Максим Детума: Художник и театральный декоратор

French painter and artist

Maxime Pierre Jules Dethomas (maksim dətɔma; October 13, 1867 – January 21, 1929) was a French painter, draughtsman, printmaker, illustrator, and was among the best known theater set and costume designers of his era. As an artist, Dethomas was highly regarded by his contemporaries and exhibited widely, both within France and abroad. He was a regular contributor to the Impressionistes et Symbolistes, and a founding committee member of the Salon d'Automne. In 1912, he was awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur for his contributions to French art. During the latter part of his career, he is remembered for his work overseeing set and costume design for the Théâtre des Arts and the Paris Opera. His works appear in many important national collections, including the Musée d'Orsay, the Hermitage Museum and the National Gallery of Art. A large collection of his theatrically related work is held at the Bibliothèque Musée de l'Opéra National de Paris. Dethomas is also remembered for his close friendship with the artist Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, his brother in law Ignacio Zuloaga and his association with Les Nabis and other important Post Impressionist and Symbolist artists and writers. Dethomas died in 1929 at the age of 61, and was buried at the Passy Cemetery, Paris.

Born in the Paris suburb of Garges lès Gonesse in 1867, Maxime Dethomas was the eldest of six children, including four half siblings. His family came from a long line of painter printers on one side, and lawyers on the other. His father, Jean Albert Dethomas (1842–1891), was an important Parisian politician and lawyer. His mother, Laure Elizabeth Antoinette Béchet, died at the age of 27 in 1874. His step mother, Marie Louise Thierrée, belonged to the affluent middle class of Bordeaux. During 1885, Dethomas first met Augustine Bulteau (1860–1922), matriarch of the Parisian arts community and one time wife of prominent author and playwright, Jules Ricard (1848–1903). Bulteau would go on to become a pivotal figure in his life, helping him navigate a difficult relationship with his father, guiding his academic direction and encouraging his development as an artist. Each year, Dethomas would take extended breaks at Bulteau's estates in Léry and Venice – trips that would feature prominently in his art. In 1887, Dethomas enrolled at the École des Arts Décoratifs at which he studied briefly, preferring instead to pass much of his time at the bookshop of the Revue Indépendante, a favourite haunt of young artists and writers run by Édouard Dujardin. It was here that he first met Louis Anquetin and Henri de Toulouse Lautrec. It is an often repeated, yet erroneous claim that Dethomas' relationship with Toulouse Lautrec was one of master and student – at least in the formal sense of the term – though their shared experiences and mutual respect for each other as artists was of undeniable consequence. In an 1898 letter, Dethomas reflected on Toulouse Lautrec's art: The things I see by him always give me an intense desire to work. The things of this boy, who, if he has no talent, certainly has a little genius, are always for me a whiplash [coup de fouet]. It's as if I was shown the way with a sudden invitation to advance. The master paintings do not give me that, we are stupefied with admiration. We are blocked, discouraged, after them we are let down, we are in prison. Disgruntled with his experiences at the École des Arts Décoratifs, Dethomas began taking informal instruction at the private workshop of the young master, Henri Gervex. In 1888, Gervex began his tenure as instructor at l'Académie Libre on rue Verniquet – Dethomas applied and was accepted, continuing his formal education under Gervex. During this period, Dethomas became firm friends with fellow Gervex student and future brother in law, Ignacio Zuloaga. Through Dethomas, Zuloaga gained entrée into French artistic circles; reciprocally, Zuloaga introduced Dethomas to other Spanish expatriate artists, including the so called Catalan Band: Santiago Rusiñol, Ramon Casas, and Miquel Utrillo. The final phase of Dethomas' formal education commenced from 1891 onwards, where he followed a more varied course at the Académie de La Palette, 104 Boulevard de Clichy, Montmartre, under Henri Gervex, Puvis de Chavannes and Eugène Carrière. Carrière's tutelage played a significant role in the early development of Dethomas' art, and he would go on to be a close friend of both the artist and his family.

Dethomas' early style owes most to the influence of Carrière and Degas, whilst later works tend more towards that of Toulouse Lautrec, Anquetin and Forain. Dethomas claimed that his inspiration was guided by artists of earlier generations, particularly Goya, Delacroix and Manet, but his individuality of style ensured he would "not be influenced in his work by any methods or thoughts other than his own". He realised vigorous drawings, and some few oil paintings, showing portraits, cafe scenes, and urban landscapes of Italy and Spain. He primarily worked with broad strokes in conté, graphite, charcoal and pastel, often enhanced by watercolour and the masterful use of the spatter brush, with drizzles and sprays of gouache reminiscent of Lautrec lithographs. "His characters are all scoundrels", joked Degas. Prior to meeting Picasso in 1904, Fernande Olivier would also model for Dethomas with some regularity, her memoirs painting a vivid picture of her time in Dethomas' studio:

text=He was tall and stout, with a pallid complexion, the type of slightly fleshy giant who spent his nights making sketches in night clubs. He had great difficulty staying awake after meals, which for him always had to be enormous. I used to arrive after lunch around two o'clock and would take up a pose, and he would begin to work. He had a litter of pretty little Siamese cats that would climb all over me or play with my bare feet in a way that was often quite fierce. Dethomas sketched, putting down a line on the paper or canvas with a steady hand, then he would get up, go and lie on the couch and fall asleep for at least an hour. During this time I was free to play with the cats, to read and eat the candies lying around in various dishes, even to sleep myself, in fact to wait for him to wake up in whatever way I felt like. And this happened frequently. As soon as he woke we would work without a break until five o'clock. People would knock on his door, ring the bell, call to him, he would not move, he never answered. I often met Suzanne Desprès, who had been his model for a long time, there. It was at the outset of her acting career and she was already attracting attention. Degas, an avid supporter of Dethomas, spoke highly of his work asserting "it has weight". Described by Philippe Berthelot as "le meilleur fils de Degas", Dethomas nonetheless exhibited sparingly during the 1890s. Contemporary accounts suggest a "supercilious modesty prevented him from over exhibiting his work though no artists merchant forbade him". In a letter written by Lautrec in the summer of 1895 to Joseph Ricci, Lautrec refers to Dethomas as his dear friend and compliments him as a painter "who doesn’t talk about his paintings, something that is to be admired". Despite his early reluctance to exhibit, he participated in some of the most significant exhibitions of the 1890s. His first solo exhibition in 1900 marked a turning point in his willingness to accept notoriety, leading to considerable accolades and public recognition. In 1912, Dethomas was awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur for his contributions to French art. As director of the services plastiques, Dethomas embarked on a career that would last for the remainder of his life. The Théâtre des Arts represented a major shift away from facile acting, shallow content and the painted canvas drawing rooms of commercial theater that were the norm. The inaugural production, Le Carnaval des Enfants (1910), marked a major theatrical revolution by which Dethomas' settings accentuated line and colour, rather than a focus on painted detail and endless props. Against blue, ochre, grey and steel, black costumed characters created striking pictorial compositions in lighting effects that "varied like inflections in a conversation". The Théâtre des Arts went on to present nearly twenty plays, including Jacques Copeau's adaptation of The Brothers Karamazov (1911), and the stage production of La Tragédie de Salomé (1912), both a popular and critical success. Dethomas' reputation as a set and costume designer was such that by early 1912, he was commissioned by the British aristocracy to design a set and costumes for a London masked ball with some two thousand guests. Hired to direct and decorate at the Paris Opera in 1914, Rouché and Dethomas went on to offer fresh interpretation of old material and to make inroads into stale scenic convention. By 1917, Dethomas was also designing sets and costumes for the Comédie Française; the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt in 1919; the Théâtre Femina and Le Trianon in 1920; and the Opéra Comique in 1926 as it celebrated Manuel de Falla's 50th birthday. With a program consisting of La Vida Breve, El Amor Brujo, and Master Peter's Puppet Show, Falla's close friend Ignacio Zuloaga and Dethomas collaborated to create sets and marionettes. During his seventeen years in the theatre, Dethomas was artistic designer for over fifty plays, ballets and operas, featuring many of the era's most notable actors, dancers, singers, playwrights and composers, including Roussel, Stravinsky and Ravel. In his colour schemes Dethomas used visual analogy paired with the play writer's thematic intent, "the progression of each scene following perfectly the progression of the drama". Dethomas once wrote that above all else decor should be a good servant of the play and that a designer must get beyond a "painterly feel" to something more solid. Guillaume Apollinaire declared that Dethomas' influence on French Theatre had "transformed the art of scenery, costume design and staging."

In 1895 Dethomas formed what would become a brief but significant friendship with the young writer, Jean de Tinan. The charismatic twenty one year old was a new arrival in Paris, and was soon a daily participant in the circuit of bars, cafes and theatres that Dethomas and Lautrec would frequent. Tinan quickly become their "young cadet", Lautrec illustrating the cover of his novel L'Example de Ninon de Lenclos amoureuse, published in May, 1898. Dethomas introduced Tinan to Augustine Bulteau, and she “took charge” of the young writer, guiding him as she had Maxime years before. It was to her Venice estate that Tinan retreated during the final harrowing moths of his short life. A failing heart did not keep him from his work, though his final “sentimental little story” remained unfinished at the time of his death on November 18, 1898. Aimienne, ou le détournement de mineure, was published posthumously; Tinan's final act was to dedicate the unfinished novel to Dethomas, as a “testimony of his deep affection.” As had Lautrec at the beginning of the year, Dethomas contributed lithographs to the publication which adorn the cover – his first such foray into the world of literature and a fitting tribute to his dear friend.

Arriving in Paris at the end of 1889 after a disappointing stay in Rome, the young Basque painter Ignacio Zuloaga first met Maxime Dethomas as a fellow student at the studio of Henri Gervex. They shared a deep admiration for Degas and Carrière, and would both later study under Carrière at the Académie de La Palette. More hungry for recognition and success than Dethomas, Zuloaga exhibited enthusiastically at the Salon des Artistes Français, the Barc de Boutteville, the Salon des Indépendants, and the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts. Fame, however, did not come quickly. Disappointed, he returned to Andalusia, where he intended to renew his inspiration and craft a new artistic vision – one which would appease the fickle tastes of the Paris art community. By rare chance, Zuloaga and Dethomas ran into each other in Seville, a meeting that proved fortuitous for Zuloaga. Since his return to Spain, he had battled disappointment and poverty, but knew that if he could return again to Paris, he would surely find success. Dethomas' joy at finding his old Montmartre companion under such circumstances soon turned to sadness as Zuloaga explained his dire financial straits and his desperation to return to Paris to revive his artistic career. The seemingly intractable problems of a well discouraged Ignacio were at once alleviated with a generous offer: "My workshop will be yours as much as it takes. Come to Paris. It's at 9 rue Duperré. Models, I'll find you. Home." The difficulties thus managed by the goodwill of Maxime, Ignacio returned to Paris in 1894. Presented to Mrs. Marie Louise Dethomas, mother of Maxime's half sisters Valentine, Germaine and Alice, Zuloaga was asked to make a portrait of the eldest. This portrait of Valentine would perhaps mark the moment at which their romance was kindled. Before the end of 1894, as he did for all his interesting friends, Maxime presented Zuloaga at the salon of Madame Augustine Bulteau. Her considerable reach within the arts community would smooth his path to recognition and ultimately lead to several commissions from her network of expatriate Spanish speaking habitués, most notably, the 1913 portrait of the writer Anna de Noailles, which would stand as one of Zuloaga's most important works. On May 18, 1899, in Saint Philippe du Roule, Ignacio Zuloaga, to whom success has just smiled at the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts, married Valentine Dethomas, with Eugène Carrière and Isaac Albéniz as witnesses. From a friendship born under the auspices of painting; re invigorated by chance; and nourished by unbridled generosity; the family ties were thus consolidated between the two artists. For the next three decades the pair would stay firm friends.

The author Pierre Louys was also a close companion of Dethomas and had collaborated with him on the first edition of Le Centaure in 1896. During August and September, 1898, Dethomas acted as a marriage broker of sorts, attempting to bring together his half sister Germaine and Louys, a plot that was thwarted by Maxime's stepmother, Marie Louise Thierrée.

Dethomas had a number of prominent writer friends, one of which was Marcel Proust. Proust made a glowing mention of Dethomas' landscapes of Venice in The Sweet Cheat Gone and discussed the quality of his work after attending an exhibition held at Galerie Durand Ruel. In a March, 1903 letter to Dethomas, Proust wrote that after having seen his exhibition, he received "a profound initiation to the understanding of nature and love of life." He continued, "it seems that one has gotten from you new eyes to look at life and men and even down to those little windows on the Grand Canal that I would love to juxtapose with yours."