Jean Hugo - Quotes About Jean Hugo

Quotes About Jean Hugo

Jean Cocteau: "Jean Hugo mixed his almost monstrous calm into the tumultuous enterprises of our youth. He was, and remains the very image of that perfect humility of the illuminators, for whom daily truths trumpted decorative graces. His powerful hand, his big jupiterian eye, his olypism in a way, did not use thunder but little watercolours so vast that it seemed as if their size was the result of a phenomenon of perspective. Indeed, he seems to view the sea in Brittany from a distance, and the garrigue by the big end of the telescope, which does not prevent him from evoking around us the mysterious odour of seaweed and wild herbs. Jean Hugo, subtle peasant, medieval monk, chasses the angel from the bizarre through knowing all its tricks by heart."

Gustave Thibon: "I knew him intimately. He was a strange being, admirable, a mystic, a lover, a great artist, who no doubt sinned by excess of modesty. He had been a little tired of fame by his name, which was extremely heavy. Jean Hugo spent his youth in that golden world of the big families of the Third Republic, the Berthelot, the Favre, the Renan, the Daudet, a world that he moved away from for a more isolated life in Lunel. His work is far better known, and valued, in America than in France, where he still suffers a little of being eclipsed by his name. I consider him a great painter, and a great painter that is relatively unknown. If he hadn’t found others to look after publicising him, he would never have sold a single painting. Picasso, who was a good friend of his, used to say to him “you do nothing for your fame”. And indeed he did nothing for it – others did it to him. Once again, he was a pure being. If the word innocence could be applied to anyone it was him. He was very handsome, and of prodigious vitality – dare I say Hugolian. He was detached enough not to install himself in his own name – while still showing unconditional admiration for the work of his great ancestor, that he knew in detail.” Entretiens avec Gustave Thibon by Philippe Barthelet (Éditions du Rocher, Monaco, 2001)

Maurice Sachs: "Jean Hugo was calm, kind and generous. Life flowed calmly before him and we knew of no enemies of his. He carried the heavy burden of his family name with elegance. Like his father Georges Hugo he was a man of the world, a man of great distinction in heart and spirit, a kind friend, a man you would want to have in your life.” La Décade de l’illusion (Paris, Gallimard, 1950 p. 14-16)