, 1884-11-07
HI FRENCH ARTISANS.
A Day Among the workmsn a
dobslins and sevrss.
watching the weaving or Tapestry
The Potter and the Ciay-Where
IA Artistic Heat Il
Greatest.


lEura Cor. b1ItlmOfb Americana
The workshops OF Paris do not usually face
on tie thoroughfnIei, nor even upon the Old
narrow streets. They are mostly found IN
the courts. What We call squares or bloc.f
Ln our American cities. divided wholly b
thoroughfares are not To he found IN PARIS.
The streets are usually Ear arart. end the
subdivisions are b. mans VI ixisiior alleys,
which do not run through, Tut fRfnify into
passages and courts. IN tho gay parts Of the
city these passages and alleys are often GOV
ered In with glass rosfs, and form little col
onies VI shops where fancy goods ART soil;
but In the busier part Of town these alleys
aud passages contain the Workshop Trades
of different sorts tend to set together. In
one OF these courts. tor example, there
may be a doEen different shops, all at
work making brass bedsteads; in another all
will be making wrought-iron gates; In an
other the ellvering Of mirrors may be going
on; In another iulaid woodwork or carved
furniture, reproducing exactly the old carved
furniture OF the Museum OF Cluny, or max
ing sta~ined-glass~ windows, joining up mosaics
Of luminous color held together by slender
lines Of . ad. It is not until one turns away
from the boulevards and goes among these
workshops that ke feels tho greatneas Of
Paris. The clear, Intelligent, artist-like faces
of tho workman, their patience, dexterity,
and ingenuity, the simplicity OF their tools
and tho marvelst that they do with them, the
refined taste and sense OF beauty visible
evorywhere-thess mako the stranger feel
that he Il among a race Of artists.
spent = whole morning At the Gobelins
watching the weaving of tapestry. / had
expected TO find elaborate apparatus, but
there Is none. This weaving, which produces
work like the finest painting, is done wholly
by hnnd. A child may see how IL " done,
but only an artist could do It A child
might See how a sculptor chiseis the marble,
but only an artist can make n statue The
warp Is strung vertically, and consists of
strong cotton lines; the wool Is OF colored
woods OF endless varieties of tint. The artist
manage the warp with tho fingers OF his
left hand, like playing ON a harp. and passes
the wool through them with a wooden needle,
upon which II Is wound. That's all But
the exquisite shadings of fash color and
drapsry and flowers can only be compared TO
the finest painting. 1t Is sheer nonsense to
speak of sold" Gobelins as IL tho arts were
lost On the contrary, the lest Gobelins ever
made are 81 the looms to-day.
They arc just completing a series OF tapes
tries for the foyer Of the Grand opera, repre-
senting fruit, wine, game, fish, ices, coffee.
and tea-all draped allegorical figures full of
dash and gayety, and the color is delicious.
The workmen were very polite and laxative.
and answered all my questions with the ut
must kindness The workshops arc con-
ductsd pretty much as they were centuries
ago. No apprentices are received over II
years OF age, and all OF the artists had spent
their lives there.
At S~svres-which, like the Gobellns, isnow
under government patronags-there Is an ex-
cellent museum Of potteries Of all races and
all ages, and a study Of the collection will en-
rich the ceramic culture OF anyone, however
learned be may be. AM there IL hardly a
sort Of pottery that has not been exclusively
done at Sevres
There il an usher who conducts the visitor
through the workshops and explains every
process, from the preparation of the clay 70
the coloring, glazing, and gliding. He does
not explain merely, but takes you TO the
spot, INTRODUCES you to tho workman who
Is doing that particular thing. and let's the
workman speak for himself. Indeed, there
seems to be a sample workman or each sort
detailed for that purpose, for the visitor sees
only one OF zach kind, and sees them in log
ical sequence. The man at the wheel took O
ball Of clay and whirled II into "a pretty
vass, talking all the while, and telling why
be did this and why he did that The ordi
nary potter who makes hower-pots or Jug
uses the same tools. The motive power OF
the wheel was tbs workman's foot; but the
man was an artist, and In his explanations b,
played, Us 1t wers, with that piece OK clay il
mara wantonnsss OF power, spinning 1t from
ons form Of beauty 70 another, each exquisite
Of is kind, drawing 1t up into a tall, slender
nmphora. rattening 1t down Into a broad
shallow bowl. now Etruscan, now Egyptian
now Grosk-but always lovely.
All the stages Of the celebrated Sevres blue
are shown 1t goes into the fire a dull gray
10 comes out that inimitable color that all tn.
werld admires. The process Of gliding, Of
painting and glazing are shown, and, last Of
all, tina furnace Il shown In operation. anc
then l went inside a cold, empty furnace
and into one which was just being packed fl
firing.
b tendency Of worhmen Of different sort
70 flock together nay be survival Of ID.
old guilds. II makes zach court or web Of
streets a school Of tho particular craft which
u carried on there- Ons cannot make n fir
with one log, and tho greater the number Of
logs ths bigger the blaze. Emulation, inven
ton, the admiration that good work receive.
from the workers and the ridiculs Of bad
work or false taste tend to the conservation
Of what 10 good and the elimination Of whai
is bad. 1t is the thousands OF artists work
ing In Paris that makes Paris the place fo
artists TO work. London IL q good marke
for pictures and therefore a good place fol
an artist, but Paris Is the place where th'
most hogs burn, and where tho artistic bsai
b greatest.