The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 5, 1902, Page 16

16 THE SUNDAY CALL. LD Californfans will tell you that the society gatherings of early days were far more enjoyable af- fairs than those of the present time. That is probably so, and several reasons may be assigned for it. Soclety was smaller and was more like one large family, not yet being divided up Into cliques. Then, too, the entertain- ments were df a more informal character. There was no lavish display of wealth, Do aping of forelgn customs, and people ‘were content to enjoy themselves in much simpler fashion than nowadays. Particularly was this the case during the holiday season, when many a pafty of grown people joined in games such as blind man’s buff and third man, im- promptu charades and tableaux, entering with zest into the redeeming of the for- feits. Foremost in all these merry gath- erings was the McAllister family. Mrs, McAllister loved dearly to have a_crowd * of young people around her and she was ably seconded in all her hospitable plan by her sons Hall and Cutler and their Ppretty wives, Mrs. William M. Gwin was a lady whose eggnog parties were renowned and on New Years eve she always gave & merry dance, when that Insidious concoc- tion “was the feature of the evenings pleasure. On the other hand, that old ploneer, Colonel J. D. Stevenson, was a ous brewer of punch, and a Christ- Das o & New Years eve party at the Steverdsons’ was sure to be jolly. merriment was the key note at 1 erings in the “good old h days of form and 1 can fancy the de- a . over punch E S eve party given by M S. . B ‘whose lovely daughters, Cora and Blanche (now /. Smith and Mrs. Louls their genial moth. This game con- per bags, which ide in the archway of one bag contained gifts, the other flour. Each guest in turn, being blindfolded and provided with a long stick, proceeded to ‘“punch the bag’ —L e., try'to make a hole in the side and release the contents. In the ev of the gift bag being punched, the artic fail- ing at their feet became the property of the lucky puncher. When the was struck th sult—to the was not guite So pleasant. Im: Judges Hoffman and Hager, Llovd and J. B. Haggin. General Halieck and | even Bishop Kip scampering like school- boys to get away from the white shower. Apropos of the Haggins, the mother of the present youthful wife of the veteran ionaire—Miss Laura Sanders—was in &+ LMOST for the first time the ques- tion of a. distinctly American school of art has been seriously taken up and discussed both here and abroad. There is an English school, & Dutch, a French; why not, then, an American? Is not the work of many of our American artists peculiarly dis. tinctive and individual with little traec- ing of American influence or of Parisian technique? Have they not attacked subjects that few but Americans have attempted—for instance, the Indian, the Rockies or Ni- agara and have not the creators of these pictures been recognized abroad and their work taken as a representative of an American type? For years past forelgners have long been acquainted with painters from America who went to Paris and showed their remarkable faculty of quickly as- similating the teachings and influence of Europe, but those students who remained in Europe merged themselves more or less completely in the new environment and stamped out any tendency to assert thelr Americanism. "Of those who re- turned to America they, too, carried away with them the Europeanism that had been absorbed, consequently the paintings they sent to the expositions were but the reflex of the French, of the, German or of the English painters. There was noth- ing to distinguish the American art; even the painters themselves had lost the ac- cent of thelr mother tongue and spoke in the echo of the Europeans, But in the last few years conditions are changed. The foreign artists have been forced to consider the possibility of a new school and the foreign critics are vigorously discussing it, for the exposi- tion of 1500 contained an American sec- tion which could not be passed over slightingly. A dignified consideration without a patronizing tone pervaded all the Parisian criticisms and forelgn re- views. The pictures submitted were no longer the reflex of Europe; they were at last representatives of the difference which the American environment steadily impresses upon those who live and paint at home. A New York critic who at- AR A\_L? MIALLYSTE R -/ her girlhood the beauty of the Haggin- Tevis connection. She resided with her sister, who was Mr. Haggin's first wife, and who, in true Southern style, always gave an.eggnog party on New Year's eve. Mrs. Tevis, the sister, usually gave a small dance during Christmas week. The family of Colonel Ransome was quite renowned for unceasing hospitality which, at the holiday season, took, the form of Christmas tree parties and dances on New Year's night. Dr. and Mrs. A. J. Bowle, the parents of the popular beau Allen 8t. John of to-day, always gave a big New Years eve dinner, when ‘ter- rapin” and eggnog were features of the menu. A New Year's eve party given by the family of Isaac Friedlander was noted for its jollity, for fun reigned supreme, They had large rooms which were :well adapted for the impromptu charade of the four seasons, which was the “hit” of the evening. Hall RMcAllister In his shirt sleeyes, with a wreath of artificial flow- ers on his head, personated Spring; his brother Cutler, in a long dressing gown and fur cap, was Winter; Colonel Fred Sawyer as Autumn held a bundle of hay under his arm_and wore a_garland of poppies around his shoulder; Judge Hager as Summer carried a huge fan and wore" white draperies. They circled round and round the room amid the plaudits of the guests, the carpet-bag carried by Cutler cAtl‘lister being a special point of amuse- men # W. C. Ralston, the banker, was the most munificent and untiring host Cali- fornia has ever known, even in early days, before the era of Belmont. One of the most unique of his many frolics was chartering a steamboat in which he took a party of his friends to a New Year's eve ball in Sacramento. Another banker of that period, Julius May (Rothschilds’ agent), always gave a ‘“‘Saballion” party on New Year’s ave. They were, however, chiefly stag affairs. The Jullus Bandmanns were also givers of St. Sylvester feasts a decade later. The Swiss Consul, Francis Berton, and his handsome wife, to whose residence on Mission street a huge music- room had been built, gave notable New Years’ gatherings, generally suppers and dancing, many of their most elaborate feasts being In honor of forelgn naval officers. Y . Major S. J. Hensley of the Steam Navi. gation Company, a magnate of that pe: iod, gave a water party during one holi- day week which goes, as old Californians claim, to prove that climatic conditions for such affairs were much more favor- able then than now. vhen Mrs. Henry Barroilhet (nee Rabe) essaved to enter the sacred portals of San Francisco's then Four Hundred, she wisely chose the holiday season as the | CHIFFONS. FINE FABRICS AND JEWELRY. Continued from Page Fourteen. The all-black dancing skirt is short, for its delicacy forbids that it be permitted an opportunity to tear. Pedestrian length one would call it, if it were a walking skirt, dancing length for evening. There is one comfortable reflection to be found in a study of the gowns of the coming year. ,That, thoughy beginning as transparencies and without much fit, or, one might say, trimness, they will not easlly show wear and tear. They can be mended and darned and patched and pleced, and they will look quite nice through it all. This is very comforting when one has a lace gown, pretty well torn, and is out looking for chiffon roses warranted to cover the holes. Roses of all sizes, and one might say of all shapes, can be obtained, and cer- tainly in all colors. For bad patchings the black roses are best; and it can cer- tainly be said that they are the smart- est, for Queen Alexandra wears them in preference to pink roses, and the Queen can do nd wrong. Slim Effects. The woman with too much figure is to be pitied this season. What can she do to be saved? Well, thers are various pos- sibilities, The first thing that suggests it- self is the new corset that laces the abdo- men perfectly flat and sends a 200-pound Tt R T e e 20 HY NOT AN AM tended the expositfon writes: “On view- ing the American section in the Parls Exs)osltlun one is conscious of a sobriety and earnestness, a simplicity—in fact, a more obvious connection in the Ameri- can work than in that of the French sec- tion as a whole. The Americans do not as of other years seem to be painting in evidence to some vogue; still less with a purpose of creating one, they did not thresh about for motives which should electrify or thrill and prove brief sensa- tions, nor do they seem to be bent upon exhibiting the particular advantage of this or that method of technique. Their work for the most part is unassuming and straightforward, penetrated with realism and tempered with poetic feeling, not less suggestive of the true painter- like way of concelving the subject be- cause it was exeouted with so little de- sire to exploit the mere facility of brush work, vet showing a sound and advanced acquisition in technique. In fact, the American work shows superior to that of Norway, with the fresh vigorous spirit of which it otherwise had so much in common.” A forelgn review says “that the quall- ties of earnest force, of directly straight- forward vision and strong treatment evi- denced in the American work of the Paris Exposition almost forces one to the conclusion that there is a possibility in the near future of a distinctly American school.” 5 True it is that our country is young, it cannot expect to compete il at once with those of Europe that have passed through centuries and centuries of changes culmi- nating at last in comglete civilization. But art in America has advanced and will con- tinue to become more serious for, though we bave no leisure class, no kings, as had the older countries, to stimulate art and its followers, few corporations or churches that have offered scope for an American artist’s skill, we have still collectors, too few as yet, but those few are a keen eclec- tic emulating set of men who gradually are beginning to make thelr powers for good and the advancement in our circle feit. The men of wealth, the collectors, the connoisseurs are taking a new stand— they no longer follow in the footsteps of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers figure elsewhere. If this fs too severe, then thers are the usual resources for slim effects--using Dr. Banting's methods meanwhile. _ It 18 only the indolent woman who is too fat nowadays, and the modistes have come to dread her, for not only is she impossible to fit, but she objects to stand- ing and positively will not walk upstairs. She drinks a deal of water, puffs and makes herself red in the face telling you how little she eats. Now, fat is made of food and not of air, and if the fat woman were put upon the diet of her slim neigh- bor for a month her flesh would melt! away. X 4 This is part of a urmyn';on dress, this . talk of reductlon methods, for without & good shape nothing looks well. Try o dress up something that is deformed and you will get the idea. Until stomachs come in style and 44-inch busts are ad- ‘'mired, then something must be done, by the women who own them, for they are not in style now. The scented dinner gown is a pretty ex- travagance of spring. It costs money to smell nicely, but there is really no more attractive feature about a woman’s gown. Sachet is used, not in the lining, but in little bags which are disposed in conven- ient places upon the gown. The latest French wrinkle is to stuff the hollow, just at the front of the shoulders, with a bag in which there lies a deal of Violet sachet. The muffs are perfumed with it and a few little bags are concealed in the stock and in the front of the gown. The French make this as much a feature of good =owning as good linings and the manner RICAN SCH who filled thelr gallerfes with foreign sig- natures simply because they were foreign. To-day these men buy what is good of every school and nation; in the finest pri- vate residences pictures of American ar- tists are hung side by side with Corots, with Rousseaus, with Ostades, a Whistler, a Sargent, a Broughton or an Abby. The vigorous, poetic and sensitive tempera- ment of our artists has expressed {tselt with every accent of every school of every nation with the result that it has a tech- nique universally acknowledged pre-emi- nent, a poetic, subtle feeling and above all a noble aspiration truly American. There are among the American artists many individual and forceful men whose werk can compare favorably with that of of the modern painters of l-n{ nation. Why then should “not this discussion ‘which has been taken up terminate in a result, and that result be the establishing of a school of art which shall be known end pass with the ages as distinctly Amerfcan? An 0dd occupation and one in which the expert requires all his five senses and sev- eral more besides is to decide upon the genuineness of an “old master.” The ‘provenance” of a painting is a term used to indicate its history as completely as it may be known, but sometimes a picture without a “provenance” is just as valu- able as one with, for many of the Euro- Eean experts take paintings for their In- erent quality without relying upon their history. One thing these experts have to Jook out for is a spurlous ‘‘provenance,” for like everything else there is a manu- factory for the output of these, men are also hired to' forge letters, bills of sale, etc., concerning old masterpieces, but this fraud is one of the oldest known. An art journal records that not long ago a complete collection abundantly fortified Wwith seals and documents was sent on to New York to ‘be sold to the American market, but the pictures, which were merely copies of the originals, were. with few exceptions, so atrociously bad that in spite of the credentials no one was de- ceived. Also the forging of signatures is an every day occurrence. There are men who make a profession of doing this, the placing of names upon unknown works of art. Many of the oldest pictures are un- signed, the reason for ‘this being, it is in which the up-to-date dresses are scented would make more than a fashion volume, Gowns and Odors. Tt is not the real thing to use always the same perfume. One gets tired of it, but a variety is much llked. One day a violet odor, next day a cut rose, next day pink, and so on through the list of sweet smelis. The French, too with an ideal delicacy, match_ the lining to the odors and that lovely daintiness of person whielr Is so noticeable wherever it exists is detected at once. There is no more desirable trait of dress than absolute neatness. That mas- culine peculiarity which compels _the ‘throwing aside of all marments worn more than a day or so, and in the case of col- lars and cuffs an hour or so, is rarely found in the feminine persuasion, vet it is one of the most attractive features of fashionable gowning and one which the couturieres are preaching and teachins. They advise the wearing of satin and sil cuffs that can be slipped off and sent to the cleaners and they will show you lists of materials that can be tubbed, though you would never suspect such plebeian Dossibilities. The cashmere shawls that are never ‘washed and the laces that are shaken out, generation after generation, world with- out end, are now being cast aside for pretty silk crepes that can be cleaned and Wwinter laces that can 50 to the laun- "The pioturesqus era is undoubtedly here, but with it there will come the era of neatness, and for a combination of these the would-be woman of fashion can than those who hold the destinles of her gowns in the hollow of their good right hand. 7= time and a ball as the medium for_her social plunge, and securing the late Mrs, Hall McAllister as her society sponsor issued her invitations with Mrs. McAllis. ter's card inclosed. The effect was magi cal. Mrs. Barroilhet, who was hitherto almost unknown socially, became In moment famous, and the ball was a greal success. A house noted for the jollity of its gath- erings at holiday time was that of Mrs. Willlam Hooper,. who had able assistants in her son, Willle Little, and her daugh-: ter Augusta. The latter, as Mrs. Pelham Ames of to-day, keeps ug the family tra- dition for hospitality. The Hoopers wers much givén to holiday week thering: when the amusement consisted of games of varfous kinds, dancing and supper. LavRa Savnosas - The late Ed Sheldon, who gave suchy-’»\ dainty bachelor dinners and suppers to, his lady friends, and Peter Martin and Harry Holbrook, who, shine as hosts, are by no means pioneers in that line. Probably the first who ean lay claim to being bachelor hosts were Messrs. Alfred Godeffroy and Willlam Sillem, the pioneer partner lumber mer- chants, who between 1855 and 1860 kept Bachelors' Hall together out on Powell street, near Green, and gave many a merry party to the ladies of that day. Then there was F. L. A. Ploche, the French capitalist, who delighted to en- tertain musical stars at his bachelor abode on Stockton street, and to whom he always presented some article of jew- elry as a memento of the occasion. As for instance his New Year's eve supper o Mme. Parepa Rosa, when she found a magnificent bracelet hidden in the fold of her napkin at the supper table. In noting these festivities of the holi- day season, one of the chief pleasures— to the ladies at least—must not be omit- ted, which was the New Year's day calls made by the men upon their lady friends, and to it many a belle looked forward the whole year round. Calling began about 11 a. m. and lasted, with slight in- terruption, until far into'the evening. It was like the *tea’” of the present day, in that the lady of the house was surr.e’und- ed by a bevy of lovely “assistants,” but unlike in that men only were the visitors. The call lasted from two to ten minutes, the stay being largely regulated by the length of the man's calling list. Refresh- ments, more or less elaborate, wers spread on a table in the room with the recelving party. In some cases the rooms were arti- ficially lighted and the ladies wore decol- lete costumes, but in the majority of houses the bright sunshine was not ex- cluded, and afternoon reception dress was the rule. Occasionally a hostess who had a number of ladies recefving with her would invite some of the men to return in the evening for a dance, and thus the new year was charmingly inaugurated. =aid, that most of the old masters placed their signatures upon the frame instead of upon the canvas as the modern paint- ers do. With the style of framing being changed, the signature is lost or, if put on ihe ‘canmvas, it being the last thing painted and that generally over the var- nish, It is also the first to disappear when the picture is cleaned. Many of the great ainters rarely signed their work at all 'or before they let a picture go out of their possession, it was signed “all over with thelr individuality which meant mors to them than a written name. among the genuine signatures rarely found are Ve- lasquez, Rubens, Zubaran, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Lawrence and Turner. Artists of to-day Aar that the signing of a plcture i8 a most difficult thing, for its presence must not affect the composition or ob- trude itself upon the observer. Regardiess of the character of the writing, if boldly placed it is sure to detract from the main work. The first exhibition of note to welcome in the new year is that of the photo- graphic salon which opens at the Mark Hopkins Institute on the evening of Jan- uary 9 with a reception tendered by the members of the Art Association to the San Francisco Camera Club. This exhi- bition §s expected to be of unusual in- terest, for pictures have come in repre- senting the progress of photography in various parts of the world, but of the 1000 received only 300 were accepted. This being the caee, it is safe to prophesy that those 200 are well worth studying from both an_artistic and a pictorial point of view. The exhibition, commencing the 10th, will be open to the public two weeks. Art in the local circles has been at a standstill as far as work is concerned during the holiday season, but most of the studios have been crowded with buy- ers and many of the smaller canvases have changed hands in Christmas gifts. G. Cadénasso had a run on pastels, sell- ing over a_ dozen of California scenes. Pastel 1s always soft and effective, al- though for some reason or other few art- ists work in it. Many collectors prefer a pastel to a water color; In fact, it is sometimes equal to ofl. Ome of its dis- advantages is, i however, its Hability to damage, for the .least brush will wipe away an entire landscape, although it is OOL OF ART? easily repaired. One of the superfor points is that it never changes color. Many of the European artists work in it, although very few of the originals ever reach this country. Not long ago I saw a photo- graph by a pastel by Degas, “Le Lecon de Danse,” which the German Government recently bought for the Berlin g}useum. Also one of Fritz Thaulow, a Norwegian painter, and it is said that he is particu- larly partial to pastels, putting as much work upon them and charging for them the same price as for oil. In Kennedy & Rabjohn's gallery, on Post street, there has been recently placed a large canvas by Ada Romer Shawhan —a Chinese jar filled with great feathery chrysanthemums, the _composition of which is unusual and exceedingly attrac- tive. This artist has overcome the fault generally observed in the work of all who paint this flower, that of making them a glaring yellow; she has painted them in & mellow tone ‘with soft lines which give a wonderfully natural appearance with- out the usual studled effect. The back- ground is harmonious and the picture is ?ne of the best floral pleces in the gal- ery. Greenway.'V' - 2 s T Frank McComas, who came up for the | club exhibition, has returned to Monte- rey, where he will remain for the balance of the winter, making some of those stun- ning water colors of the old adobes and pine for which he has be¢ome famous. Edith Whitefleld, whose work was much admired in the recent exhibition held by L. P. Latimer in the Maple Room of the Palace Hotel, has had several commis- sions for Alameda marsh scenes, for which she is best known. Also one of the finest from her brush, a stretch of marsh showing the bay in ‘the distance, has been recently added to the private gallery of Charles Lombard. Currier, who has been making special studies of Chinatown, sold a num- ber of canvases. Mr. Currler is at pres- ent making a night study in the Celestial quarters, and a very effective piece dis- closes an old medicine man standing over a huge copper kettle under which a fire is blazing up. He holds in his hand a stick and occasionally stirs the mixture, which sends up little clouds of steam. The picture and the study promise good results, HARRIET QUIMBY.