New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-07-16
THE CLOSE OF THE SALON.
SOME NOTABLE wORKs-GENERAL TEN
DENCY OF FRENCH ART.

| This is closing day Mt the Salon. On Friday
the awards are to be distributed in the Grande Sale
of the Palais de ndustre, and soon afterward the
| G6GG units which have combined to make the
worlds art centre for the past weeks will have
been scattered, each to its respective place. The
Salon of 1882 is already thing of the past.
A sober reflection on this exhibition. as whole.
after conscientious study of its individual merits.
must dispose every true critic who s charitable to
keep silent. For reality there is little that Is
nattering to say of it this year; equally the
case last year The fact that it is so easy to con-
denim and so hard to find hero subject for honest
approval makes silence justifable. But when it is
considered that this Art exhibition is French. held
in the French capital and that the school OF French
Art is the school of cday, it cannot be denied Its
importance by the critics snub OF silence line
Salon is personality of great significance II IN no
other sense as sign of the times. IL shows Were
modern Art tends, and what its modern spirit
means
To begin with then I should say that it tends to
Realism" of the most pronounced character. 1t
is less quality than quantity, less spirit and more
body, that seems to be the artists aim to-day.
They talk Of sorrow by the yard" but the Salon
appears an exhibition of art by the mile. where the
! inspired brush economies neither canvas nor
model; aud as the female figure still continues to
be the ideal of artistic excellence, the admiring
visitor is treated to feminine nudity Gd infnitam.
Ones eyes are weared with the soulless bodies that
stand out on every wall, and which one comes to
| look upon as so much commonplace fact, with an
inward thankfulness that the human form divine IS
after all proof against the belittling assaults of the
pigment
Apropos of quantity and size, it is the largest
canvas that carries off the meddiHe d hoHnear
this year. The artist, PUvis dc Chavannes. is also
the subject of portrait by Bonnat. AS represented
by his friend, he has strong practical face that
would do credit to the Chambers. He appears IN
fact more the Deputy than the artist, in his cere-
monial dress, backed by the traditional accompani-
ment of goblet and decaLter. When NJ. PuVis de
Chavannes entered the artists ranks, some thirty
years ago, he was an exception IN his profession:
an artist of fortune. Sustained by an income OF
thirty thousand francs. favor easy conquest.
The young artist soon won for himself pleasant
and deserved success rs mural painter Some OF
the frescoes at the Pantheon ARE by him. His best
work however dates q good twenty years back.
II is now Mt Amiens, for the museum of which the
present work is destined. But it was not his best
effort that won the prize Two decades of labor
were necessary to achieve the crOwning success of
this year. which is perhaps more recognition OF
personal influence than a tribute to artistic
merit BY some it is regarded ameEde honorable
\
which carries of the highest award of 1882 is by
no means the first in merit.
Originality of colOring is Puvis dc Chavannes'
strong point. The monotony of his pinsish gray,
varied ally by lights and shadows in the tone,
is peculiarly his 1t is quaint and pretty, par
tcularly for walls where neutral tints are desr-
able Ii is SAID that his frescoes resemble in tone
those uncovered at Pompeli. The comparison may
be instituted quite aptly for the drawing.
When you have spoken of his coloring you have
SAID the most that can he said for NJ. Chayannes.
His figures often sorry-lOOkng and more often
badly drawn.
On the subject of coloring it must be said that
the principal effects made to-day effects Of coll
oring. Sargent, for instance a young American
born in Florence has attempted this year to show
what can be done in effect Of coloring. He exposes
tue fulllength portrait of young girl, which at a
distance and ut first view is striking The simple
black drapery, in contrast with the sweet young
face and the delicate pink rose hold in one hand
impresses the spectator Mt q fine piece of
coorng. Turning away with this first impression
one perceives something artistic. But If
happy curiosity leads one to examine more closely
the illusion is doomed This canvas as well as his
Danse de Gitanes," is only alf-fnshed sketch
Both pictures contain excellent points in fragrant
juxtaposition with crudites that ought not to be
found outside of tie artists studio. Mr.. Sargenfs
ann is effect and he attains 1t but for the ceting
satisfaction Of the shadow he sacrifices the reality.
lie Page exhibits two pictures which fully sus
tain lis reputation. Asa truthful observer Bastien
lie Page can scarcely he surpassed. He is not what
one would call an idealist. He peases himself with
homely. everyday subjects, but he paints what he
sees and paints it admirably well His originality
too is coloring; a blending of light neutral tints
which results in a mystic gray much liked as is
very apparent Mt glance through the Salon.
There may almost be said to exist SCHOOL, of lie
Page so many the youthful lmitatOrs who have
come here to take rank by his side. Indeed, there
seems to be a spirit of emulation abroad in the
matter of color or absence OF color; a strife at
originality nullity. Far removed from the gold
| tipped brush of Rembrandt, whose dark rich
rnitary tone is the glory of the Dutch, is this
modern shadowless light, obtained by the blending
OF an infinite variety of neutral pigments. Ii is not
without its merit, however, and rs handled by LIE
Page is pleasing to look upon.
| Opposite lie Page hangs Bouguereau. What
greater contrast could be found than that presented
by these two pictures As il by design, to bring
out the distinguishing qualities of each, LIE Pore
Jacques" and Le Crepuscue' are hung face to
face. Bouguereau was sDeeringly referred to by
Figaro at the Salon opening tho Artist of the
Americans" In its attempt to be ungracous
toward BOuGuereau, whose elegance of finish is
foreign to the sIap-dash style Ia mode, Figaro
paid unwittingy most gracious compliment to
the art patrons of tho New World. Had it taken
the trouble to anayze the of this partalty it
could not have failed to perceive that the tie be-
tween NJ Bouguereau and the Americans is refine
ment and elevation of .sentment. The sensational
coarseness cahd Naturalism," which is making
rapid way in tho art as well as the literature of
France has not, happily. gained the same foothod
in America To the cultivated American whose
ambition is to appreciate the highest, and to whose
mind the worlds chef PGarcs have always been