Henri Le Sidaner, a French “intimiste” painter, first came to the attention of the British public when a handful of his paintings were shown at the Goupil Galleries in London in 1903.  He had just turned 40 and was already established in France. British art critics, especially the Scots, were enthusiastic about what they saw: “The whole is delicate and mystical” (Dundee Courier), “the delicate refinement of the vision” (Country Life).  There was one note of disappointment, from the pen of N.H.C., art correspondent of the Brighton Gazette.

Henri Le Sidaner « La Place » 1902 Collection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Donated by Henri Eugene Le Sidaner (1908)

The anonymous N.H.C. was dismissive: “Two of Le Sidaner’s rather uninteresting pictures are included in the present [Goupil] exhibition” (Brighton Gazette, 5 December 1903).

By 10 December, N.H.C. seems to have changed his mind.  In the same newspaper, he (unlikely to be she) admits that

“Before leaving this gallery [Goupil], one must needs take a second look at the remarkably clever effect produced by Henri Le Sidaner, in his “Evening Reflections.” Even to those who have hitherto failed to be attracted or influenced by the methods of this artist, this picture must prove convincing: its subtlety is its strength, its very tenderness its power to infect.  Nothing finer from Le Sidaner’s hand has come under our notice as yet.” 

An excellent example of backtracking.

Eight weeks later, N.H.C. decided to sit on the fence when describing pictures at The Pastel Society Exhibition at the Royal Institute of Painters: 

“Henri le Sidaner (sic), too, has shown better things elsewhere than the two pieces we found here. M. le Sidaner is in quite a familiar mood in a study of reflections at evening hour, and in that subtle light he possesses the secret of depicting, but quite new to us in his shadow-enwrapped scene, “Night in Winter.”

Le Sidaner « Le bec-de gaz – nuit bleue »

The Brighton Gazette article describing Le Sidaner’s one-man show at the Goupil Galleries two years later, in 1905, is not signed.  So was it N.H.C. or A.N.Other who was fulsome in his or her praise:

“Nothing boisterous or blatant assails Henri Le Sidaner’s brush; in his world there is no storm, no disturbance, no discord, yet his greatest enemy could not call his pictures weak … his work just invites and allures one with its still small voice, and seeing beauty in all things, he invests the humblest and most simple there with engrossing interest.  Some critics have complained that this painter’s work is monotonous, but I think that an inspection of the present collection would soon dispel any such idea.”

The flowery language, the cliché and the rejection of any criticism seem to imply that N.H.C. was not the author.  But at least readers of the Gazette were being encouraged to go to see the exhibition.

Brighton Art Gallery late 19th century. Image courtesy of Brighton and Hove Museums Trust

Then came the wonderful 1910 Modern French Art Exhibition at the “Corporation Art Gallery at Brighton”. Writing in the West Sussex Gazette, journalist / critic A.R.A. mentions that, amongst a plethora of other (now famous to us) artists, Henri Le Sidaner was represented.  The Brighton Gazette, whilst reporting the exhibition at length, did not breathe the name of Le Sidaner.

And that was about the last that was heard of Le Sidaner in Sussex newspapers despite his enduring success in France and abroad until WW2 and beyond.