New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-05-25
PAUL DUBOIS.

PAUL DUBOIS.
In the course of his long life NJ. Paul Du-
bols, the French sculptor whose death was
reported yesterday in dispatches from Paris,
witnessed many developments i'll the plastic
art Of his country Born in 1929, he grew to
manhood before sculptorS so powerful in infiu-
ence as We're David dangers and Rude had
disappeared from the scene, and years before
his death he had to reckon with the new move
ment started by Rodin. 1t would be difficult
to enumerate the other phenomena by which
he confronted in one salon after another.
An Academican to his very finger tips, he
was, nevertheless, accessible to ideas with
which. at bottom, he could have had but little
sympathy. IN his recent book on Rodin NJ.
Mauclair has told how Dubois helped to per-
suade the government to purchase the younger
Sculptor'S "St. John the Baptist" in 1880. But
what makes Dubois interesting to us to-day
is the fact that, amid all the changes of French
art, he was faithful to himself and remained,
down to the day of his death, one of the most
brilliant conservators of the classical ideal in
Europe. At time when that ideal is hon
Ored more in the breach than in the observ-
ance, it is perhaps worth while to reflect for
a moment on the elements which went TO make
Paul Dubois great artist.
He stood, in the first place, for the great
virtue of discipline. That virtue has never been
more unpopular among artists than it is to-
day. We are all for individuality and the world
we'll lost AS far back as the 3O's, when Geri-
cault and his fellows We're Haunting the ban
ner of revolt In the face Of intrenched author
ity, the idea was tactly adopted that If rebel
lion were good, then authority must necessarily
be bad. The question, of course must always
be, On which side is genius enlisted? Now
adays we let that go, and foolish little per
L.
and no faculty whatever for expressing it. are
quick to claim the license which is fittingly be-
slowed only on a Gericault a Manet or
Rodin In the conflict between the old and the
new Dubois sided with the Academy. but, hav-
ing a streak of genius in him, he demonstrated
10 the satisfaction of all save the thorough
going partisans of the opposition that fine
things can be done under discipline. He did,
for example his exquisite "Florentine Singer"
in which the temper of the Tuscan school
is reproduced but under the restraining infu-
ence of the antique. He did his majestic
Tomb of General La Moricere," which IS at
once severely monumental and most delicately
vitalized He did his Jeanne dare" a work
which proves that an equestrian statue can be
made both heroic and charming. and he did
finally his bust of Paul Baudry, masterpiece
of modern pOrtraiture if ever there was one.
Other trumphS of his might be cited, like his
enchanting little "St. JOHN but we forbear.
The works already named are enough TO make
any man famous.
They won Dubois high honOrs, yet there are
those who maintain that his fame must fade,
because, they maintain, his principles were I'M
sound. AS a matter of fact, they strike over
the shoulders of Dubois at principles with
which he was never really identified. AS NJ.
Rodin is quoted as saying in the book by NJ.
Mauclair which we have mentioned above:
THE great error of the neo-Greek school is
real this II is not type that is antique, bat
modelling For want of having understood
that the neo-Greek school has produced moth
ling but papier- mnche" Now, Dubois was, in
his way a neo-Greek. but his critics have been
wont to forget that he had way Of his own,
and so have assumed that he sought the les
son of the antique, not in modelling, but in
type and from this cheerful assumption 1t has
been easy tc step to the conclusion that he
produced papier-mache. He producing all
the time works whose beauty is Obscured only
when the eye of the behoder is clouded by
prejudice and theory
That he was a master of line is shown in
single pieces of his like the "Florentlne Singer"
and in his more elaborate compositions, like
the Tomb of General La MOriciere' and the
Jeanne dare" but line never betrayed him
as it has betrayed nine Academicians out of
ten. He kept II IN It's place, LOT lie was mas
ter of modelling, too. and as eloquent In his
meditation of broad surfaces as in his manipu-
Iation Of a silhouette. Best of ALL he exhibited
in every one Of his works, even in those early
productions which suggest the caressing touch
of the worker in precious metals. a large grasp
of his subject. a notable elevation of feeling a
great distinction of style He was an Academi-
clan. he recognized a law of discipline, but he
did not know how to be petty, insipid cold.
The followers Of Rodin are convinced that if
there is room in the Pantheon of sculpture for
Rodin there Is no room there for Dubois.
There is room for them both. But if one is
excluded in the course Of time it will not be
Dubois Art cherishes as her dearest children
those who may be never so brilliant, but always
abide by her laws.