The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 28, 1896, Page 24

o 4 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, - SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 1896. THE SALON | IN THE GHAMPS| ELYSEES | 0dd Titles of French| Pictures the Fire,” “In the Park of Oysters” and the «Brush Powder"—The i 0ld Salon “Woman to PARIS, Fr. June 10.—There are 902 numbers in the catalogue of the old salon of the Champs Elysees; there are 1794 paintings alone in the new salon. | The amount of work done is appalling, especially when we take into account the | fact that these two exhibitions are re- | peated yearly and that the same picture | or sculpture can be exhibited but once. | This year we have a general exhibition in | Berlin; in Vienna, in Prague, in Munich large and important picture shows. Add to these the paintings at Burlington | House, at the new and the Grafton gal- leries, and the imagination refuses to go further abroad. What becomes of all the pictures! I have wandered between miles of land- | scape peopled with strange allegorical or | mythological fizures; the portraits of celebrities that stared blankly from under ponderous gold frames would have made the fortune of a dealerin wax works. And still the landscapes continue to unfold their purple and green, or gray and dun, or brown and yellow charms, and still the inanimate figures frown violently, or smile insipidly. { The art of to-day is a colossal experi- | ment, and originality is the aim of the whole painting world. Originality at all costs, even if it be eccentricity or flagrant vulgarity hardly disguised. If the techni- | cal gymnastics which nguish so many | pictures exhaust and bewilder the artist, the sincere and tireless student, in what unenviable frame of mind must they | leave the art amateur, the amiably cul- tured traveler with a thirst for knowledge | and a desire to express pleasure about the | right things? i “Blank,”” he asks of one artist, “Blank | is undoubtedly a great painter?”’ | “Blank,” says Blank’s disciple, “is the | coming man. What power, what deli- cacy, what a marvelous way of hiding his technique under a form of complete | naivete or by means of this marvelous | light, which is so bright that nothing is| vigible!" and so on, with praise and care- ful dissection of transcendent merits ad | nauseam. “And so Blank is your coming man?’ | says the honest traveler to a painter of | another school. “Coming!” he replies. *“You mean go- ing! Why all that trickery he practices | is not art—in medicine you call a man | who experiments on his patients a quack. 1 think an artist who experiments on the public fully as much of a charlatan. And 1 that is what Blank is. He paints a pic- | ture, then rubs it all off with his coat- | sleeve and calls it a nocturne. Only one | man ever could paint a nocturne!” *“Whistler?”” demands the humbled and | patient listener, making a note of the re- | mark for future use, | “No, Chopin!” and he plunges his| hands into the pockets of his velveteen | coat and congratulates himself on the | neat annihilation he has accomplished. In the Champ de Mars we have every | form of Monets and Whistlerites—impres- sionism and unimpressionism, a return to | the Byzantine or early Florentine ideal in cadaverous shapes of unearthly pallor, in which even the cathode ray could not dis- cover a trace of human anatomy—but we have them all well hung, with epace between each picture, and no sacrifice of one artist to | another. In the Champs Elysees the ! frames are almost dovetailed ; the hanging | seems indiscriminate, a delicate littie | study dependent entirely upon a quiet and norma! light, painted for values and a care- ful regard for half tones is extinguished, | absolutely put out of existence by the can- | vas above or beneath or peside it, which may be a symphony in white paint with i faint blue and pink streaks and most reck- | less abandon in the prosaic questions of well-modeled earth and the preservation | of certain scales of distance. If in the Champs Elysees we see the good end the bad of the old school and not a little of the new; in the Champ de Mars we see even worse and even better work— | and with the distinct advantage of the most intelligentarrangement. In discuss- ing an exhibition or two exhibitions of such enormous proportions, a criticism must be merely a selection and a compari- i son. It must be at once personal and | generous, or it degenerates into an enu- | meration of pictures and sculptures al- most as entertaining as the catalogue it- self. The comparison of the illustrated cata- logue is not flattering to the old salon. The reproductions are surprisingly poor, and 1n turning the leaves the choice of pictures seems remarksble chiefly for a peauiiar inappropriateness. A picture in which color is the predominant quality is reproduced in a line, and vice versa. The catalogue is hopelessly commonplace and entirely without interest. The Champ de Mars uses a photo- graphic process, in which delicate values are frequently sacrificed, but, as a whole, is as satisfactory as cheap reproductions can ever be, and in turning the pages there is at least a suggestion to spur the treacherous memory or to awaken the de- sire to see. In one question alone there is room for great improvement. tmpossible in this enlightened age that such translations of titles can be printed. | They add not a little unexpected enter- :amment. Here are a few examples for the delectation of those who have not yet studied this new language: Le Pavillon de Flore—The Flag of Flore. | Femme qui se chauffee—Woman to the ire. Marchandes de somen. Jeune fille en blanc—Young girl in wight. Ideal—Country. La Pensee qui s'eveille—The thought swakening. Jeune Baigneuse— Young batting irl. La Houpe—The brush-powder. Dans les parcs aux huitres—In the park f oysters. In walking through the great rooms of Le Palace of Industry, or the equaly pots — Pot’s trades- It seems ! notony in the long rows of square or ob- long canvases. The tbrill of delight with which we come suddenly upon a work of a master, or catch a glimpse, at some dis- tance, of two or three remarkable portraits —these pleasant experiences are rare. The work that will excite the most in- terest is undoubtedly that of the president of the National Society of the Beaux Arts, Puvis de Chavannes—five panels for the | decoration of the public library at Boston. Puvis de Chavannes has metamorphosed the decorative art of the century and his late 1abors only add to and complete all that he has hitherto accomplished, The simple and candid methods employed by Puvis de Chavannes make the decorations of less talented men seem oily and thick— paint, paing, paint! “The Chaldean Shepherds Observing the Movements of what the title expresses. Chaldean shep- | herds of a primitive age, expressing with the greatest simplicity of movement and the Planets” is exactly | have arrived at the request of the painter. Ot the French painters M. Vidal has a most charming study—a woman with heautiful eyes, in a simple attitude, her remarkably well drawn hands crossed in her lap. Everything M. Vidal exhibits is distinguished by the same alizost caress- ing use of the brush, the profile in clear, light shadow, the figure of the woman stretching her blowing linen’on the line, | how careful and yet how free, how the air | blows about the figure of the woman, who | has a look of impatience, as though, when her work is ended, she will leave the can- vas at once. Carolus Duran has a number of por- traits. It bas become almost a duty for | young painters to shake their heads and | look melancholy when speaking of Carolus | Duran. “How have the mighty fallen!” they seem to say. However much he may have fallen, he is still at an elevation to which few of his critics will be able to climb. ol PORTRAIT BY JEAN BOLDINIL gesture, surpriseand delight ata discovery | which was of moment enough to have given rise to a greater extravagance of ex- pression. The Eschylus and the Oceanides is the | most successful of all, not only from the popular standpoint of being more easi understood, but for the singular beauty of color and line. How magnificently this great sky, so bright and so soft, will fill the panel to which it is destined, and the figure of Eschylus, thatsuggestsa passion- ate face sternly subdued, has an almost monumental grandeur. And around the sublime sufferer the peace of this trans- | figured landscape! It may not be true to an actual comparisan of a Greek country, but it is the landscape of a student of mythology, large and serene, where the gods may descend and walk. A picture that has been the subject of more discussion, is Dagnau Bouveret's “Last Supper.” Critics cannot agree; ac- cording to some, it is a marvel—according to others, it is a pity that M. Dagnau Bouveret should depart from his old tra- ditions. The picture is very large, the figures are placed with that regard to the conventions that Leonardo and Raphael | have made simply a question of respectful deference. The light streams through something that has turned it golden, it is not a radiance from within. The composition is a little cold for a The portrait of “Simone,” the little | granddaughter of Mme. Sara Bernhardt, | is distinguished enough to give decidea | pleasure. The child has a little dark face, around which the hair, that is so black | and lustrous, hangs closely. She sways | forward in her gold-brocaded, unchildish | gown with a most childlike air ot solem- | nity and importance. | And yet, the background 1s no back- | eround at all, only grayish, brown paint. | The shadows are brown spotsand the head | is slightly out of drawing and only re- | deemed by tLe richness of the color and the quaint beauty of the subject. In spite of all this the portrait is a fine picturesque rendition of a charming child. The little Helene is even more delicate and more carefally observed. She has big, clear eyes and a little scarlet mouth and an almost Venetian color in this small three-year-old baby. The portrait of M. Leygues, ex- Minister, is broadly managed and painted with so much spirit that it makes the full length convention of the woman in white satin as lifeless as a doll. | M. Roll has an unfinished portrait of Dumas. The portrait was not interrupted by the death of the author of so many plays, but is a living monument of the vanity of greatness. It is painted as M. Roll will paint, with absolute, if somewhat | brutal, frankness. The big coarse head, e e ——————————— PORTRAIT OF THE DANCER, OTERO, BY WILLIAM T. DANNAT. picture that is not intended for a decora- tion, and the figures are painted with a | suggestion of having been carefully placed and posed. The pale heads have all the delicate brushwork Dagnau Bouveret alone is the master of. The figure of Christ, with the long ray of light defining it, the radiance around the finely drawn head, that is of a tragic pailor but seems part of the whole harmony of gold and white, is slightly but unavoidably theatrical. The figures of the disciples have a certain statuesque rigidity of form and drapery lignified halls of the newer exhibition, here 1s more than a suggestion of mo- that adds not a little to the genera! im- preseion that the entire company of guests somewhat Jewish in type and still strongly suggestive of the halfbreed physiognomy, the big loose clothes hanging on the cor- pulent figure, all this was too much for M. Dumas, who considered it too much in “the dressing gown and slipper style.” He refused to sit longer on the plea that “an academician should not be 1intro- duced to the public in such deshabille.” Ot the work of Boldini and Bernard and Armand Poiret and Gervex and the landscapists of the American and English and Scotch schools it will be necessary to speak in another article. VAN Dyck Browx, WHAT IT GOSTSTO GIRGLE, THE GLOBE What dli\)@r Optic Saw in This Gity He Had Entree to the Bohemian GClub, but Did Not Fully Gom- prehend the High dinks ‘William T. Adams of Boston, known to two generations as *‘Oliver Optic,” passed through San Francisco last December on an East to West trip around the world. He completed the journey April 7 last | when he arrived at Boston from Liverpool. | Mr. Adams has printed (no$ published) a | narrative of the journey. The story is | told in that style of delightful simplicity | which made the *'Oliver Optic” books and magazines so welcome to boys, girls and | grown people in many lands. | He introduces the story of the trip by saying: *f have visited every country in Europe, from Ireland to Kazan, in Russia, and from Norway and Sweden to the southern part of Italy, and I have been to about all the islands of the West Indies. I have been in all the States of my own country except nine, though I have not traveled all over them. I have been through the Dominion of Canada, from New Brunswick to its western boundary, in Lake Superior. It seemed to me time to go around the world, My friends re- monstrated with me, principally because I intended to go alone; but their protests were not vigorous—were rather mild. They thought I was too old to go alone, but 1 insisted that I was some months short of 74, and was as able as ever to take care of myself. The objections were withdrawn. “I went to the office of Messrs. Henry Gaze & Sons, in charge of W. H. Eaves, for my tickets for the entire trip from Boston to Boston. I paid for them $620, including only steamer and railway fares, though I was ‘found’ on all the steamers, which included the greater part of the trip. I paid for my sleepers and for my board at the hotels, fees on the steamers, jinrickishas, guide, carriages in Colombo, Gibraitar and London $541, making the total expenses $1161. ! “Thus armed with pasteboards for the trip I left Boston December 14, for Chi- cago, and at 6 o’clock for Minneapolis, where I intended to spend what time I could with my son-in-law (Sol Smith Rus- sell), daughter and two grandchildren. # * ¥ We madea very jolly Christmas of it, and the head of the family escorted me to the station of the Northwestern | Railroad and saw me comfortably in- stalled 1n the sleeper for San Francisco.” Impressions of San Francisco are thus recorded in the brochure: “If there is any better hotel in San Francisco than the Baldwin, 1 don’t know which it is. With a gentleman from To- | tonto, whose acquaintanee I had made on the train and found to be a pleasant companion, we were shown to a suite of rooms on a principal street, ap one flight, having two large sleeping apartments, a parlor and bathroom. We were charged four dollars a day eacb. The table was excellent and I greatly enjoyed the hotel. I walkea about the streets of the City. It looked like a busy place, and has many elegant buildings. #On Monday I took a carriage and rode over some of it with my room-mate, James E. Walker. After exchanging my order | for a ticket to Yokohama we visited the | China, the largest and finest of the Pacific | Mail line, in which my passage wasen- | gaged. I was somewhat surprised wHen | we came to her to see on her stern that | she hailed from Glasgow, for I had sup- posed that all the ships of this line, like the City of Peking, in which I had once sailed from Boston to New York, were built in the United States. * * * Bhe looked like a solid vessel and one that would be entirely at home in a heavy sea, and this ability is vastly better than gin- gerbread work in the cabins. “In the train I had the pleasure of meet- ing Harry Francis, and his kind offices gave me the entree of the Bohemian Club, which I visited. Its apartments were spa- cious and elegant, with nothing gaudy about them, and its large library indi- cated that it had been selected by men ! who knew books. I was received in the most genial and cordial manner by two of the members, though I am sorry that I have lost their names. I met there Hugh M. Burxe of ToHE CaLL. I was also very fortunate in meeting Dr. Beach, the sur- geon of the China. I had a very pleasant visit, though I am afraid I did net fully comprehend the ‘high- jinks’ and the “low jinks” which are so peculiar to the Bohemian Club. | ‘‘Another day was spent in walking and | riding about the City; and I went aboard | the China after luncheon, December 31, | and sailed at 3 o'clock. At first as the | steamer sailed down the bay I had enough to do to observe this noted sheet of water. I recognized some of the points and places of which I had read. As the ship went out to sea I repaired to my state- room, where I found my little Japanese steward putting things to right. He had | turned up and secured the upper berth, so that I had no excuse for bumping my head agamst it. The electric light was so placed that I could read after I had ‘turned in,’ as Iam in the habitof doing. I found an excellent and well-selected library in the warm cabin of which I made use during the voyage. “The number of passengers was small. I made the acquaintance of most of them. and found them very pleasant people. Five ladies were missionaries, one of them being a doctor from Portland, Or. Captain Seabury was a high-toned gentle- man, always pleasant, and I considered him a model sea-captain. I became quite intimate with J. W. Saunders, the first officer, with whom I spent pleasant hours, “The weather the first two days of the voyage was mild and pleasant, with very little, wind. = Then came a savage gale which had hardly moderated before an- other came. We had what the first officer called ‘cross-seas,’ and the ship pitched, rolled and twisted, and it was not an easy matter to stay in one’s berth at night or on the sofa during the day. But I have been in gales less tortuous than those on the Pacific, and have been wrenched and twisted vastly more than at any time on board of the China. I regarded her as oneof the ablest ships in which I ever sailed, and I have crossed the Atlantic twenty one times.” “‘On the wharf at Yokohama I obtained my first view of a jinrickisha, and I thought it must be a very nice vehicle, but I changed my opinion in the course of a week. Iwentin one of them to the Grand Hotel, and the charge for it was 10 cents— Japanese sen. “The value in our money of a yen and its decimal parts is an unknown quantity depending upon the rate of exchange and the worth of Mexican dollars silver. Reckoning from the amount I received in yen on my letter of credit one yen equals 55 cents in American money. Iam aware that this estimate differs widely from what is written in some of the books, but the value of silver has depreciated in the East nearly half. The value of a rupee in India is nominally two shillings, but when I was there it was quoted at one shilling and a quarter of a penny.” Mention is made of visits to Tokio, Kobe and of the voyage to Shanghai, Hongkong and Singapore. The hot weather as the ship neared Singapore produced the greatest discomfort of the lowed that advice if I bad received it in season; and the politeness of the first officer quite disarmed me. I was inclined to believe that this officer had put his un- pleasant duaty into his own langnage, for 1 did not regard his superior as competent to do it so handsomely. the march of over 100 Chmamen, almost had upon the ‘sensibilities of English ladies,’ to say nothing of the Malays in the same natural costume, of whom they bought trinkets. Within a few days I had seen the captain on the quarterdeck bare- footed and with his trousers turned up nearly to his knees. He was going to take or haa just taken his bath. I ought to | add that Captain Jephson was regarded as | an especially skillful captain, to whom | the command of one of the new steamers of 8000 tons, then building, migit be given. I think the P. and O. Company could do better and might select a gentleman as ~ivie, 2 7, 7P PORTRAIT BY ALBERT BESNARD. voyage around the world. British gold was needed at Singapore and Oliver Optic bad a time of his own in finding the banker. *My rickshaw man said he could speak English, but any decertly educated parrot could outdo him in the language. He intimated by a nod that he knew where to find the banker named, but { soon discovered that he knew no better than I did.” This incident is mentioned as having occurred on the Peking while nearing Pe- nang, after leaving Singapore: ‘I wag in my cabin as the steamer approached. I sat with my coat off. I happened to see the land through the port, and I hastened on deck to see the shore and the town. I did not think to put on my coat, and not | realizing the enormity of the offense, I was observing the shore, when the first officer came to me, with the captain’s compliments, that it was offensive to the sensibilities of English ladies for a gentle- man to appear on the quarterdeck with- out his coat. 1alwayssubmit to authority well as an accomplished navigator.”” It is mentioned in the narrative that the voyage across the Arabian Sea, about | 2100 nautical miles, was accomplished in | seven days. After the ship was fairly | within the Red Sea only a few islands were to be seen, and she was out of sight of iand most of the time. When the ship | view of the peninsula of Sinai, though he | could not make out the mountain on which | Moses received the commandments. | “Many passengers embarked at Port Said for Brindisi. Among them was his Royal Highuess the Duke of Cambridge, | ield marshal and late commander-in- | chief of the British army. He is a grand- son of George IIL and a cousin of Queen | Victoria. He was plainly dressed and | seemed to be a very pleasant gentleman, not above speaking to a common sort of | person like myself. I had a little talk with | him on deck as we went into the harbor of Brindisi, and, speaking of ages, I gave I‘mine and he said that he was seventy- PoORTRAIT OF Puvis DE CHAVANNES BY FRANCOIS ARMBRUSTER. on board ship and I sent my apology to the commander. “I put on my coat and returned to the deck, where I thought the maiter over, for I did not yet realize the heinousness of the transgression, I had no thin coat with me, for I never wear them at home. I wondered if I was so ignorant as not to comprehend the proprieties of social life on board ship; and 1 ventured to mention the affair to an officer of the British army, for they are all gentlemen and well versed in the usages of society. He said I ought to have sent word to the captain to mind his own business. I should not have fol- seven, or a couple of months older than her Majesty.” Oliver Optic had been in London more than a dozen times, and it was an old story to him. Baring Bros. & Co. pro- | vided him with a ticket by the Catalonia from Ifivcrpool to Boston. The surgeon of the sh'lp was a great hunter of elephants and tigers in India, and his adventures were extremely interesting. The narrative closes with this record: *I sailed March 26, and came to the dock at East Boston early on the morning of April?, extremely vpleased that [ had finished my trip around the world.” «I could not help wondering what effect | in a state of nature, in coaling the vessel | entered the gulf of Suez the traveler had a | | 7 BE SURE YOU DRINK PURE WATER Mineral Springs Are Germless How to Test Water—Some Good Hints by the Doctor for Those Who Go on Vacations | PR It would be manifestly improper for one to attempt such a thing as a series of in- structions for determining the character of water supplied for drinking considering | the fact that complex and elaborate an- alyses are required for that purpose. One might perhaps mention & chemical test which would show the presence of certain impurities, while other and possibly very injurious foreign ingredients in the water might exist without detection. | A celebrated authority once stated that { “absolutely pure water, consisting of a chemical union with condensation of two volumes of hydrogen and one oxygen, is a chemical curiosity.” The impurities of water are usually placed under two heads, organic and in- | organic. Of the first class the impuritigs | may be in tne form of bacteria, or they ! may consist of particles of organic sub- | stances, such as decomposing animal or vegetable matter. 01 the latter class the chemist usually | finds such things as nitrates and nitrites, | free ammonia, chlorine and various other chemical substances. The nitrates are i usually the product of decomposition, i.ol- | lowing the contamination of water with | sewage. 4 | Water is usually spoken of as either | hard or soft. Hard waters contain lime | and magnesium salts, or other cnem?cal | substances which curdle soap. The im- | purities usually found in soit water are | inconsiderable. | A simple and convenient method of de- | termining whether a water is hard or soft |is by means of tincture of soap. This | preparation produces no effect when added to pure distilled water. When combined with soft water it causes a slight opales- cence, while with hard water a milky appearance is produced, which latter is | due to the formation of an insoluble com- | pound through the combination of the | fatty acids of the soap with the lime or magnesium salts existing in the water as | impurities. Pure water is transparent, colorless, tasteless and odorless. Any water that is turbid, with an odor and unpleasant taste, | may be condemned as unfit for consump- | tion. In order to be fit for cooking ana drink- ing, water need not be chemically pure. Natura!l water is seldom if ever free from foreign ingredients. On the other hand, water may meet all the other requirements given above and yet be dangerous beeause itis contami~ nated with disease germs, such as the bacilli of typhoid and malarial fevers. Bacteria may be jound in all well waters. When a well is frequently pumped out and allowed to refill the number of baec- teria is always greatly diminished. The bacteria usually found in well water are comparatively harmless. It isonly when the water becomes contaminated with sewage containing the dangerous varieties that use of the water becomes perilous. In water from a well-protected spring the number of bacteria is usually very small. In the water of lakes bacteria are abundant near the shore, while very few are found in the water obtained from the { middle of the lake. ‘Water is said to be improved by storing for-a time. As there isnot sufficient sus- tenance in the water a sort of starvation process is carried out and the bacteria per- ish and fall to the bottom. | The idea that freezing destroys bacteria is still entertained by many. Repeated experiments have proved that freezing | merely renders them inactive, and that | they multiply with great rapidity as soon | as the ice ismelted and the conuitions are favorable. Mineral springs are, as a rule, more or less free from bacteria, This freedom is attributed to the carbonic acid gas with which the water is impregnated. There is no simple method of ascertain- mg the presence of bacteria in water. The microscope is usually employed for that purpose. There is a “preparation known as Pasteur’s solution that is some- times used. This solution consists of ten parts of candy sugar, one part of tartrate of ammonia, one hundred parts of water | and the ash of one part of yeast. The solution is mixed with suspected | water in a flask. If the solution remains | clear it is an indication that the water is free from bacteria. If 1t becomes subse- | quently turbid it means that bacteria are | present. Although there is no simple method of determining the presence of impurities in water, there is a very simple way of ren- dering it fit for use, at least so far as bac- teria are concerned. Boiling will destroy them, one and all. 1t is only necessary to boil the water five minutes, but it is better to boil it ten or even fifteen minutes when there is rea- son to suspect contamination of a serious character. Many people believe that by mixing an equal quantity of wine with water contain- ing bacteria a harmless drink may be made. This imoression is erroneous. It is true that some bacteria perish in the mixture, but the majority do not. People entertaining such an idea would better follow the Biblical injunction and “drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake.” i How PracE CaME To JoHN SMITH,—Mr. John Smith did not live and Mrs. happily together. He was a pretty fair average husband, and got along pretty well with her, when she left him. She did not get along so well with him, and ofttimes let bim know it, after the manner of her kind, But the trodden worm will turn. Time, the great leveler and evener- up of all things, brough the occasion. Her tombstone, erected by the bereaved hus- band, had inscribed upon it, after the cus- tomary birth and death announcements, the Scriptural quotation, *“There remaineth therefore a rest unto the people of God.''— Judge. Cycling has become so fashionable among young women in London that it has given rise to a new profession for older but still active women—that of cycling chaperon,