New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-04-28
THE IMPRESSIONISTS.
NEW SCHOOL IN FRANCE.


France and conquered u place in the center OF
whrlwind of anger and disnay. Victor Hugo is
now as he was then, the most effective worker in
that Academe whercto fishermen and shepherds
came to dance among the chilly ruins Of the ancient
respectable temple, and human passions stirred
where the gods had sat IN cold tranquility and the
chorus had chanted its artificial strains. In these
days that school of 1880 has taken somewhat too
much the ways of the thcater IL Is apt to carry the
glare of the footlights into everything and it
arranges emotions according to its own ideas
of what is picturesque. And now In
reaction against il has risen school of poets,
of dramasts of artists. called by their enemies the
Impressionists and who are having as combatves
reception had their predecessors. 10 describe
Nature exactly each sees it with his own eyes
that is their conception of Art. They have no
canons except that of absolute TRUTH" oath ex-
ccpt that of fidelity. The Real is their Idea-cOn
ventionaty their devil. They are sincere enthusi-
astic, singe-ninded. Few Of them have much
money, but that does not trouble them. They say
that they do not work for their pockets. Hardly
one is beyond mddle-age and all are men OF
acknowledged capacity.
The school has an organ, La Rfpnbhque d0
Let,res review which lightly touches politics and
the arts and publishes the tales, poems, and plays
of the brotherhood. Ivan Turgenef is one of the
leaders, and some of his finest--and most painful
work appears III its pages Alphonse Daudet Is
another contributor and the chief British Impress
sionists, Swinburne and O'Shaughnessy, leave
their own language to write French verses for this
sturdy periodical. 1t was established by Mallarme,
the poet but is now under the direction Of the dra-
matist, Catulle Mendes.
StGphane MallarnGs salary as q college professor
supports bm. and though besieged for literary work
by the admirers of his strange verse he is devoted
to his dream of remodeng the drama He has a
scheme tOr an entirely new method of representa-
tion-a method which shall be intensely realistic.
He has immense faith in himself, and is content, no
declares, to bide his time" lie is man accom-
pshcd in languages and lteratures and it is to him
that Americans are indebted for the Poe sonnet,
which has been not overwell translated by Mrs.
Whitman. His interest in Poe has led him to makes
literal unrhymed translation of The Raven awork
which is illustrated by very wonderful sketches
by EdOuard Manet the great painter of the Impress
sionst cabal. They rough, unfinished, scrawled.
At first .sight the page seems filled with gigantic
blotches of blacklist ink, without form and mean
ing. Presently as you gaze the mans torso leans
ont OF the shadows, and white afrighted face
turns toward the invisible bird in the inky gloom
surrounding his lamp The sketch, which as you
put it down seems merely splash of ink is the
perfect expression of the diableric, the mys-
tic half-suggestion of the poem. Another
drawing shows on the clear page SIM
ply the shadow of the bird devil" flung
down on the white in few thick Zig-zag lines. A
third and perhaps the most weird Of ali is that1lus-
tratng the passage in which the impsh creature
wings its flight TO the bust Of Pallas. The dooris
indicated by few heavy lines; below is the half
drawn back OF the easy-chair with the white face
rising above it, the uplifted watching the raven
seated Oh the bust " lie C0r6edH dit: Jdmdls ptusw
The thing is jetty black, uucIean, unhOly, and all
the more so for the contrast of the cold pure placid
ity of the goddess-head
Manet's paintings are more startlinGly original
than are these black and white sketches. The con-
ventionalists, led by Cabanel, maintain fiery war
against him. and swear that he can't draw, because
be is apparently perfectly lawess aud uses his own
eyes instead of their Opera-glass. He selects very
simple subjects ard realizes them with an art that
is nature, and which arrests all eyes, preudiced or
not. G6rome, for instance may be said to light the
lamps and ring up the curtain on group properly
arranged in theatrical attitudes. Manet seems
to open the door into the next room,
and shows yOu therein his picture-people, living,
loving Quarlcling neditatng, unconscious OF obser-
vatlon. One cf his pecuartcs is the use OF great
deal Of white, which he manages powerfully. His
effects Of light too marvellous. He never brings
! in the conventional beam but dd'ase3 hight in his
terors have real atmosphere, and bis figures stand
out i'm them with q realism that is, of course, the
scorn of the gentlemen of the Cabane school. he
has a liking for large canvaacs and for bold figures.
which seem almost Gfe-sze. NJ. Manet will never DO
accused Of too poetic manner, but as for strength
he is the very Vulcan Of the studio So bitter is tho
fcud against him that his work cannot get into
the Salon. But for that bliss he does not pine He
ha- an exhibition of Lis at Salon time, and all
Paris goes to it. Moreover, he has money in his
purse and does not need the prestige OF an Academic
success. Indeed he does not care TO sell his paint
ngs and is disposed to snub the picture dealers. He
is marof middle age, grave, dignlfed, and quiet
more English than French IN manner.
Alphonse Daudet, the author of that remarkable
piece of art, Sidouie'-w which has made a large
place for itself in America-is good representative
of the literary branch of the Impresslonists. His
realism is in its way as intense as Manets-the
mean, luxury-loving little fend SidonIe stands
out on the page as does one of the painters figures
on the canvas But he has not reached the grieyOns
accuracy of another member of the new school,
Emile lola, writer much talked of both in
Paris and London. lola is, IL anything, too
Photographic. His delineation of Partisan society
under the Second Empire is beyond measure revolt
ing Other Impressionist writers are Leconte dc
Lisle Liberal but born Of the Faubourg st. Ger
main, and the brothers Edmond and Jules do
Goncourt, who not only write books together in tho
Erckmann-C hatrlan fashion, but write on the same
page nobody being able to tell where the one stops
working and the other begins. Leon Cladel 10 the
darling of the School, writer of rural idyls natural
aud lovely stories Of peasant life
Mendes, the dranatist, is of Portuguese descent
but was born and reared in France. He is superbly
handsome man, of temperament somewhat cratic,