M JEAN MARCHAND
BY ROGER FRY
IT is now many years since M Marchand became known to the British public. Of all the French exponents of the Cézannian movement he is the one who has found most acceptance in England. The gravity and sobriety of his colour schemes, the tenderness and simplicity of his feeling, the absence from his work of anything that could be mistaken for caprice or insolence combine to make him a persuasive apostle of the new doctrines in painting.
No wonder that the recent exhibition of his works at the Independent Gallery in London was an important event in artistic centres. M Marchand's numerous English friends and admirers crowded to it with expectant curiosity. They wanted to see what answer he would give in his maturity to the high promise of his early work. M Marchand has arrived at a stage which is often a somewhat difficult one in an artist's career, both for himself and his admirers. Something of the zest and élan which the first discovery of his own temperament gives to an artist has begun to subside, his efforts are quite rightly directed to consolidating his position—he must dig himself in before beginning a fresh attack. And conversely his admirers have become accustomed to his method of approach; they are familiar with his angle of vision: the delighted surprise with which they greeted a new discovery has worn off and can no longer be counted on. At the best they must be content with the calmer though more solid satisfaction of seeing that personal vision ever more clearly and more fully expressed. Some such considerations may explain the diverse feelings which, speaking for myself, I experienced in the present exhibition. I felt that, as compared with earlier exhibitions of M Marchand held in London, there was both gain and loss. I found, moreover, to my great satisfaction that the gains were more solid and of greater consequence than the losses; and that where I felt a sense of disappointment it was possible to assign it to some temporary or accidental cause.
Particularly in the landscapes I find a greater diversity of motive than there used to be. It is possible to divide them almost into two parts. In one M Marchand expresses his feeling for plastic se-
