New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-07-02


ture. so | have seen French
politicians and men Of affairs while
away hours of boredom in conference
and committee session by sketching
portraits OF their colleagues. or mag
lned landscapes. Unprctentious draw
ing is the gentle pastime Of IL great
many French people, and deftness with
pen or brush the secret ambition of
not a few writer's.
Mr.. Hector Brame has opened in his
galleries an exposition Of the paint
lngs and sketches of number Of emf
nent Frenchmen of letters. Older
Parisians recall two precedents- the
first, organized by Bodinler in 1895,
and the second, under the patronage of
Jean Richepin, in 1900
If painters have rarely written we'll
Zone remembers and excerpts Michel
| angelo, Leonardo, Reynolds, Delacroix,
poets and novelists here represented
have the better of them. The masters
of this little salon are undoubtedly
Jules de Goncourt, Victor Hugo and
Musset. Hugo's talent has already
been pretty we'll recognized. AS for
Goncourt, his etchings are the property
of fair number of collectors. He is
here represented by an aquarelle, LA
rue de la vieille Lanterne" showing the
Nerval hanged himself from q little
iron balustrade. Nerval's body was
discovered by couple Of DRINKS, who
stopped only long enough to replace
the silk hat which had faI1en from
his head. This little scene, it may be
remarked, Is not pictured in the water
color.
In all that he did Musset displayed
incompatible grace; his pen drawings,
aupccia1l thoro ~, 4 a J,r;, \
tour with George Sand, have much
nervous charm. The drawing Of Nine.
Sand, with her great black eyes and
rolling collar, Is very evidently
lovers work; a highly romantic por-
trait Of Byron is scarcely more than an
honorable failure. George Sand her
self has q landscape in the show, a
little painting that is clearly the re-
suit of convent lessons in Lies arts
d'agrement."
Gautier, one Of the great painters In
prose, was the pupil Of forgotten
brushman named Riout, some Of whose
| work survives in provincial museums.
The pastel portrait of his sister Zoe, Is
respectable effort from which one
conceives that he might have earned as
decent living painting effigies for the
good bourgeoisie as he did in writing
feuilletons for lie Monituer."
Alfred dc Vigny's sketch OF himself
at work has good deal Of the atmos-
phere Of literary anxiety and night
writing. Baudelatre leaves US an agree
able drawing Of his beautiful mulatto,
Jeanne Duval. Merimee contributes an
architectural detail and an attractive
femme la Crinoline." One Of the
most amusing pictures In the show is
by Asselineau, displaying a bald little
Cotr Il q mil fp n
garnet. The scene illustrates anus
ingly the desire expressed in his verse
to flnd, each evening:
"Sur So table un lait pur, dams son
lit un oeil noir."
Henry Bataille's excellent eye for
the human figure gives US ''Le Tub"
But many poet-painters have been for
gotten here. Verlaine and Rimbaud
drew; Lajeunesse was an excellent Carl
caturst; Mirbeau is still trying to paint
like Monet; Haraucourt's seascapes are
notable; Montesquiou initiated Gus
tave Moreau, and Gyp's talent with the
brush is not unknown.
The moral, if you look for one, zs by
Degas. "Les lettres expliquent les
arts sans les comprendre."
And he adds. Lies arts compartment les
lettres sans les expliquer."
A GOOD book Of gossip shou16 be
IA interviewed with blank pages, like
an Oxford edition Of the Greek writer's,
for 1t tempts the reader who is averti
to the making Of copious notes. Such
book is Paul Gsell's mornings at the
Villa Said" Of which l have already
made mention. / read the book 3 few
months ago on Its appearance and now,
whenever I come upon q copy Of the
New York Nation l find in It extracts
from these conversations with Anstole
France in the excellent translation Of
Ernest Boyd
The last installment to comesgunder
my eye contains the record Of a chat
between France and Edmond Harau-
court on the French Academy. Men
tally, I write q marginal note. Harau-
court Is one Of the finest scholars In
France. He Is curator Of the Cluny
Museum, which Is housed in a beautiful
Gothic palace at the juncture Of the
Boulevards Saints German and Michel.
In it's attractive gardens are the ruins
Of ancient Roman baths, It Is best
Of a choice collection Of centuries de
chastetA.
M. Haraucourt had, as the. French
say, posed his candidature" FOR the
Academy. He was rejected because Of
the publication Of volume Of his
poetry which seemed to the academi-
clans unworthy Of one Of their num-
Der. That only two or three have pro-