International studio (34.1908)

Studio-Talk



HOTEL IN RUE DES BELLES FEUILLES

M SOREL, ARCHITECT

this last exhibition was the exceptional place given Whether
to M. Rodin, who, in addition to his monument forest of
to Victor Hugo, destined for
the Luxembourg gardens, was
represented by a series of
nine busts which are to be
placed in the Muse'e du Lux-
embourg. One only of these
busts is in marble—that of a
young woman, modelled with
extreme delicacy. In striking
contrast to this are his eight
bronze busts of contemporary
celebrities, including a Henri
Rochefort, looking almost dia-
bolic beneath a mass of hair ;
a Gustave Geffroy, in pensive
mood, the head inclined ; a
Guillaume, with a hard,
stubborn expression; also
George Wyndham, Dalou, and
Victor Hugo. His earlier work
was represented by Id Homme silver dish
70

Like many of the best painters of the
present day, Simon Bussy hails from the
atelier of Gustave Moreau. But nothing
in his art, save an extreme delicacy of
touch, reveals a kinship with the author
of the Salome pictures. M. Bussy, who
is rarely seen in Paris, and divides his
time chiefly between the Riviera and
Scotland, has just been showing at MM.
Durand-Ruel’s a series of his pastels—
works executed with an exquisite poetic
sentiment. The technique of these pastels
is so subtle that the medium is scarcely
discernible, and one can scarcely tell
whether they are water-colours or chalks.
The especial charm of Bussy is the
way in which he interprets nature,
it is one of Scotland’s sombre lochs, or a
pine trees, or a view of the Esterel

CARLO BUGATTI

au nez casse, only recently cast; and then
finally there was his latest work in pomt
of date, a head of St. John the Baptist
resting on the charger on which it was
presented to Herod. At this exhibition,
two other notable items were the beau-
tiful panel Cr'epuscule, executed by Henri
Martin in 1905 for the new Sorbonne,
and a very fine bust of Ziem the painter
by Segofiin. It is greatly to be regretted,
however, that the State did not this time
acquire a single work by Besnard, our
greatest living painter.