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New York Times - 1966

     In an interview in The New York Times, January 1966, Virginia Lee Warren, in an article titled, "The Fashion in Portraits Is Casual," wrote,

     "Instead of an eye-riveting evening dress and glittering jewels, (Tabaud's) subject will probably have on a bright little resort dress or a sweater and skirt. And rings on the wedding finger are, more often than not, deemed sufficient ornamentation…
"'I do no jewel-type portraits,' says Jean Tabaud, a black-eyed Frenchman who now spends most of his time in New York but wanders as far afield as St. Moritz, Dallas, and Louisville to carry out commissions.

     "Tabaud finds himself giving almost all his time and talent to the informal. He has a special following for 14-22-inch charcoal-and-pencil or pen-and-ink drawings.

     "'You cannot lie with a drawing,' he says. 'There is no play of light on rich fabrics and nothing distracts from the face. Just the person is revealed.'

     "Women do not seem to mind such a revelation. Among those who have sat for such portraits and paid $1,000 for the privilege are Mrs. Howard G. Cushing Jr., of New York and her sister-in-law, Mary (Minnie) Cushing, who is working for Oscar de la Renta, the designer.

     "But about one-third of Tabaud's works are in oil and even they may turn out to be as nonchalant-looking as Barbara Vagliano's portrait. The young daughter of Alex M. F. Vagliano, a vice president of the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, and of Mrs. Shirley Vagliano, is shown lolling in shirt and stretch pants.

     "Tabaud agrees that to turn out a good portrait one must really understand the subject. …Tabaud, whose career as a dancer was cut short by a spinal injury and who learned to paint portraits while a war prisoner of the Germans, says that after he has painted a woman he knows her better than do her friends of 10 years.

     "'To paint is an act of love whether the subject is a tree or a woman,' says this Frenchman whose studio is at 440 East 79th Street. 'A person who feels she is being loved opens up and you get to know her.'"

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