The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-04-18
Memories of
avenier
G. T. Merrill.
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thirty years ago stranger appeared
on the streets of Monterey; the same
Monterey that was once the capital of
California, and since made famous bv
the hotel Del Monte and Pacific Grove.
Although the advent of stranger in
Monterey, even in those long-ago DAYS.
need not call forth comment for there
were many visitors came that way, this
one in particular seemed to attract at
tention. although there was nothing
wrong in the set of his hat or the cut
of his clothes, but there was certainly
an indescribable something that called
for more than a passing glance from
the sleepy eyed Spaniards.
The stranger was a trife below the
average in height, but chunky. Men
of his particular build are sometimes
referred to as chimpanzee- built: that
is, the body is little too long for
the legs that support it. Otherwise, he
seemed to be normal as the build of
49, A~A oAo oSSC was q.
he certainly had quite a number of
years to go before he "crossed the
bridge o 'er the middle of life.'' Steel
blue eyes and a square set chin gave
one the impression that the man knew
exactly what he was about. In the line
of adornment to the face he sported
very sparse growth of mustache but
so light in color that it was not dis
eernable hundred yards away.
In those days it was of a surety that
grass did grow in some of the streets
of Monterey, but Julius Tavenier,
FTenchman, artist and Bohemian, did
not let any of it accumulate under the
soles of his shoes. Upon the day of
his arrival he busted himself in hunt
ing up location for his studio. and
having secured one on the main street
about half way between the center of
town and the old custom house, he lost
no time in getting busy His first
actual work was on the second morn
ing. Taking three-legged artist IS
stool, board, paper and piece of char
coal crayon, he planked himself down
in the middle of the street and was
soon the center of crowd who ex-
pressed, in no grouehy terms, their adj /
miration for his work as sketch of /
the street rapidly grew under his skill |
full touch. Although much of this adj |
miration was expressed in the Spanish |
language it was never the less very |
gratifying to the artist. It was not |
that he hankered for the admiration |
as food to his vanity, for of vanity
he had very little, but he enjoyed the
terms of approval expressed for his
work by the ignorant class for it spoke
for the trueness of his work. In after
years, when Tavenier would be en-
gagged on the figure of some animal in
painting that did not seem to be sat
isfactory to himself, he would call a
little child into the studio and pointing
out the aforementioned animal ask the
little child what it was. IF the child
named the animal off hand, with no
hesitation, as cit is sheep or, 1t
is cow. !" that animal received no fur
Their attention from the artist The
criticism of the little child was of more |
value to Tavenier than that of broth |
er artist. There comes to mind an |
instance that occurred during the paint |
ing of one of his famous pictures. In
the group composing the picture was
the figure of a lady, partly reclining,
with one bare arm resting across
center table. One day, when the pic
ture was nearing completion, small
boy stood looking at the studio door
while Tavenier was at work. Follow |
ing his usual custom the painter in
vited the boy in and asked his opinion |
of the picture After a close observa- |
ton of the painting, the boy said
that he thought that the lady had too
much arm. "Where2 Where is there too
much arm?'' asked the painter |
tsHere,'' said the boy, placing one
finger on the lady Is wrist and one on
her elbow. Tavenier at once stopped |
work on the picture and summoned six
of his lady friends to meet him at the |
same hour at the studio the next day. |
When they arrived he made measure /
ments of the forearms of the six
ladies. reducing the measurements to |
an average which was compared with |
that of the lady in the picture, proper
allowances being made for the reduced
size of the figure in the painting, ana
the result was that the boy was right; |
the arm on the canvas was too long.
Tavenier was a Bohemian In every
sense OF the word w uIle 1uOHcy J1HSiOu
in his pocket there was no work
going on at the studio. While this
great artist could handle any subject
to its limit of perfection the consensus
of opinion was that landscapes were
his strong suit. 1t was not infrequent
that for picture of that class, finish
ed and framed, he would receive $1,000.
Then every day was Sunday with Taven-
Ter. Not brush or tube would he
touch until the last dollar was gone;
then another canvas was stretched and
another picture painted.
Of his latter years and his life in
Honolulu the writer knows nothing, but
up to the time of his departure from
Monterey, in company with artist
Joseph Strong. the drink habit had got
a pretty good hold on Tavenier. Be
fore his advent in Monterey he had
been special sketch artist for Harper
Bros. publications. but liquor became
the master and he lost that position.
The writer was intimately acquaint-
ed with this great painter, having at