Subscribers enjoy higher page view limit, downloads, and exclusive features.
THE SUNDAY CALL. By THE STVDIO VA THOER o o situated In a quarter of the city extreme- 1y bizarre. It is far away from every- thing and everybody—a Qquarter that would possibly correspond to the Potrero in Fran co. The urchins who have spent their little days enjoying the thrill- ing spectacle of les boeufs et les moutons marching forth to their death are this year gaping in silent wonder at less ex- wciting though to them more novel scenes. Eplendid carriages and liveried footmen, trafling silks and sparkling jewels, have ‘never before been seen at the slaughter house. For several years it had been under- fetood in Paris that on account of the “World's Fair there would be no salon in he question of The Galerie des one agrecs tha MATERNITY Machines, which had been utilized for the purpose since 1889, was in ruins, having been torn down to make room for an ex- position buflding. There was simply nothing in Paris but “les abattoirs” that was at all available, and hence this ex- traordinary glorification. For people who pretend to keep apace with the movements of the ariistic world 1500 is certainly a formidable year. In Paris there are three sets of comparisons which are occupying the critics—what the year has produced as seen at the salon, what the ten years have produced since the last exposition, and what the century has produced. The year as exemplified at the salon has given no surprise. Every <M. LANTEL very abundantly repre lon this year is more like exposition than ever before and consequently the honors received are not g0 important. Being understood that it would exist for the benefit of those ar- tists who had not yet “‘arrived,” many of fast year it wa the well-known painters did not deign to exhibit. For this they are criticized, while the greater simplicity of Benjamin-Con- ant, Hen J. P. Laurens and a few others in this category, who have honored the salcn with th best, is justly ap- proved and commended. Benjamin-Constant is represented by @ wonderful portrait of M. Stephen Bigeard. It 1s the kind of portrait like Titlan’s “Man with the ( * and some of the old Ve- lasquezes, of which the interest will never to be as fascinating te s as to us. Henner ap- pears with another nude, possessing ths zame characteristics that always distin gulsh his pictures. The same red halr, the same misty effect, the same opaline flesh that have made him famous. It is really a little fatiguing that so many ot the artists present the same thing year in and year out. Versatility does not seem to be the fashion in the art world. Hen- ner has abandoned all things else for opa« line nudes. Bouguercau is eternal with his pale pink bables and Ridgway Knight never tires of the same French peasant, who always wears the same dress and sits among the same hothouse luxuriance of flowers. ! The Figaro critic declares that Henner's pleture s the only regjnude exhibited and then he falls into lamentations about the decline of the nude. “What is going to be. come of us,” he exclaims despalringly, “with no more nude U /The ordinary ob- server in traversing ..¢ halls of the s lon would think the lament uite superflu- ous, since the pink-skinned lady en deshabille is very numerously represented. There are the usual number of Venuses on the ragged edge of clouds, the usual number of bathers, the usual number of nymphs musing on the cold, damp grass. These, the critic declares, are only mod- els undressed. The artists of to-day paint without love, he insists. They do not love ‘women, they do not love nature nor soli- tude. Their nudes express only the ex- terior of the female form; they say noth- ing of the soul, while their landscapes, do not give the slightest desire to see the places that they represent, furniture, but to-day the canvase saturated with her individuality. und true that' these c: the artist ROSTANTE- BY ustomed to the personality qua having ™M her clothes torn off her at the Hail des Quat'z Arts. By popular consent the art 8 of Paris are p nitted to induige in the wildest debauches. Propr! is not artistie, It does not seem to occur to the critic who objects to the vulgarity of some of th pictures to advecate a greater purity of motive and less license among b ) BOVSUEREAV COPYRISHT 105 BX BRAUN,TLEMENT & Su. VALLET-BISSON I cannot bel wh both artists and models. that these extraordinary excesses, are not only permitted but encou among the artists of Paris, are productive of anything in art but degeneration. The greatest masters have not.by any means been the grea The military spirit existing this year iy st debauches. HOFE- P M. BEYLE manifest even at the salon. There are no more military pletures than usual, but those exhibited seem to be more gener- ally appreciated. “In Ambush,” by Berne-Bellecour, has its constant crowd of excited admirers. Perhaps there Is no picture in the salon which i{s more no- ticed and more admired than “The Am- sterdam Boatman,” by Emile Mery. Jules Breton exhiblts another one of his poetic peasant scenes, and Jean Paul Laurens and Rayhet exhibit portraits which, like that of Benjamin-Constant, possess a permanent interest. They are pictures of types rather than of individuals. Among the young Americans who are attracting their share of attentlon Is Frederick Marsh of Chicago, whose pic- ture “In the Boudoir” is .recefving mest enthusiastic praise from French critics. His plcture of last year, a portrait of his wife and child, was equally admired. A little picture that surely escaped the notice of the writer who complained of lack of “love” in this year's landscape is by Miss Mabel Deming of Sagramento. I do not praise her because she happens to be a California girl, but because her pic- ture really seems to me to merit the ‘warmest praise. That the hanging com- mittee thought likewise is evident from the excellent position accorded her. Her picture is hung “on the line,” which Is considered a most enviable honor. It is very unpretentious, this little landscape, The Parts Salon of 1900 WOoRK OF & CALIFORNIR GIRL ESPECTALLY HONCRED BY THE COMMITTEE. “A model,” he declares, “used to be a piece of atelier entitled “A Somber Day.” vet dainty, poe and al her exquisite. It is sim- with “love” and feel- ply brimmin i 4 original- hing whatever of the ce about it. Miss Deming s g and will undoubtedly be in the world of art before 1 plctures exhibited at \dicate a return of the recalling particularly German style, Lucas Cronach and Albrecht Durer. Among these are consplcuously “La Faute, M. Maulin, and “The Triumph The former e fall of Adam Leveque, of Death,” by M. and E eadbare as the theme may be, the pl 1s nevertheless extremely Snariat Eve Is represented fn-a new is no longer the innocent vie- tim of the serpent, but scheming and de- slgning, accomplishing in a most cold- blooded fashion the downfallof poor, sim- As she gives him the apple bowed, but a merry smile - T age. Metaphorically, in her sleeve, while her smile says as distinctly as words, “You great old goose; it's no trick at all to se- duce you.” One cannot look at the ple- ture without fécling sory for poor, abused Adam. He becomes almost jus- tified in piping to the Lord, “The woman that thou gavest me “The Triumph of Death” is also a t h and is remark- able in execution. In a very small spacs it contains hundreds of figures falling down to the Inferno. The name of Henrl Martin Is becoming a favorite one among frequenters of the salons. His plcture of this year, “La Beaute,” merits its title. The American Frank Boggs exhibits a striking landscape and Leftwich-Dodge a coldly classic affair, in the style of Alma Tadema. If many of the masters have not deigned to exhibit, they &re hardly missed, for their imitators are so abun- dant. We are rarely frank enough to confess it, but it remains true, neverthe- less, that the imitation Is often quite as interesting as the original, light. ple Adam. her head & luminates [ she is laughi