Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-01-09
An Artist o Honor


wife's taste for exercises of sport.
and wished that she should resume
her horseback riding. He, himself,
had, during two or three years, taken
to horsemanship, and he went very
regularly TO ride in the Bots in the
morning. He was bold and SOLID
rider, but he rode badly, without prin-
cipIe and without elegance. His wife
was troubled on account OF il. Very
often she would seek some pretext for
not accompanying him, preferring to
deprive herself Of her faVorite pleas
ure to seeing the correct habitues of
the Alice des Acacias smile when her
husband rode by.
1t was also true that among the IA
miliar visitors to the atelier Of Fa-
brice, there were, as in all studios,
some amateurs or companions OF
youth appertaining more or less to
art and letters, whose voices and
maners extremely discomposed Beat
rice.
The painter, alleging his obligation
tC work, forced himself to discourage
these parasitical visitors, and to shut
cut. above all, those who had the odor
of Bohemia. Among the number of the
latter, there was one, unfortunately,
whom Fabrice believed himself obliS-
ed to support and to entertain, and
it was precisely he to whom Beatrice
bore the most antipathy. He was
called Gustave Calcat; he was the
brother of the first wife Of Fabrice,
and consequently the uncle of little
Marcelle. Their intimacy dated from
the time long since, when they were
both students under the same master
in the same atelieT Thus there was a
point of common departure. Bu-
while Fabrice concentrated himself
in continuous efforts and hard work,
arriving little by little to the highest
degrees of mis- art, Gustave Calvat
dissipated, spent his time in words,
in projects, in theories, in transcend
ent critiques, and aesthetical consld-
erations which were the admiration
of the Boulevard des Batignolles.
you talk too much, and you do. not
draw enough" Fabrice would say to
him, sODerly.
Calvat had, for long time, sought
the kind of painting which would
the best conform to the times and to
his own tastes. He thought many
times that he had found it. During a
tourney in Italy, which he made at
Fabrice's expense, he was infatuated
with the primitive paintings, and he
returned swearing only by Ducla,
Cimabue, Giotto, Taddeo Gaddi, the
Masaccio and the Perugin, in ecstacy
before the mosaics of San-Miniato and
the .-- -- of the ByZanttneS.
ut is" he said, with his manner too
often mixed with alcohol, "it is at
that pure and fresh source that they
must mOisten the dried-up art of the
Nineteenth Century. He became, per
sOnaIly the apostle Of new renals-
sance He was profoundly touched by
the inspiration and the processes OF
those admirable primitifs. And what
vas their means? Sincerity, 0pennes3
and faith. The artist should begin by
passing the sponge boldly ever the
history Of the world since l4OO-t0rgel
absolutely that there ever had been
! a Luther, that Voltaire ever was, that
the Bastille was ever taken, forget the
principles of 'S9, ct cetera, ct cetera,
| close the eyes, recoil, and kneel in the
spirit in the middle of a chapter OF
the old monks of the Fourteenth Cent
ury: then reopen the eyes, and look
up, simply, humbly, as a little chile
saying it's prayers, and then-and
then seize the palette and paint.
| Upon which, he would trace in the all
with few energetic strokes OF the
wrist. the master lines of an imagin'
airy masterpiece.
1t was curious to see Gustave Cal
|. vat mimic, according to his custom
that powerful theory, giving at times
to his Bohemian face the manners and
| the movements of the pre-Rapha9lis'
tic eyes.
After having painted an annuncia
| ton upon a background of gold, and 4
Sainte FamilIe with long hands upon
q cloudless blue, he was disguised
with the primitives and passed to the
| imitation of the Venetians; then hv
I rassed to the Flemish and Dutch
| school, which drew more nearly &c
! nature. and at last to nature herself
that was his last avatar. At last he at
! tanned the truth. He then began &c
! copy Nature, still with the simplicity
Of \ little child. and from that time
, his work, which had successfully re
sembled that of al the rest. OF tn:
world. was no longer like any.
Fabrice tried in vain to show hin
that art does not consist merell
inert and stupid; but TO reflect upor
copying nature, by herself that is only
her the idea that she suggests in oul
minds. and to give to her somewha
| of the soul that we have and that she
has not. CaIvat characterized him a:
= landscape painter who paints in tn:
room, a parlor painter, and could SCI
HIM finally in the common out OF un
worldly idealism-that is TO say IL;
Institute.
Jacques, who was without rancoT
laughed freely 10 the gaTrulity OF hi
trother-inlaw aud at mis- gesture pain
ing. But that which he less easily par
coined, was the disordered life that n
led, it being spent for the greater par
in the cafes and beer halls. He par
doned with yeg more difficulty HI
niserably anvious disposition, am
the hateful assertion with which n
PURSUED all Who had more talent thar
he. Notwithstanding all this, Fabric
rnntinrnd IN MeIcnme nnlicahly thi