Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-03-22

mote scantily- settled, half developed
faubourg bodering the southern forti
hcations, quarter of market gardens,
mushroom caves. hospitals and mill
tary Barracks, into which Partisan
of the centre would hesitate to Ven
! ture after nightfall, a big, neglected,
,Hn- down property was offered Tor sale
at surprisingly low figure. Alfred
! Boucher bought it. and re-erected upon
| it, ver* near its centre, a curious. cir
| cular glass and-iron pavilion which
! he acquired for a song from the au-
thorities Of the Exposition of 1900.
This building which he christened
La Ruche' e'The Bee-hive). partly
by reason of its hivelike shape and
| partly by reason of the use to which
| he was to put it. provided with
minimum of interior remodeling, IL
study hall and sixty studios. He
rented the studios for $50 francs a
year Ga few for 100 francs) and these
sums, small as they were. entitled the
, tenants to free art instruction, to free
| living models. and to use of the beau
| tiful garden, threaded by labyrlnthine
| PATHS. into which the unkempt, weed
| grown grounds We're speedily trans-
! formed. The study hall was especially
arranged for night work, because a
! gaadly number Of the tenants worked
| for their bread and butter during the
LAY, as assistants to famous sculp-
| tors or decorative painters, or at a
variety of trades more or less closely
related to art. such as commercial
| lithogra ply. scene painting. book,
magazine OF fashion catalogue illus
/ y.1 iYlu nd aar nd - IL
paper designing.
Around the big studio building as q
centre, several tiny studio building
have since been grouped, with the result
| that the number of studios now avail
| able surpasses 100. These subsidiary
hives have been built at small cost,
mainly from the materials of buildings
| torn down in the vicinity. \ theatre,
LIE Theatre de la Ruche DIES Arts, capa-
| BILE of seating 200 spectators. has also
| been built recently out of similar ma
| terials. 1t boasts two balconies, a rela-
| lively spacious stage and a stage cellar
| so ingeniousy arranged that plays call
| ing for rather elaborate effects may be
! produced without difficulty II not only
provides amusement, but serves as a sort
of school of applied dramatcs, one of
| Alfred Boucher's pet ideas being The es-
sential unity of all the arts. Indeed.
LA Ruche," although intended primarily
for painters and sculptors, is not entirely
inhospitable TO young writer's and COM
posers who have to contend with more
than their share of adverse crcums-
tances.
There are no fads at La Ruche; no
| -, ;,gIf
pretence of solving social problems. no
ostentatious playing at simple living, no
meddling with individual habits and
tastes It is not designed to demonstrate
anything whatsoever nor is it chart
table or philanthropic institution 1t is
Just the way one thoughtful and kindly
man has taken to be helpful to the parti-
cular sort of people that interest him
most-because he finds being thus helpful
better fun than anything else in the
world. The signal success of the enter
prise flor it long ago passed out of the
experimental stage) is due not little,
no doubt, to the sanity and sincerity up
on which il is based; but it is due still
more to the engaging personality of its
founder and director tin which personali-
" should be included that of his princi-
pal collaboration. Nine, Boucher, gen
tie sensible. mothery soul. whom the
Rucheites Worship. Alfred Boucher is d
stout, 1ovial man, with big appealing
eyes, abundant curly hair and flowing
beard just touched with gray careless
in dress. contemptuous of conventional
etiquette, and vet delightfully."- urbane
in short, so splendid a type Of the best
sort of French artist that he could be