March - Elegant - 閑雅

"March — Elegant — 閑雅" from 1958, with the Japanese characters for "quiet elegance" (kan-ga) embedded in the title, is one of Jacoulet's final works — a late reflection on a quality that characterized his entire career's aesthetic ambition. The bilingual title combining French month and Japanese aesthetic concept captures his dual cultural position perfectly. An early spring subject treated with the restrained color palette that "quiet elegance" demands would represent a deliberate farewell to the vivid Pacific palettes of his earlier decades.