Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-06-29
A Blind Sculptor.

Much might be written about the diff
eulties with which the blind have to con-
tend. When they devote themselves to
music, piano-forte-tunlng, Or ordinary
hand labor, it IS easy to understand that
they may attain to certain amount OF
proficiency. But when the question OF
art is concerned the want of sight would
appear to be an almost insurmountable
obstacle to success, rarely to be overcome
except by the inspiration Of genius.
NJ. Louis Vidal, the blind sculptor to
whom we alude, was born in Nismes in
Paris, where he commenced his artistic
studies under the direction of NJ. Barge
and Rouillard He was then, and has
ever been, true lover of art in every
sense, but at the very early age of 81 he
was quite suddenly attacked with parai-
ysis of the eyes and became completely
blind.
Having cultivated up to that time the
excellent notions he had received from
such men of talent as Barge, Pradier and
others, he did not allow the great calami-
ty which had befallen him to turn him
from the career he had chosen, and he
determined that his fingers should place
his eyes in the execution Of his artistic
conceptions. In the course Of time his
sense Of feeling acquired an increase Of
power to such extent almost to
compensate for the loss Of sight, and it
was by the careful manipulation of living
subjects and of the works his colleagues
kindly placed at his disposal that he
charged his memory with the forms and
outlines which his fneness of touch en-
abled him to reproduce at first in the
plastic clay and afterward in the. block
of marble.
The writer OF this notice well remem-
bers poor Vidal from 1855 to 1865. Dur
ing that time the blind sculptor used to
frequently walk in the beautiful gardens
of the Luxembourg palace, not then dis
figured by intersections; and he walked
with such assurance that persons who did
not know him would never have supposed
that he was blind. When his promenade
was finished, he was in the habit of going
to the cafe du theatre du Luxembourg,
which he entered with as much confidence
as any other person, to sit down quite
calmly to coffee and a game of dominoes,
that he won more often than he lost
When once he had felt the dots on the
dominoes he knew how to play, and never
made a mistake. He has never quilted
the neighborhood Of the Luxembourg,
where he still lives IN the Rue Denfert-
Rochereau.
Unlike many of his blind predecessors,
Vidal has produced several original crea-
tons. He has exhibited for more than
twenty years in succession, and re-
ccivcd medal in 1861. Lions, panthers
dying stays, goats, COWS, horses, asses:
tigers; bulls and dogs are his subjects OF
prediction. Many of his "orks, though
produced slowly, have been purchased by
the State on account of their real merit
and the Empress Eugene made the acqui
sitlon of one of his productions during
the reign Of the late Emperor, Napole
on III.
Vidal works at any hour Of the day o.
night, but prefers night time on accoun
of being able to work alone and il
silence. He has been known to invite
friend to his humble studio after night
fall, and to forget that his inuite no
blind and could not see in the dark
When reminded Of the fact, he would
.jocularly stimulate great haste, go to TIN
mantelpiece for matches, and light wa,
candle without difficulty, he woule
also cigar.
M. Vidal never says: II feel" or {"
touch,' but" see," and he is terribl,
averse to being piticd for his calamity, o
which he docs not even like to be remind
cd. He is an art critic, and may be see1
at all the exhibitions manipulating tn
pieces of sculpture in the minutcst man
ner previous to passing his opinion upol
them, which he generally does most ju
dlciously and without any prejudice. Hi
own love Of art is so rooted in himsel
that he is deligted when he encounters
work Of merit which he can cordiall
praise. Although only 48 years of age
he has already produced enough to insur
his reputation as man of genius, and t
give birth to the regret on the part Of hi
admirers that he lost the in estimabl
blessing Of sight, which might have en-
abled him to arrive at the very pinnacl
of sculptural art