Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-22
ANNUAL EXHIBITION
Conducted by the Society of
French Artists.
GETTING IN THE SALON
STORIES OF AMERICAN PAINTERS
AND THEIR EFFORTS.
Work of the Jury Of Admission-Rais-
ing of Canes Signifies the
Approval of the Judges.
Special Correspondence of The Star.

! Special Correspondence Of The Star
| PARIS, April o. 1908.
A young American artist came to Paris
| to continue his studies, arriving in the last
| part of March-ffve days before the closing
| of the entries for the coming salon
| The young American then did an auda-
| cious thing. He spent one of those days
in planning picture and getting his ma
| terial together. In the remaining four
days he painted the picture. He sent it to
| the salon. 1t was accepted And, to make
| the experience the more extraordinary, on
May diminishing day"-he had the good
| luck to find 1t hung on the line.
| The case was unusual, the young Ameri-
| can having worked on one of those lucky
! inspirations which cannot be regularly
| counted with, and the proof is that his rise
mas since been steady, not by jun IS, to the
point of third medal by way of honorable
| mention. And he will probably work some
| time still before reaching the "hors con-
| cours' (out of competition) rank already
| attained by very decent member Of his
| fellow Americans.
! Also. not to unduly encourage any one,
| the hero of the story had been in Paris
| before where six years previously he had
| had a portrait accepted in the salon. Eight
| years earlier, when he himself was but
| fourteen, he began his artistic career by
| winning Chicago newspaper prize for the
y
| life. Within three years he had won
| Art Institutes first prize for drawing from
| the nude and it's medal for highest honors.
| He came to Paris for the first time, passed
| the BeauX-Arts Schools examinations, got
| the portrait already mentioned received in
| the salon, was taken back to America
| teacher in a great school of fine arts, won
| the Chandler s., 0OJ scholarship, and it was
on this scholarship that he had arrived in
Paris in that latter part Of March, five
days before the closing of the entries for
the salon.
A Story of Favoritism.
You see, there was not such sudden
jump Nor would you call it luck or ia
voritlsm. 1 tell you story of favor
itism. a young American working in
the BeauxArts School under Gerome. He
imagined he was not getting on fast
enough so he also entered the Julien Acad-
envy under Jean Paul Laurens and Benia-
min Constant, working in the two alter
nately.
Well. after one weeks work In the Julien
Academy, he won its medal for portrait
painting, and the successful effort was
hung in the atelier. Now for the favor
tism. The portrait attracted the attention
of Besnard, who asked to see more OF the
young Americans work. 1t so pleased him
that in the following May he invited him
TO assist him in the mural decoration of
church at Berck, an undertaking compris-
ing forty pieces. DO you imagine that IN
ANYTHING where Besnard has the say that
young American will lack his influence?
AS every art student in the colony Will
tell you, the secret for getting INTO the
salon-and for staying in It's simply thus
to gain the favor of certain great Paris
painters or sculptors, as the case may be.
Last year nearly 100 Of our Americans ac-
CURED it, and its final gesture Is very
curious one-they lift their canes on high.
But to begin at the beginning. During
the Renaissance in Italy. 400 years ago, and
afterward great mobiles patronizing art will
lingly threw open their galleries. TO me pup.
lie admiration, but it was in France that
the first periodic expositions or living paint
ers were begun.
Beginning of the Exhibitions.
Louis XIV had royal academy of paint
ing and sculpture of his own; that is to say,
of the state; that is to say, Of himself
The state it's mev' he said. One day,
well along In his long reign, his great min
lister Colbert advised him to require his
royal academicians to expose their new
works each year to the public, all together,
at a given date. The first salon.. there
fore, opened It's doors in 1867. and the nrst
salon catalogue was published in 1873
During the reign of Louis XIV twenty-five
such salons" were held-the name COM
ing from the great square salon, or drawing
room of the Louvre Palace in which the
paintings were always hung for the occa-
| sion. Up to the French revolution only
| royal academicians professors and others
| pose, but the revolution destroyed the privl-
| lege opening the doors of the salon to all
| painters working in France.
There were annual salons right through
| the stormy first republic. Under Napoleon
! they were held every two years. The res
| toration made them annual again. and
| Napoleon III preserved the custom. The
| revolution of ls4S had suppressed the jury
| of admission, but 1t re-eStabllshed for
| the salon of 1S4g, Its election being confided
| to the mass of artists whose pictures and
SCULPTURES had been accepted In previous
salons For the prizes. however, the gov
| eminent instituted a special jury. in part
only taken from the jury OF admission.
Period of Development.
Between 1855 and 1867 the annual salons
| took an extraordinary development. Paris
commenced to be regarded as the uncontest-
| ed center of the worlds art. Now. at this
very moment strange thing happened.
| The theories of Coubert and the Fontaine-
| bleau and BarbiZon schools had not yet be-
come popular even in France. Bougereau
had just made name, and Gerome mad
| acquired fame. 1t was natural, therefore,
| that the first Americans to come 10 Paris
| should turn to these popular masters;
| therefore was it not extraordinary that
| these young American pioneers, restrained
| as Ii has been pointed out-by no artistic
| traditions, sought out the masters destined
| to rule the art of the future, before they
| had been really recognized by Frenchmen?
Now for the men whose beneficent gesture
| is to lift their canes-whose good opinion
| gets the young American into the salon.
| All through the empire Of Napoleon III
| the salons remained very much under gov
| eminent control. In 1872 under Charles
| Blanc, the jury OF admission was elected
| only by French artists having obtained at
| least medal or Prix de Rome. In 1874
| the Marquis de Chennevieres confided its
| election to members of the institute. officers
| Of the Legion Of Honor. artists having OBJ
tanned medals and Prix de Rome men. But
clx.frf 49, III,
4 instruction and beaux-arts, decided that
| thenceforth the government should no
longer interfere.
J Jules Ysrs1 tnstituted the present. w