The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-12-29
APATHY OF THE FRENCH.
Drawbacks to Their Art Exhibits
at the Worlds FAIR.
It IL Thought That Paris VIII Make
IN Enort to surpsss tho Colum-
bian Exposition seven
Years Hence.

dustrial works in France regard the
worlds fair with great apathy, and, ii
we are to judge OF the display 20 be
made by that republic from large
number of published interviews with
Frenchmen, ii will be meager, says the
New York Times. But In respect TO
the fine arts there Is no backwardness
on the part of the Gaul; he Is already
clamoring for more wall space on which
to hang pictures.
The inordinate size OF modern French
paintings springs largely from the mis-
take of the salon authorities in admit
ting thousands, instead of hundreds, of
canvases TO the annual show. Sensa-
tional must be the picture that gains
the public eye in such a ruck of paint
ings; one OF the less difficult forms of
sensationalism is the acre of paint
which testifies at least to the expendi-
ture of industry, of muscle and CT
more hard cash for models and material
than is generally suspected. Consider
ing that the passion for big pictures
has had time to invade the American
student of art I'm Paris, il is no wonder
that the originally liberal space allowed
France Is seen 10 be all too small.
This demand Is noted by writer In
the Figaro, but ne adds to it another
drawback TO the French exhibition
which is calculated to raise a smile.
Learning by cable that youth mas
been arrested at New Jersey watering
place for having no sleeves to his bath
ing dress, and hearing of the efforts of
the Sunday-closing zeaiots in regard to
the worlds fair, this untraveled man is
possessed with fear lest Antonin Proust
has made a mistake in permitting paint
ings OF the nude to be included In the
French contingent He has not studied
the American in France to much profit
or he would know that Chicago will
make no objection on this score. On
the other hand, his suggestion that
some one who knows American tastes
in buying pictures should have been
sent in order to give some idea of the
kind of picture to show is not without
shrewd worldly sense.
Wonderful as the buildings and ar
rangemcnts at Chicagos lakeside are
the successor to the worlds fair In
France already looms portentoua-on
paper The date, at least, is fixed, for
1900. which is actually the last year of
the present century, not, as seems
natural TO think, the first year of the
next. The place is also fxed-by
Charles Devic. 1t is an old plan of his
TO build Titanic worlds fair at Cour-
bcvoie, beyond the Bois de Bologue, a
suburb of Paris, traversed by the circu-
lar railway, the western line, steam
ears and omnibus lines, and by the
Metropolitan and tubular lines TO be
built before 1900. This place received
the vote of the late M. Applaud, but the
consultative commission overru1ed it
when it came to decision regarding the
exposition of 1889. The nearer site
seemed preferable, although the build
ings have occupied valuable open space
for reviews and public meetingsan OBJ
scured the old structures in the neigh
borhood. M. Devices plan for an expo
sition is somewhat remarkable.
He would build on the Courbevoie
plateau a series of structures assuming
in general arrangement the ribs of
fan. These buildings are to be in five
divisions-one division each to Eu-
rope, Asia, Africa, America and France.
Between the diverging lines gardens
are to be arranged, with the trees,
plants and flowers of the different coE-
tinents, SO that from the buildings in
which are assembled works of art one
may step directly into the presence Of
living nature. The plan includes pal
aces galore-one of electricity, another
of iron, third of nickel, fourth of
aluminium, fifth of ceramics, a sixth
of crystals, a seventh of marble. All
these wonders-not to speak of mimic
Niagara, blue grotto, a Yellowstone
geyser and other watery marvels-are
TO cost about twenty million dollars,
but the state is not to be asked to ad
vance it. Private fnanciering Is to
raise the sum without trouble. All that
Charles Devic demands Is the power
to use the land and guarantee that he
and a financial friend shall not be dis.
turbed by rival promoters.
For there are others who can build
castles as well as NJ. Devic; two other
sites in Paris have been ardently urged.
One is on the western edge Of the bois,
near the isle de Puteaux, where the
rowing and tennis clubs are. II would
include Bagatelle, little chateau and
park which belonged to Sir Richard
Wallace. The chateau was built in one
months time by Charles X. for Marie
Antoinette on a bet she made with him
while Comte dAr.sis, so the spot Is al
ready accustomed to that hasty build
ing which seems needful in the most
carefully-prepared exhibition. Another
site close TO the bois Is suggested by
Antonin Pronst-the park and remains
of a royal chateau near the gate OF La
Muette. Like Bagatelle, this is in
private hands. "But whatever be the
spot chosen" says our New York name
sake, "there can be no doubt that France
will consider well all that is done at
Chicago, and seven years later will try TO
show us that we are again outpaced.
Indeed, after the backing out of Berlin
and the triumphant seizure of the year
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