条描绘。他和让·赫里翁都习惯任意地使用色彩。赫里翁的风格在抽象和现实主义之间变换,在倾向于抽象风格的绘画中,赫里翁将笔下的人物置于与莫里斯·德尼完全不同的社会背景中。而与让·赫里翁相同的是,德尼也认为,绘画的主题之外最重要的就是绘画这一行为。
# FIGURES AND PORTRAITS IN WESTERN ART

Anne-Céline Callens

In classical art, portraits are considered the purest form of mimesis: they constitute a loyal and objective reproduction of a given person. Portraits aim to convey a certain image of the model, whose identity tends to be recognised, on canvas. The first portraits featured famous people. The anonymous figures of Gabriel Tyr and Charles Maurin, as well as the portrait of Albert Dubois-Pillet, reveal pictorial techniques that were primarily based on analysis, research and interpretation. But their works have little in common. Tyr and Maurin used a classical technique, drawing on traditional methods. Tyr explored a mythological approach, whereas Maurin focused on an intimist vision. By naming his work *Woman in a White Dress*, Albert Dubois-Pillet made it clear that he had painted a specific person.

The symbolic works of Alphonse Osbert and Alexandre Séon are allegoric and clearly imaginative. The decision to use arbitrary colours reinforces the dream-like feeling created by these paintings. Gaining momentum in France, Belgium and Russia at the end of the nineteenth century, the literary and artistic movement of Symbolism came to oppose Naturalism. The symbolist artist responds to the realist with metaphors. When he painted Orpheus' face on a lyre, Séon was creating an allegory by making reference to the beautiful mythological legend of Orpheus.

In *the Communicants*, Maurice Denis focused on representing the silhouettes of very young girls, painted anonymously and with blurred lines, during a Catholic ceremony. Like Jean Hélion, he opted for arbitrary colours. Jean Hélion's style fluctuates between abstraction and realism. With his pictorial style tending towards abstraction, Hélion places his figures in a completely different social context than Maurice Denis does. Just like Jean Hélion, the very act of painting is Denis' number one priority, alongside the choice of subject.