Paul Claudel, French Writer and Diplomat 1919

Jacques-Émile Blanche captured the French writer and diplomat Paul Claudel in oil on canvas, sometime around 1922. The color palette is restrained, almost drab, mostly browns and blacks, but with a lighter tone to the face and hands. I’m guessing the painting came into being through layers, with Blanche probably starting with a dark ground and then building up highlights, trying to catch the light on Claudel’s face, maybe even trying to catch his character. You can see the brushwork in those hands, they’re painted with a kind of nervous energy, all those little strokes. I imagine Blanche and Claudel in the same room, one watching the other, both a little uncomfortable, both trying to communicate something beyond words. Maybe a sense of mutual respect, maybe even a little bit of shared existential dread. This work has a kinship to the work of other painters, like Manet, who were also interested in capturing the inner lives of their sitters. It’s like they’re all in conversation, across time, inspiring each other. That’s what painting is all about, isn’t it?