Page 32 - Studio International - March 1965

The Collection of Baroness Alix de Rothschild

1 by Raymond Cogniat
The Baroness Alix de Rothschild enjoys an exceptional
position in the world of the fine arts by virtue of her in­
satiable curiosity, her unflagging desire to understand
artists and their works, and her taste as a collector_ Her
collection has not been thought out in advance and
carefully composed with any definite overall idea_ It is
an outward expression of the individual soul and has
been put together under the guidance of that peculiarly
human and intimate value that makes a work of art an
exchange between creator and enthusiast
When I asked Mme de Rothschild if she could say
how and why she had put together this collection, she
told me that she would very much like our interview to
be an opportunity for citing the names and emphasizing
the merits-as she understands them-of a few artists
whose development and major work she has followed
for some years.
'Of course', she said, 'I am happy to possess works by
Bonnard, Vuillard, Soutine, Degas, Cezanne, Rouault,
Kandinsky, Picasso, Klee and even Gustave Moreau.
Naturally, I am affected by the lyrical and mysterious
effects of Seraphine or Vieira da Silva, but no praise is
due to me for having collected these works and I cannot
claim to have "discovered" their creators_ Nothing
would be gained by discussing these artists, as they are
now represented in many collections, A painting may
be liked on account of the pleasure it gives, but I should
also like this pleasure to help the artist by enlarging the
circle of his admirers and by bringing his work to the
attention of those to whom he is unknown'_
Mme Alix de Rothschild does not base her judgements
of the works she has chosen on aesthetic preconcep­
tions; she prefers a more human level, for she does not
feel herself to be a systematical and typical collector,
anxious to collect pictures for the sheer joy of amassing
them, She is justified in making this claim, and could
more appropriately be called an amateur, in the sense of
one who feels with and for the objects collected_
Therefore the ·collection' of Mme Alix de Rothschild
does not, perhaps, at first sight appear to have the
aesthetic unity that one would commonly expect to find
nowadays in a collection of this size and importance,
One feels that rather than a set method of selection, this
is the effect of a way of living and of looking, Figurative
and abstract works are hung side by side without any
ill-effect, for they are joined by values of the sensibility
-not necessarily excluded by the quality of the execu­
tion_ No formula has been adopted in order to make this
selection of preferred works: everywhere one feels the
presence of a unifying sensibility that endows reality
with a new life, in the case of even the most abstract
forms_ One is aware of a sensitivity to natural elements
and their projection; one is conscious above all of a
sense of human values, made all the more precious by
the fact that Mme de Rothschild has acquired works
from different periods in the careers of several artists,
thus enabling one to follow important changes with
assurance.
The landscapes of Lambert-Loubere, for example, are
very surely marked with this lyrical use of the outside
world: they are an accumulation of light rather than a
play of moving planes, They both break out from them­
selves and are enclosed within themselves-a magical
effect that no scrupulous realism could afford the
1
Guitou Knoop spectator_ Nevertheless. one is persuaded to feel that
Sculpture reality was the inevitable source of this effect, Thus
2
Jules Bissier Vilato seeks to alchemize volumes into arabesques and
Watercolour, 1959 to endow matter with life; the humour with which he
18-5 x 23 cm
112