An excellent test of the quality of all such temporary structures is the satisfaction with which one thinks of them as permanent buildings. No other of the palaces would wear so well in its beauty if it were set up for the joy of future generations. It would be a glorious thing for San Francisco if the Fine Arts Palace could be made permanent in Golden Gate Park. To duplicate it in lasting materials would cost much, but it would be worth while. San Francisco owes it to itself and its love for art to see that this greatest of Western works of art does not pa.s.s away. As it stands on the Exposition grounds, it is more enduring than any of the other palaces. To induce the loan of its priceless contents, the building had to be fireproof. But the construction is not permanent. The splendid colonnade, a thing of exquisite and manifold beauty, is only plaster, and can last but a season or two. Even were the building solid enough to endure, its location is impossible after the Exposition closes.
It should be duplicated in permanent form. No doubt a proper site, with a setting of water and trees, can best be found in Golden Gate Park. The steel frame and roof of the main gallery could easily be transferred there and set up again. While it would cost too much to duplicate in real marble the pillars of the colonnade and dome, yet these can be reproduced in artificial stone as successfully as they have here been imitated in plaster. In the Pennsylvania Railroad station in New York travertine has been counterfeited so well that no one can tell where the real ends and the imitation begins.
Every other considerable city in the civilized world has its art gallery. San Francisco has already the full-sized model of surely the most beautiful one in the world. Made permanent in the Park, this Palace of Art would not only honor San Francisco, but would be "a joy forever"
to all America.
The Fine Arts Exhibit[1].--The Palace of Fine Arts contains what the International Jury declares the best and most important collection of modern art that has yet been a.s.sembled in America. The war in Europe had a two-fold effect on this exhibition. While it prevented some countries, like Russia and Germany, from sending their paintings and sculptures, it led others, such as France and Italy, to send more than they otherwise would have sent. The number the Exposition might have was limited only by its funds available for insurance. So many were the works of art sent over on the Vega and the Jason that an Annex was required to house them.
It must be remembered that this art exhibit, like the other exhibits of the Exposition, is contemporaneous. It represents, with exceptions, the work of the last decade. Most of the exceptions are in the rooms of the Historical Section, the Abbey, Sargent, Whistler, Keith, and other loan collections, and the great Chinese exhibit of ancient paintings on silk.
In general, the paintings and sculptures made famous by time are not in the Fine Arts Palace. Its rooms are mainly filled with the latest work of artists of the day, exhibited under the Exposition"s rule which limits compet.i.tion in all departments to current production. This explains, for instance, why the French Government has placed its Meissoniers and Detailles, with Rodin"s bronzes, in the French Pavilion.
A Michelangelo, works of Benvenuto Cellini, and many old paintings and statues are in the beautiful Italian Pavilion. Other paintings of value are in the Belgian section of the French Pavilion, and in the Danish Pavilion.
This limitation of the Fine Arts exhibit has made room for a great representation of the men of today. The Palace contains a mult.i.tude of splendid pictures. While of course, as in all such collections, there is some inferior work, the most pertinent criticism is that there are too many really notable things, and the scope of the collection is too broad, to be seen with due appreciation in a limited time. There is so liberal a showing of different schools, styles and lands, that one is liable at first to be bewildered. But the exhibit is most popular. The great number of visitors constantly thronging the galleries is significant of the value the people put upon art. Excellent as the collection is as a school for artists, it was made for popular enjoyment and education. The best result to be looked for is its stimulation and culture of the public taste. The people are already in love with it, and what they love they make their own.
The exhibits are arranged in fifteen sections, consisting of national, sectional, or personal, collections of paintings, besides many important displays of miniatures, etchings, prints, drawings, and tapestries. The art of the sculptor is abundantly ill.u.s.trated in grouped statuary, single pieces, panels in low or high relief, and wood carvings. Pa.s.sing the heroic emblems of history or allegory in marble, bronze or plaster, nothing is more beautiful or appealing than the hundreds of small bronzes shown. In brief, the Fine Arts exhibit embraces all the cla.s.sifications of modern art, save the "arts and crafts" exhibits, which are scattered among the several exhibit palaces.
First in importance to a citizen of this country is the art of the United States. Possibly it may also be of first importance to foreign visitors. For the phrase "American art" no longer raises a doubt. It is at last recognized that America has something of its own to offer the world,--a style developed within the last, two decades. The prime movement of the times presenting boldness, brilliance and a laxity of detail in portrayal, the art of America, as shown in this exhibition, embodies these characteristics without emphasizing them. Keeping in mind the fact that the Palace contains little American art earlier than 1905, American artists are showing marked individualities, even in their acceptance of popular precepts. The virile men of the day love luminosity; it dominates all else, and marks their canvases with light; they restrain the too bold stroke of the radical Impressionist, but outline with firmness, so that details are more easily imagined by the observer, even when an expected delineation is absent. Even the older men, though still under the influence of earlier tradition, show a distinctiveness of style that sets them well apart from their English, French or German contemporaries.
The International Section, in Room 108 and in the Annex, is peculiarly interesting in that it makes easy a comparison of the characteristic fingerprints of each country represented. There is ample opportunity here for a discriminating and profitable study. Unfortunately, because of the war, the gallery contains no special rooms for the art of England and Germany. Both countries are represented only by loan collections. Of German art there are forty well chosen paintings.
France, Italy, Holland, Sweden, Portugal, j.a.pan, China and several of the South American countries have installed representative collections in the Palace; while the Annex, made necessary by the unexpected number of pictures from Europe, contains a large exhibit of Hungarian art, a Norwegian display, filling seven rooms, a large British exhibit, and a small group of pictures by Spanish painters, showing that the influence of Velasquez is still powerful in Spanish art. The Norwegian display is one of the largest foreign sections, quite as characteristic as the Swedish, and certain to arouse discussion because of its extreme modernism. The ultra-radical art of Edvard Munch, who is called the greatest of Norwegian painters, and to whom a special room is a.s.signed, is sure to be a bone of contention among the critics. The work of Harald Sohlberg (medal of honor) and Halfdan Strom (gold medal), differing widely from Munch"s, though hardly less modern in style, will also attract much attention. The omission of Munch from the honor list is really a tribute to his eminence. An artist who has won the Grand Prix at Rome and awards in every other European capital was deemed outside of compet.i.tion here.
Axel Gallen-Kallela, the celebrated Finnish painter, winner of the Exposition"s medal of honor, fills another room in the Annex. This room, covering adequately Gallen"s progress through twenty-five years, is the only one in the Exposition to ill.u.s.trate the development of a great painter from his student days. The collection runs from his earliest academic work, photographic in its care for detail, to his present mastery of Impressionism, wherein by a few strokes he expresses all the essentials.
The Italian Futurists are well shown in the Annex, and for the first time in this country. The Futurist pictures. .h.i.therto seen in America have been French imitations of the Italian originators of the mode. A sample Futurist t.i.tle, "Architectural Construction of a Woman on the Beach," may or may not indicate what these pictures reveal. The Annex, too, has a splendid exhibit of the etchings of Frank Brangwyn, the great Englishman, who is no less renowned as an etcher than as a painter, and who has won the Exposition"s medal of honor in the International Section.
The arrangement of the rooms in the Fine Arts Gallery becomes simple enough when the key is supplied. The United States section is in the center, and, with the historical rooms, occupies, roughly, half the s.p.a.ce, flanked by the foreign rooms at either end of the building. Four rooms of the United States section are separated from the rest and form a narrow strip across the extreme north end of the gallery. The prints, drawings, miniatures, and medals are installed in rooms forming a strip along the west wall of the building.
The United States section is opened by a central hall opposite the main entrance, and by a corridor extending on either side through to the foreign sections. The central hall is chiefly devoted to sculpture, including Karl Bitter"s strong and characteristic group, "The Signing of the Louisiana Purchase Treaty," Daniel Chester French"s "Alice Freeman Palmer Memorial," both winners of the medal of honor, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney"s fine central fountain, and other important work.
The walls are hung with ancient tapestries of great interest, and paintings, mostly decorative, though Robert Vonnoh"s "Poppies" and Ben Au Haggin"s "Little White Dancer" are admirable. Vonnoh won a gold medal.
Historical Section.--South of the United States section, a block of ten rooms, with Room 54 at the southwest angle of the central hall, is devoted to painters who either have influenced American art or represent its earlier stages. Room 91, on the east side of the block, contains old Dutch, Flemish, French, and Italian pictures, none very interesting, though Teniers, Watteau and Tintoretto are represented. Rooms 92, 62, and 61, const.i.tuting the tier next to the Italian section, show chiefly examples of the French painters, including those of the Barbizon school, who have influenced later American painting. Along with other names less known, Room 92 displays canvases by Daubigny, Courbet, Charles Le Brun, Meissonier, Tissot, Monticelli and Rousseau. It has two Corots, one a delight. Room 62 is even more important. It offers a Millet, far from typical; a capital Schreyer, two portraits by the German Von Lenbach, a small but interesting sample of Alma Tadema"s finished style, and the sensational "Consolatrix Afflictorum" by Dagnan-Bouveret. Better still, in Jules Breton"s "The Vintage" and Troyon"s "Landscape and Cattle" it has two of the n.o.blest paintings to be seen in the entire Palace,-- pictures that show these great masters at their best.
Room 61 is mainly devoted to the early Impressionists, with seven canvases by their leader, Claude Monet, and other landscapes by Renoir, p.i.s.saro and Sisley, and a brilliant interior (No. 2343) by Gaston La Touche. The pictures by Monet ill.u.s.trate his progress from the hard conventionalism of his early academic style (seen in 2636) to such delightful embodiments of light and atmosphere as 2633 and 2637. The gallery contains no more triumphant piece of Impressionism than the saucy "Lady in Pink" by the Russian, Nicholas Fechin. The story set afloat that it is the work of an untaught Russian peasant simply testifies to ignorance of this master. Every splotch of color here breathes technique. As if by way of contrast, the opposite wall shows one of Puvis de Chavannes" cla.s.sical murals, even more anaemic than usual.
The large room No. 63 shows a Venetian sunset by Turner, two portraits by Goya, another attributed to Velasquez, a splendid Raffaelesque altar-piece by Tiepolo, the like of which rarely leaves Italy, and canvases by Guido Reni, Ribera, and Van d.y.k.e. Almost all the remaining s.p.a.ce is taken up by excellent examples of the British art that influenced the early American painters, with some of prior date. Here are canvases by Lely, Kneller, Hogarth, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Hoppner, Beechey, Allan Ramsay, Lawrence, Raeburn, and Romney. The last four are especially well represented. In this room, too, is the bronze replica of Weinmann"s figure, "The Setting Sun," here called "Descending Night."
American "Old Masters."--Following logically the English portrait painters, the American historical section begins with Rooms 60 and 59.
The former is mainly filled with the work, much of it admirable, of the early American portrait painters. Here are Gilbert Stuart"s lovable "President Monroe," Benjamin West"s "Magdalen," and portraits by Peale, Copley, West, Sully and others. In Room 59, the antiquarian interest predominates, with a few fine portraits by Inman, Harding, King, and S.
F. B. Morse, who, besides inventor, was an artist. But nothing here surpa.s.ses No. 1719 by Charles Loring Elliott, a canvas that is irresistible in its vivid setting forth of personality. Room 58 brings the story of American painting well past the middle of the Nineteenth century, with typical examples of Bierstadt, Eastman Johnson and other fading names. Room 57 contains a number of Edwin Abbey"s finely ill.u.s.trative paintings, the most popular of which is his "Penance of Eleanor," and a collection of his splendid drawings; also important canvases by Theodore Robinson and John La Farge. Room 64 covers a wide sweep, from Church"s archaic "Niagara Falls" down to Stephen Parrish, Eakins, Martin, the Morans, Hovenden, and Remington. Edward Moran"s "Brush Burning" (2649) is capital. Room 54, the last of the American historical rooms, is perhaps the most important, finely showing Inness, Wyant, Winslow Homer, Hunt, and other American masters.
Modern American Painting.--We come now to the great and splendid representation of present-day painters. In noting these, the artists achieving grand prizes, medals of honor or gold medals will often be mentioned; but a full list of such honors will be found at the end of this chapter. It should be remembered that no member of a jury, and no man who received the honor of a separate room, was eligible for award.
In general, it may be said, the Exposition puts forward the work of artists who have "arrived" since the opening of the century. In accordance with this helpful policy, older painters who had won many honors at previous exhibitions were pa.s.sed over for the encouragement of younger men. It should also be noted that awards were not made for particular pictures, but upon each artist"s exhibit as a whole.
Rooms 55, 56, 65 and 85 show contemporary Americans,--the last two with great credit. No. 65 is a large room of canvases by American women painters. One who has not kept abreast of woman"s work in art in this country has a surprise awaiting him in the the high quality shown here.
Two pictures by Ellen Rand (2919, 2918), Mary Curtis Richardson"s captivating "Young Mother" and her "Professor Paget" (3000, 3002), and Alice Stoddard"s inimitably girlish group, "The Sisters" (3329), will reward very careful study of their sincerity and strength of treatment.
Especially brilliant are the works of Cecilia Beaux and M. Jean McLane,-- the first winning the Exposition"s medal of honor, the latter rather theatrical in their gayety of color. Here also is a canvas (2743) by Violet Oakley, another honor medallist.
Room 85 is enriched by the canvases of Charles Walter Stetson, Horatio Walker, Charles W. Hawthorne, Douglas Volk (gold medal), and George de Forest Brush. Volk"s three charming pictures deserve to be better hung.
The Stetson group ill.u.s.trates the Impressionist method and result as well as anything in the Palace. Take his "Smugglers" or his "Summer Joy"
(3311, 3317), and note how a few heavy and apparently meaningless dabs of color may be laid side by side on canvas in such a way that, when seen from a distance, they blend, until the picture not only outlines figures and foliage, but also glows with atmosphere, life and movement.
These rooms complete the south half of the American section, with the exception of the very interesting, though not fully adequate, Whistler Room, 28; the Print Rooms, 29 to 34, in the tier along the west wall, and five more one-man rooms along the east wall. These five, in their order from the main entrance are: No. 87, devoted to the old-masterlike works of Frank Duveneck, who, more perhaps than any other American, shows the great manner of Velasquez, Rembrandt and Franz Hals, and to whom the jury has recommended that a special medal be given for his influence on American art; No. 88 filled with the admirable Impressionist landscapes of E. W. Redfield; 89 and 93, given up to the widely contrasted work of Edmund C. Tarbell and John H. Twachtman, each in his own fashion a master and enjoying a well-earned popularity, Twachtman"s pictures in particular commanding almost as high prices as those of the men in Room 54; and No. 90, just off the Tarbell room, containing a small loan collection which very incompletely represents William Keith. Five other individual rooms are north of the main entrance: No. 79, portraits and still life by William M. Chase; 78, Childe Ha.s.sam"s radically Impressionist work; 77, Gari Melchers"
pictures of Dutch types and scenes; 76, the charming western pictures of Arthur F. Mathews and Francis McComas, both Californians; and 75, the John S. Sargent room, containing among other works his famous early portrait of Mme. Gautrin, his "John Hay," and the sympathetic portrait of Henry James which was mutilated by the British suffragettes. All these one-man rooms exhibit characteristic work of the men thus distinguished, though the younger men are the more completely represented. The Whistler, Keith, Chase and Sargent rooms, which may be cla.s.sed with the historical block, show few of the best-known masterpieces of these artists.
Room 80, cut out of the northeast corner of the central hall, a gallery of well restrained pictures, contains the interesting work in light and color of William McG. Paxton, member of the jury; portraits and figures by Leslie P. Thompson (silver medal), Philip L. Hale"s warm-toned portraits, the delicate but brilliant landscapes of Willard L. Metcalf (medal of honor), and those by Philip Little (silver medal). The portraits are in the older academic style; the landscapes, modern. Rooms 67 and 68 are distinguished by some notable landscapes and marines. No.
67 shows Emil Carlsen"s fresh "Open Sea," his single picture here, but the winner of a medal of honor, and Albert Laessle"s small animal sculptures (gold medal), and capital examples of Paul Dougherty, J. F.
Carlson, Leonard Ochtman and Ben Foster. No. 68 holds two fine snowy landscapes by W. Elmer Schofield (medal of honor), two engaging studies in brown by Daniel Garber, brilliant figures by J. C. Johansen, and California coast views by William Ritschel. The last three artists are gold medallists.
Room 69 is made noteworthy by works of three of the nine American winners of the medal of honor,--Lawton Parker"s voluptuous "Paresse"
and two portraits, and single paintings by John W. Alexander and Richard E. Miller (1035, 2606). Alexander"s airy "Phyllis" is his only picture in the Palace. Miller shows one more canvas, a colorful "Nude" (2607) in Room 47. Room 70 is entirely devoted to portrait painters, among them Julian Story, H. G. Herkomer, Robert Vonnoh, and Irving C. Wiles (3668), the latter two both winners of the gold medal. No. 74 shows admirable small landscapes, among them the "Group of White Birches" by Will S.
Robinson (silver medal), Charles C. Allen"s "Mountain and Cloud," and land and water views by Charles J. Taylor, especially No. 3404. Room 73 shows good landscapes by Ernest Lawson (gold medal), Paul King (silver medal), and the two Beals. Gifford Beal"s work won a gold medal. Room 72, a gallery in the academic style, contains a variety of portraits, figure paintings and landscapes, including W. R. Leigh"s spirited "Stampede," and the more conventional work of Walter MacEwen. No. 71 is another varied room. In addition to some landscapes, the visitor will be struck by the small but exquisite exhibit in gold, enamel, and precious stones of Louis C. Tiffany.
The western tier of this section, Rooms 43-51, contains work of all grades of merit. No. 43 is conglomerate. Perham Nahl"s well drawn "Despair" (2690) is perhaps best worth mention. In No. 44 Putthuff"s two brown western scenes and Clarkson"s portrait of E. G. Keith are interesting. No. 45 is better. Walter Griffin"s opulent landscapes (medal of honor) are well worth studying. Here also are two canvases by Robert Reid, one almost j.a.panese in its effect; the restrained landscapes of William Sartain, and Charles Morris Young"s sharply contrasting "Red Mill" and "Gray Mill," with his characteristic wintry landscapes. Reid and Young won the gold medal. In No. 46 are a half-dozen delicately handled landscapes by Frank V. Du Mond, a member of the jury. In No. 47 E. L. Blumenschein"s warm Indian pictures and A.
L. Groll"s desert scenes won silver medals. But the best thing here is Richard E. Miller"s "Nude," already mentioned.
On the east wall of Room 48 hangs "Sleep," the best of the eight canvases shown by Frederic Carl Frieseke, distinguished above all other American painters in the palace by the Exposition"s grand prize. Seven other pictures by Frieseke, interesting by reason of comparison with this masterpiece, hang in Room 117. In Gallery 48 are also some good landscapes,--Robert Vonnoh"s "Bridge at Grez" and Cullen Yates"
"November Snow." In No. 49, a better balanced room than most in this tier, three walls are made noteworthy by J. Alden Weir"s luminous and Impressionist landscapes, and D. W. Tryon"s more academic canvases. Weir was the chairman of the jury for oil paintings. No. 50 is dominated by Sergeant Kendall, in both painting and sculpture. In the first he won the gold medal, in the second the silver medal. Room 51 has been called the "Chamber of Horrors," because it shows several of the extremists; but it has some masterpieces. Staring things by John Sloan, William J.
Glackens, Adolphe Borie, and Arthur B. Caries are relieved by H. H.
Breckinridge"s highly colored fruits and flowers, Gertrude Lampert"s "Black and Green," Thomas Anshutz" two studies of women, and several of Robert Henri"s strong figure pieces.
In the extreme northern end of the gallery, beyond the foreign sections, is a tier of four rooms, 117-120, ranging from the mediocre to the admirable. In No. 117 are seven interesting canvases by Frieseke, the grand-prize winner, already mentioned. These pictures show the artist"s scope. No. 1816 and others are strikingly like Plinio Nomellini"s No. 86 in the Italian section. No. 1811 is as different from these as "Sleep"
is from all the rest. In the same room are Mora"s "Vacation Time" (2645) and Tanner"s "Christ at the Home of Lazarus" (3370), both winners of the gold medal. Room 118 holds the pictures of several gold-medal winners, the "Promenade" (1185) by Max Bohm; the n.o.ble "Lake Louise" (1246) by H.
J. Breuer, whose pictures of the Canadian Rockies are also to be found in Rooms 56 and 58; the tender "Spring" (1972) by W. D. Hamilton, worthy of a better place; and H. L. Hoffman"s clearlighted "A Mood of Spring"
(2116), and his vivid "Savannah Market" (2115).
Room 119 is filled with water-colors, drawings, engravings and etchings.
Room 120 holds George Bellows" Post-Impressionistic canvases, Myron Barlow"s well-drawn figures, W. D. Hamilton"s speaking likeness of Justice McKenna (1971), Charles H. Woodbury"s "The Bark" (3692), and Waldo Murray"s portrait of "Robert Fowler" (366), wrongly catalogued with the International section. All these painters won gold medals. This is perhaps the best room in this tier.
In the tier on the western wall devoted to the minor forms of art, Howard Pyle"s ill.u.s.trations occupy two small rooms, 41 and 42. The first contains ink sketches, the second his works in characteristic color.
Room 40 is devoted to admirable miniatures and to water colors. Here on the east wall are Jules Guerin"s vividly colored Oriental scenes, which won the gold medal. The walls of Room 39 are given up to a series of charming pastels by John McClure Hamilton. No. 39 also contains cases of medals, as does No. 38. Room 37 is devoted to miniatures, and 36 to drawings.
In the section known as the "Print Rooms," 29-34, along the west wall, are hundreds of famous etchings. This branch of art, old and respected through the examples offered by early masters like Albrecht Durer and Rembrandt, has still to be fully appreciated. It has come to the public slowly, the layman who likes and buys pictures more often holding aloof from the thing called an etching. That there is now a closer acquaintance than before is due in large measure to Joseph Pennell.
Working through the practical, he allied his art years ago with such subjects as bridge and railroad building, and by giving the public an easier avenue of approach, has attracted it to the beauty of this method of art. The print rooms show dozens of Pennell"s etchings, with those of Whistler and many others. Whistler"s etchings, lithographs, and drawings are in No. 29, Pennell"s in No. 31. Room 30 holds the work of Henry Wolf, winner of the grand prize. B. A. Wehrschmidt, an honor medallist, is represented in Room 119. J. Andre Smith, Herman A. Webster and Cadwallader Washburn are in Room 32, Allen Lewis and Gustav Baumann (gold medals) are in Room 34. Room 28 holds the loan collection of Whistler"s works, already mentioned, chiefly from the National Gallery, Washington. Room 27 contains photographic reproductions of painting and sculpture. Room 26 is devoted to original drawings for ill.u.s.tration.
The Foreign Sections.--These are placed north and south of the United States collections. In the extreme south end, j.a.pan occupies a large block of rooms, numbered from 1 to 10. With this abundant floor and wall s.p.a.ce at her disposal, that country left nothing undone to make her art exhibit comprehensive and beautiful. The display stands alone for completeness. j.a.pan"s art is as old as her history; and now, with her advent among the modern nations, she has added Occidental art to her more ancient forms. The essayal, as shown here, is still beyond her, but the strides are noteworthy. In the wonderful display of her own art, she shows both the beauties of antiquity and the masterpieces of her present day artists. The paintings upon silk, landscape embroideries, porcelains, ink drawings, metal work, and scrolls will occupy the art lover many hours.
France adjoins j.a.pan, filling a block of rooms from 12 to 18, and Italy follows, in Rooms 21 to 25. The intervening rooms, Nos. 19 and 20, are a.s.signed respectively to Uruguay and Cuba.
The French and Italian exhibits had to wait for the arrival of the Jason. Now they are installed, and beautifully hung and set. Though France is the home of the Post-Impressionists, and Italy that of the Futurists, the flagrancy of neither of these schools is on view here.
Both countries show their best balanced art since 1905. In the French exhibit, the mode of the day prevails, color, luminosity, richness of texture. All that differentiates the art of France to-day from that of other countries is her own inimitable, delicate, inherent taste and touch. The subject matters little; the French perception and execution are there. Where other canvases offer--say a beautiful glow--the French picture "vibrates." If other works are finished, these have finesse. There is similar spirit in the Italian galleries, with a variation due to national characteristics rather than to difference of opinion or method. The Italian pictures fully occupy the mind and eye; the French often fascinate by something more than skill and color. Both countries have placed their older art, and some of its best, in their official pavilions.
France.--In the French Section, Room 12 contains a diverse collection of water color, drawing, engraving, and painting, among the latter, Henry Grosjean"s "The Bottoms" (365). Room 13, full of strongly contrasting work, is distinguished by Maurice Denis" daring decorative panels. Here also is Claude Monet"s "Vetheuil" (452), the same scene, though not the same picture, as his No. 2634 in Room 61. Comparison is interesting for the difference in touch, though both were painted in the same year. Francois Flameng is represented here by "Paris" (346), not so compelling as his "Madame Letellier" (345), and "Fete Venetienne" (344), in Rooms 18 and 14. Room 14, containing a good many decorative canvases, has also, besides Flameng"s "Fete," two of the extreme Impressionistic paintings of Henri Martin, "The Lovers" (432), and his own dim "Self Portrait" (433). Two colorful Breton scenes (302) by Darrieux, and (406) by Le Gout-Gerard stand out on the north wall. Room 15 shows some charming pieces,--Lucien Simon"s strongly contrasting work in the spiritual "Communicants" (494) and his barbaric "Gondola" (495); Domergue"s "The Frog" (324), Besnard"s glowing "Gipsy" (255), and Lemordant"s "The Wind" (409). These last give a strong color to the room, relieved by Leroux" calm "Lake" (416), and Maury"s delicate young girls (440).
Room 16 is better balanced. Remembering "The Frog," Domergue"s versatility appears in the portrait of Gina Mabille, the danseuse. A delicate bit of Impressionism in Le Sidanier"s "The Harbor: Landernau"
(418). Two canvases by Menard are hung here. His "Opal Sea" (445) is charming. Auburtin"s decorative panels hang on the north wall. One of the most notable works of P. Franc Lamy, his golden "Venice: Morning"
(393), will be found on the west wall.
Room 17 shows little of striking interest. Augustin Hanicotte, one of the few French painters to adopt the strong colors and lights of the Scandinavian artists, is represented by the gay "Winter in the Low Country" (381). Andre Dauchez" "Le Pouldu" (304) is a fine brown lowland landscape. In spirit, though in richer colors, Jean Veber"s captivating "Little Princess" (515) reminds one of John Bauer"s Swedish fairy-tale pictures. Strength and truthfulness characterize Jeanniot"s fine group of Norman fisherfolk (388). (See p. 125.)