Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-13
ART IN FRANCE.
At the Moment Paris is Without a
Strong Man.

| From the Pail Mall Gazette.
1t has become the commonplace of art
| criticism that the present day facilities for
travel and the diffusion of knowledge have
| rung the dea.hknell of schools in painting.
The artist, by the aid of ticket agencies,
can now sip at a thousand springs and
only the narrowest of surroundings can
confine him to one. In this general levcing
of opportunity the strong man still finds his
chance, but the average performer has null
tiplied exceedingly. The history of schools
in the end has been the history a shepherd
and his flock. Rarely, as in the rise Of
the romantic movement in France, q num-
! Der of men, more less accomplished,
have been united by a community Of IDEAS
For once in a way this was notsa plane
/ tary soul encircled by its satellites. But
| one now sees the beginning and the end Of
the school system in any Paris studio. AT
the moment France like England, lacks
it's strong man. The latest artistic fashion
has spent itself. Artists no longer talk Of
"Impressonism the golden key. Their
enthusiasm has been damped by the uni
versal acceptance of their creed. They have
been put out of countenance by the world
| asking for the fruits Of the much adver-
tised discovery, and with multiplicity of
aims they have no School to hearten the
efforts of mediocrity.
! auberge in Picardy, long since dedicated
to the gentlemen of the long hair and the
prodigal cravats. 1t Is an unwholesome
tradition of the juvenile painter of France
that where he stays there he must leave
behind him the marks of his craft. So
the walls of this unpretentious hosiery
are covered sale a manger salon and
| cafe-with the production of current stu
dentship. Here recorded the hopes
and aspirations of French art and, to
tell the truth, If the record is complete
the future is black indeed Ones men,
Dry goes back some thirty years to another
also had been recorded the prophecies of
the day; but these told another story.
The students of that time We're still I'M
der the influence of Mllet and Daubigny
and Bastien LIE Page was the strong man
of the hour The work, one seems to
think, had more humility, but assuredly
| many of the men which met In these
| days at Madame Siron's table have risen
10 a fame that seems impossible to any
of these painters of Picardy.
We have united in assailing the acad
envy for Its generous recognition of the
| amateur, but who can deny that here is
is the amateur and little else? ! incline
to the view that the theories of impress
sionism have complicated the methods
also that has been dinned into their ears;
and even while they sling paint with
certain readiness, their Singing is rarely
to a worthy purpose. And yet even here
strong man that is, relatively strong to
his surroundings - has led the way up to
certain point, and the sheep have fol
lowed him. Some time during the last
ten years that ingenious painter, Henri
LIE Sidaner, seems TO have visited our
auberge. He was not the LIE Sidaner of
today, but his talent was clear enough
to rally the weaker spirits to emulation.
So round about him he has gathered a
modest school just significant I'm its
way as many other schools Of great ter fame.
In it to make one happy for the immediate
future Of French painting.
Those who are already familiar with M.
Alfred Stevens Impressions sur la Pein-
ture" In its original form, will be glad to
welcome the English translation by Miss
Ina Mary White, just published under the
title of "A Painters Philosophy" by Mr..
Elkin Mathews. Miss White has done
something more for her author than mere
translation. She has gathered some par
allel thoughts from other artists and art
value of many of Stevens uaxims 1t can
not be claimed for M Stevens that his
aphorisms have greater merit than the
ordinary talk of any artists who might
also be something of observer Of men;
but ii is convenient to have record of
what, after all, may be only the common
PLACES of artistic thought for artists, as
rule, are inarticulate, and this one was
and is maker of epigrams Yet he has not
the quick pregnancy Of W. II. Hunt, the
eAacttude of thought of r. A. NJ. Steven
son, or the literary grace either OF Ruskin
or George Moore, and the comparison which
Miss White makes is sometimes to his
hurt But the book gains when the writer
suffers