The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-12-11
YOUNG AMERICANS In PARIS
Interesting Phases of the Partisan Life
of American Art Students.
What They Study. How They Live, and What
1t COsts-Many Of Them Would Be In Better
Hands if Keptat Home-Girf Students

fAKlS, NOV. 0U. - u6 uumOer OF american
students who are rounding of their artistic
training in Paris is varlously estimated to
be from 1900 to 1000. Many como here to
perfect themselves in the French language.
and as most of these have q teaching career
In view. they are wise in getting their
knowledge of French from the French peo-
ple. For practical purposes this Is the only
way in which the language can be ao-
CURED. Lessons are very cheap. You can
get good teaching in private for q few dol
lars q week. and in classes for q few francs,
and. of course. the great advantage of being
in Paris is that while you are finishing of
in theory you car confirm yourself In what
you learn by daily practice in the school of
experience.
Another contingent of the American art
colony is that which has o musical career
before it. With these it is q proverb that.
up to o certain point. New York affords as
good instruction for the singer as any con-
tinental city. but that beyond that point
the best results can be obtained only In
Paris. To speak as the students themselves
do, the final difference between Paris and
New York Is the difference between q voice
y % AuAoAC0 aOAAnAS q III ~ Wv
same voice rounded out into dimensions
and capabilities which make it worth twice
that sum Perhaps. though, this doubling
of its marketable value is due less to any
new quality of the voice itself than
to the prestige one requires from hav-
ing studied abroad. Lessons In singing
are much more costly than those in Ian
guage. The great teachers of vocalism
charge So to be troubled with you for only
half an hour. This. however. in little. If
any, In excess of the highest New York fig
ures, and ~ere it not for tho outside ex-
penses the outlay might not be o bad In
vestment. But singers have to live better
than other students. The first requisite is
prime physical health, and this means good
apartments and a good table, things which
in Paris cost a lot OF money. An acGuaint-
ance who 10 having o practical experience
of all this estimates that the half-hour les
sons at S5-three q week-are costing him
altogether, including his tickets from home
and back, about S25 apiece.
STUDENTS OF ARCHITECTURE.
There are q number of young Americans
studying architecture over here, and q
few carving ont an education in sculpture.
But the majority are novitiates of the
brush and easel. The latter find In Paris
facilities which are UNSURPASSED. and are
afforded the best possible teaching for the
lowest imaginable outlay. There are two
things which these budding American
genluses never tire of extolllng. One is
the substantial patronage given to art by
the French government. and the other
is the fact that the French masters
are so generous toward students from other
nations. There is nothing national about
French painting, except the glory and the
pecuniary profits OF 1t. Her schools and
etudies are open to the world. and with only
H fow oxcanfiopa tina nrfzao nf har GRAND
S4lon are as aecessfbl6 to foreign genius as
to that of her owl sons. Americans seem to
be accorded a specia! welcome TO the artistic
opportunities offered here, and one cannot
art students without learning that this
gracious prediction is gratefully and even
enthusiastically reciprocated.
There are three courses open to the
art student in Paris. He may connect
himself with a private school, of which
the city boasts many which are excellent.
or he may obtain admission, IL he can,
TO the Ecole des Beaux Arts; or, again,
he may do both, If he chooses. at
the same time. The American student
generally ~inolines to the first of these, and
you will oftener than not find him attached
to one of the popular Julian schools. OF
which there are several in different parts
of the city for both sexes. Under this sys-
tenn a work-room is afforded him in which
he can ply his profession Tor o certain num-
Der of hours every day, and where twice q
week he will have the benefit Of the best
artistic criticism. all for an outlay Of about
IS q month. The mode of entry into the
Beaux Arts 10 to exhibit ones drawings to
some professor. If the view is satisfactory,
you are installed as an ''aspirant." or per-
son on trial. Then. your progress being
what il should, you are promoted gradu-
ally from the antique to the Atelier.
and become eligible, In due course. to
compete for distinguished hOnOrs and large
premiums. The coat for all this is nothing.
Once q year the classes give q dinner TO
their professors. The student will. of
course, subscribe to that. but as he will
probably, in u six months residence, have
acquired some of the French propensity for
gormandIzing. he will look upon this out
lay as being less q recompense to his teach
or than a treat to himself.
WHY MORE is CHARGED FOB GIRLS.
curious fact about art students is that
IN private schools aspirants of the female
sex are charged nearly double the fee ex-
acted from young men. Still more curious
is the reason assigned for this. French
professors, 1t is said. do not like to ~oriticise
the work of women. and because
the task is O disagreeable one they
demand better pay for performing it.
Here Is an instance in which the prOverbial
gallantry of the French character pays.
Certainly it pays the professors; though
when one remembers how much these gen.
tlemen do solely from the love of art, and
how low, conn arativeIy, are their very
highest demands for tribute, 1t is impossi-
| BILE to be severe upon them. None the less,
it seems q pity that the Frenchman's rever-
ence for woman should work in this way to
her disadvantage.
Speaking OF the ladies. one cannot help
admiring the good work being done for
American stndents of that sex by the Rev.
w. II. Newell and his wife. The beginning
of this good work was in little informal
gatherings on Sabbath evenings within the
domicile of this worthy couple. and its exist
ing dimensions are seen in the suite of rooms
something in the nature of club-rooms-
maintained for our fair compatrIots at 10
Rue Vevin. The moneyed power behind
this enterprise is Mrs. Whitelaw Reid, but
the o~riginators and the real s%ustainers of
it are Mr.. and Mrs. Newell. The rooms are
girls who, worn out with hard work and
made home-sick by their disappointments,
seek occasional asylum and refresh
ment within them. Good reading is AT
forded. with no end of kin sympathy and
good advice. Every evening tea 10 served
TO those who choose to gartake of it, an d
every Sabbath evening there is q service
of song, followed by a w~arm-hearted
fatherly sort of talk from the good clergy
man. and after that come lemonade and
cake, which are passed around amid the
hum and stir of a regular American socia-
BILE. 1t goes without the saying that to
these formal gatherings or Sunday, and "a
such delightful entertainments as are al
ways gotten up at THANKSGIVING and
Christmas. the young men are invited. Ii
may be added. also. that for young Amer.
lea. turned loose in the gay city of Paris
such opportunities for pure intercourse,
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