The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-02-29
Gossin ahnnt Art

81 e-4 Gossip about Art. ..-e,, +.
The Acropolis Of Athens has at last been re-
lieyed from the square tower of medieval times
which stood out so obtrusively at the side Of
the Propylsa.- The archaeological society aid
1t at DIR. Schliemann's expense. Sundry inter-
esting Inscriptions on the adjacent walls have
oeen revealed, but nothing as yet to determine
the date Ct the towers erection. l.Iil LII 4 /.
In the art hall of the centennial buildings
at Philadelphia, according to a correspondents
OF the New York Times, the pavilions four in
number, are given--the northwestern to Great
Britain, the southwestern to the United States
the. northeastern to France, the southeastern to
Germany. These will all be occupied by sculp-
tnre4 Austrian sculpture will be exhibited in
the two grand chambers on each side of the
rear yestibule which will be adorned with Ital-
ian sculpture. Thessm mall rooms on the north
side, between the English and Austrian cham
bers, are given 10 the United States for the ex.
hibitiOn of art industries, and the small ones on
the other side are shared between the United
States and Belgium. The grand corridor will
be devoted to prints and engravings by Eng
land, France and Austria. On the western
side of the building the small art gallery Is de-
voted to the paintings Of Sweden and Spain,
and on the eastern side the corresponding at
gallery is shared between Austria and Belei-
um. The two grand art halls are devoted to
the paintings Of Sweden and Spain, and
on the eastern side the corresponding art gall
lerv is shared between Austria and Belgium.
The two grand art halls are devoted to the
holders of the payillions, ths western one be-
ing shared by England and the United States,
and ha hate n
The great central hall will be adorned with
sculpture also by the same powers, each hav-
ing corresponding corner. In the annex, the
various nations that are lesser contributors are
given place; Switzerland and Russia alone Of
European nations will contribute nothing in
art Edward King writes to the New York
Post that the objects OF art to be sent from Par
IS are gathered into one of the buildings OF the
Cluny museum; and that American artists
fellow-painters residing abroad have been fur
nished with no funds to forward the paintings
to seaport, and do not know what to do with
the canvases accumulated on their hands
of the Munich art-school, where so many
young Americans of remarkable promise are
studying now, Charles Dudley Warner writes
Interestingly to the Courant There mas, he 81
says, peen 'a total revolution there within
these eight years, 6verthrowing the 'misdi-
rected TASTE of 40 years before, the incubus
of Cornelius Overlook, etc, and introducing
fresh, bold, free method in every respect; not
exactly in the Paris method, but as realistic, as
audacious and more tolerant of finish which
aims to disguise weakness. The American ar
fists there, among whom are Neal, Rosenthal,
Sherlow, TAFT, Duveneck, and Others have Just
organized club of over 80 members Three
oe sha~ Ta.- 1aL- A..
first academy prize,-the first American who
had ever taken any prize there This year, the
first prize lies between w. M. Chase OF st.
Louis and German, whose sketches were Sc
lecied from those sent 10, and Chases's pre-
ferred. They have now to finish pictures from
their sketches, and the judges will then award
the first and second prizes. The competitors
had to select some incident iD the life of Col
umbus, and Mr.. Chase chose Columbus urging
the feasibility of his project upon the council
of Salamanca. 1t would take two years to do
the big picture, which win require q canvass at
least Is feet long. Several of the American ar
lists have started an art journal. A large pro-
portion OF them are from the West. r.. E
The Atlantic Monthly passes the following
verdict on Constant Mayors Song OF the Shirt:
There is always an audience for the sentiment
alst in art, and it is to it that Constant Mayer
appeals in his Song of the Shirt, lately Inn
ported by Messrs. Blakeslee g Noyes. The
interest therefore, is almost purely intellectual,
and the picture, looked at across the room, ek-
poses its artistic poverty by its utter failure to
impress or excite the eye, which 1t is clearly
the province of a work of art to do, whatever
moral or pathetic aim it may have behind 1t.
The conception is poor, cold, and bad, and the
color corresponds; the simplicity is not dignity
it is indigence. There is little else to be said
about the work, except that the drawing Of the
figure is spiritlesS and not quite correct.
Meissonners great painting, which A. 7.
Stewart bought at such an enormous price, is
shown in Paris before its transportation to this
country, and good judges while acknowledg-
ing extraordinary merits, do net express them
selves with any enthusiasm. In the letter of
Henry James, Jr., to the Tribune we ind this
keen critical remark: "It seems to me it is a
thing of parts rather than an interesting whole.
The parts are admirable, aud the more you
analyze them the better they seem. The best
thing, say, is a certain cuirsssier, and In the
cuirassier the best thing is his clothes, and In
his clothes the best thing is his leather straps,
and in his leather straps the best thing is the
buckles" A Partisan writing to the Boston
Post, says the same thing thus: "There is
high martial clustering, graceful curveting,
animation; but, mon Dieul no lifel You may
count the mems eyelashes, almost; or the gold
cord down their breeches' if you will; Meissou-
nier is coquettish, and his skIllful hand will
stitch a patch to a boot, or plump a hole
through a saddle-cloth for you with perfect
ease. But tue master has been bewildered by
detail. All those pretty fellows are posting
there ON their horses They have amiably
stopped for you to look; and they appear TO let
you politely into the secret that all this noise
Is vain fanfaronading. mock battle, and that Il
is not real charge they are making after all.
Miss Margaret f. Foley will send to the GEN.
tennial from Rome her head of jeremiah, the
prophet, a bust called Cleopatra and portrait
medallions of William and Mary Hewitt. Her
marble fountain will occupy a central spot In
the horticultural hall. This work consists of
an upper basin, in shape like couvolvulus,
rising from rock-work, around which three
little children of life size are grouped. They
are evidently preparing to bathe in the lower
basin, whose waters replenished from the
upper, almost reach the children's feet. Mrs.
Hewitt likes the fountain very much, praises
the boys, and then says: "But still more
touching and interior is the sentiment which is
called forth by the girl-that sweet infant