The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1909-03-31
ART SHOW IN PARIS
DRAWS PEOPLE Of
MANY TYPES
STATESMEN. ACTORS AND NAVAL
OFFICERS CONTRIBUTE THEIR
Asst isHiNo EFF oRTsI
CLEVER, BAD AND BRILLIANT.

BY MARQUIS DE cAsTELLANE.
| PARIS, March Brush and Pen"
is probably the nearest the rendering
into English which can be made OF
Poll ct Plume" the half-humorous
designation OF brilliant exhibition OF
| paintings. drawings and sculpture
which is now attracting all Paris to
the De Feure gallery, in the Rue
Boissy.
Brilliantly clever, brilliantly bad.
brilliantly imaginative. impudent, or
preposterous, brilliance is over ali
these singular efforts, for they are
without exception the work OF brilliant
amateurs. chiefly men OF letters.
though one illustrious statesman (the
late Waldeck Rousseau and few
actors and actresses. such as Mounet
Sully. the late Coquelin brothers and
Sarah Bernhard. have been thrown In.
Waldeck Rousseau's Venetian scenes
in watercolor are cold, fat and pains
taking, az might have been expected
from the hardest-headed business law
yer that France has produced during
two generations
Mounet .Sully has marble bust or
Christ with grease-paint makeup
museum. The romanticism of the Thir-
ties Is represented by Gothic blotches.
outlining fantastic feudal castles from
the generous inkpot OF Victor Hugo,
whose name spreads all over them like
the advertisement OF new bathing re-
sort on the wall OF railway terminus,
and there is Theophile Gautier's por-
trait of himself. and Verlaine's humor-
ously tragic pen-and-ink delineation OF
his release from his Belgian prison.
An Artistic Sailor.
But the contributor TO the Brush
and Pen collection who has made the
greatest hit, at any rate among the
modern, is ID. Dupouey, with colored
pen-and-ink drawing, entitled The
Leicester Lounge" Dupouey Is
Young French naval officer. who has
already won literary renown as the
author OF a wonderfully keen AMI
searching study of Rossetti, and he
now reveals himself To be one OF the
most subtle pen-and-ink draughtsmea
that modern art can boast.
His process is reminiscent OF Aubrey
Beardsley. but he has a Molieresque
humor which was wholly lacking to
Tie BearGsley mentality, and a dra-
|
which he alone of European artists
shares with the Chinese. The fact
that he was born in Hong Kong may
explain the Oriental inspiration which
certainly accounts for his extraordi-
nary skill.
"The Leicester Lounge" which is. so
far. Dupouey's masterpiece, represents
I'm a note of delicious humor, developed
with a Chinese technique. the interior
lof a saloon in Leicester square, the
center OF the French quarter in Lon
don. Two women gorgeously appar-
Ielled are seated at little cafe table.
The contrast between tho monstrous
obesity OF the elder woman and the
minute glass of green chartreuse IN
front of her Is worked out with a
mastery OF color and line which would
have delighted Hokusai.
The French chambers leading
apostle of peace and disarmament, the
Baron d Estournelles de Constant. has
lust astounded his friends and adver-
saries alike by asking parliament 10
vote a special credit for encouraging
military aeronautics.
Without exaggerating the import
ance which aeronautics may have III
the future" he wrote 10 Gen. Picquart
minister OF war. I'VE may accept as
} an assured fact that dirigible bal
looms or aeroplanes may render ines
Unable service to our armies and
ports in case OF war. Ii is therefore
imperative TO vote sum sufficient 70
provide our general stats with such
an equipment
| asked him IL this meant that he
had recanted and would henceforth
stand for militarism, but he promptly
made clear the logic OF his attitude.
I'm spite OF the shortsightedness OF
even duplicity of some who serve It's
interests aviation will be the great.
est instrument, first for international
equality, and then for international
education" he answered.