The New York herald., 1920-01-04
REN0|R, POOR AND
Ill, WON FAME
As GREAT ARTIST
Gifted French Impressionist
Sold His.Early Paintings
for a Song.
By JULIAN HARRIS,
Special Correspondent Of the Herald.

PARIS. Dec. 3.-Ip the rectn death
Of Auguste Renoir. France has lost not
only one Of her most honored and dis
tinguished painters but one of her great
est men, In whose strong and serene ma
ture there was no room for bitterness.
despite the vicissitudes of poverty suf-
fered in his earlier years and the physical
anguish of his later ones. For 1t was
not until Renoir was almost fifty that he
began to enjoy the repose and comfort
which came with his tardy recognition
by a prejudiced public, and for fifteen
years before his death he was victim
of a form of rheumatism which deprived
him Of the use of his fingers and his
limbs.
In spite Of the hardships and physical
misery OF the greater portion of his life
he never lost confidence in his destiny nor
faith In his fellowmen. At sixty-five he
learned how to handle his brushes with
out the aid OF his bent and knotted fin
gers. tying the handles to his wrists. and
thus he worked and thus he achieved
some of his most exquisite and volup-
tuous canvases, never leaving off until
a few days before his death, which oc-
CURED at his home in the little town Of
Cagnes. on the border Of the Mediter-
ranean
Renoir was born in 1s41, and at thirteen
years of age he was earning his bread
as a painter on porcelain at Limoges.
But he was not satisfied with the fact
that he surpassed all his comrades in
dexterity. and he began to plan to go to
Paris and enter a studio. His father.
a poor tailor, having settled in the capi-
tai, Auguste followed. and for days walked
about the streets in search of work. On
n the Rue de Bac one day he noticed an
| advertisement calling for man to paint
transparent window shades. He applied
for. the position, was accepted and re-
ceived thirty francs shade for his work.
Soon he could do three shades a day, and
the money acquired In this way enabled
him to- enter the Ecole des Beaux Arts,
where he allied himself with the painters
Monet and Sisley, his comrades In pow
erty and genius. 9
Reduced to Poverty.
Like other masters of the brush IN
other countries, he was reduced to such
straits before success arrived that ne
| painted the portraits OF his Landlords
families In exchange for lodging. For
paltry sums he sold his work to wine
| merchants in order to get food and some
of these canvases later brought from
dealers sums up to 100000 francs. For
instance, there was a keeper OF small
cafe on one of The boulevards who took
one Of the artists paintings and who later
became bankrupt and attempted to sell II
! without success. Today this same canvas
lac %
lcollection of q connoisseur at Munich.
At another time Renoir, overcome by
debt sold everything he had in the way
Iof paintings for the sum of seven hundred
francs. At present only millionnare
could afford to redeem these canvases.
In 1870 Renoir took his place in the
ranks in the Franco-Prussian War. in
1873 he was refused at the Salon. his
r jected offering. the "Amazone," later
lbc &C ming one OF the most important WORKS
of the collection of Henri Rouart Prior
to the war he and his comrades, Monet
and Sisley, had had q studio together In
the Forest of Fontainebleu. but after the
first exhibition of his works in the Rue
lLaffitte. an exhibition which was greeted
with ridicule and contempt by the public
and the critics, the three artists took up
their abode on the banks OF the Seine al
lArgenteuil and Bouglval.
Here Renoir painted those luminous and
lsensuous representations of water, sky ana
air; those groups of sturdy boatmen and
gayly dressed young women and those
vivid gatherings of picnickers before sub
urban wineshops which nowadays are the
chef d'oeuvres of great collections, but
which then we're the objects of the scorn
and derision Of q public which preferred
dirty and bituminous colors and which
resented the encroachment OF sunshine In
the drab domain OF the studio
nsAA
Although the recognized chief OF the
Iimpressionist school, term as revolu-
tionary fifty years ago SIS that of Bolshe-
visit today Renoir always denied that ne
wished to destroy anything, and preserved
J in his work the h.jst traditions or the
feighteenth century Frencn painters. OF
Watteau. Lorraine and Corot. He loved
. the grace and beauty of women, the charm
Of children and the joyous aspects OF
nature. and he once said:--'When a critic
thinks he annoys me by saying that my
sole merit is that of being agreeable In
] reality he pleases me, for II had to
! paint a battle almost without beng con-
scious of IL, / would cover the comoatants
) with flowers" He once wrote TO 9
friend IF God had not created the throat
) Of a woman / might never have been o
! painter"
3 Among the first to recognize the genius
) of Renoir we're Theodore Duret. DurantS
: and Huysmanns and the galleries OF sucf
8 dealers as Durand-Ruel. Manzi-Joyant ant
8 Bernhem long ago introduced his master
Z pieces to other countries than France
5 In America Durand-Ruel. perhaps more
8 than any other house. has made picture
. lovers familiar with the glowing ant
) voluptuous canvases OF the irnpresslonists
: particularly those Of Reno.r and Monet.
Among the most noted OF Reno!r'5 paint
'ngs may be mentioned THE Opera Bcx.'
! Lunch at Bourival." 1.-THE Mil OF Ls
: Galette." "The Square ot La Trinite.'
l''The Covered Alley" and portraits OF
! Jeanne Samary, Berthe Morizot. Catulle
: Mendes. and his children. Nine. Renoi
+ and her children and OF the Carpenter
family, the last named being the property
lof the Metronolitan Museum OF Art. OnlN