The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1890-10-26
MIXED GLASSES IN ART STUDY.
The Indecency of 1t Placed in Very
Strong Light.

The Indecency of 1t Placed in Very
Strong Light.
Lucy Hooper's Paris Letter.
regret very much to learn from some of the
American art students in Paris that an effort is
being made in the United States to introduce
this indecent and demoralizing fashion. 1t has
long since been practically done away with in
Paris, though certain of the professors deplore
the fact and say that the young girls study bet
ter when put into competition with their male
rivals. "Dear Monsieur X-,''I said one
day to a great artist, who expressed to me such
an opinion, ''you have, know, young daugh-
ter Should she inherit your genius, would you
be willing to have her study art under the con-
dltions that you recommend ?" ''Never upon
earth ' was the reply, delivered with degree
of startling vehemence. But to me this is a
question that admits of no discussion.
1t is not necessary for me to eXpatate on the
loathsome indelicacy of such proceeding. Let
any one interested in the matter simply picture
to himself or herself the repulsive elements
that naturally attend the study of the naked
living model, and think that my case is proved
without an argument Young American ladies
who have come here to study art have often
told me that, under such conditions, even the
presence of their professor, grave and serious
gentleman though he were, was felt at first to
be distressing, and was only rendered toerable
by his age and his perfect demeanor. What
would not the ordeal have been for these modest
girls had they been surrounded by the restless,
mocking spirits of the ordinary Partisan atelier,
wild Bohemans with no more idea of morality
of life or of propriety of behavior than is to be
found in a tribe of sayages?
For 1t must be remembered that the majority
of the embryo painters of France are by no
means sprung from the best or even from the
middle classes of society. They are often the
sons of wine-shOp keepers, or concerges, or
cab-drivers, or the like. And though most of
them in their later years. when they have
achieved fame and fortune, become transformed
into courteous and elegant gentlemen, in their
rough, unpublished days they are regular young
rowdies
A young American painter once told me of an
incident that occurred during his student days.
He was a member of q class which included two
American girl students. One day while stand
ing at the door of the atelier talking to one of
his French comrades his two young country
women passed out and he bowed to them.
''Pretty girls, those,' remarked the Frenchman.
"Why do you not persuade one of them to go to
housekeeping with you?" "How dare you
speak so concerning those young ladies ~ re-
piled his companion hotly "They are perfectly
yirtuous, respectable girls, and are not to be
spoken of in such mannern The Frenchman
burst out laughing. "Respectable? Virtuous?
And they come here to draw naked men and
women side by side with us? Nonsense, old fell
low We know what moral, respectable girls
are like, and they do not do such things as that"
The French student cruelty misjudged the young
ladies in question, it is true. But whose was the
fault? If really proper, well-behayed young
women choose to act in defiance of the most ele-
mentary rules of decency can any one be blamed
for taking them at their own valuations