International studio (56.1915)

Foreign Painting at the Panama-Pacific Exposition


who confess to a passion

BY LUCIEN SIMON

If the galleries in the
species of miniature Luxembourg,
to French painting in the Palace of Fine Arts
offer a judicious resume of current Salon activity.
Designed to include work done during the past
five years, one notes with pleasure subjects by
Besnard, Blanche, Cottet, Dauchez, Le Sidaner,
Roll, and Simon as well as a few by such relatively
advanced spirits as Maurice Denis, Signac, and
Vallotton. A scrupulously sustained eclecticism
distinguishes the offering as a whole. It is
patently, indeed almost painfully, apparent that

If it was the Dutchmen of the seven-
teenth century who freed painting from influences
that were frankly monastic and monarchical, it
was the Frenchmen of the nineteenth who in-
itiated what may be described as the modern
movement. For those
for precision, it is
well to recall 1870
as the date which
marks the starting
point of the con¬
temporaryschool. It
was in the spring of
this year, when vis¬
iting his friend De
Nittis in the envir¬
ons of Paris, that
Manet painted the
luminous, fresh-
toned canvas en¬
titled The Garden,
disclosing a delight¬
ful family group,
seen in the open air
under the spreading
trees. Following the
war, French art
evinced renewed vig- .
our, the Impression¬
ists, after an arduous
struggle, finally suc¬
ceeding in demon¬
strating to a recal¬
citrant public the
fluid beauty of at¬
mosphere and the
charm of simple, everyday scene. On all sides
there was a spontaneous return to life, nor
was this tendency without perceptible influence
upon the painting of the day. It is this re-affir-
mation of the fundamental race spirit which
those who organized the French Section at San
Francisco have endeavoured to illustrate. The
display shows on one hand what France, despite
defeat, was able so rapidly to accomplish, and on
the other that which she is now in the fullness of
her power currently achieving.
You cannot stroll through the Retrospective

French Section, Panama-Pacific Exposition
THE COMMUNICANTS

Exhibition, which is housed in the imposing
French Pavilion, without having vividly revived
certain early, unforgettable memories. Here is
Manet’s Balcony, showing Allie. Berthe Morisot,
the painter Guillemet, and their companion,
grouped behind the familiar pale green grating.
There is Besnard’s Portrait of Alphonse Legros,
while a few paces farther along Carriere’s Christ
looms out of a vague, suggestive, spirit kingdom.
Puvis is here, and so are Degas, Fantin-Latour,
Renoir, Cazin, and
the sumptuous and
hieratic Gustave
Moreau. Certain of
the more radical fig-
ures, including Ce-
zanne, Gauguin, and
Toulouse -Lautrec
are also on view,
though, alas, but
meagrely presented.
The atmosphere of
the Luxembourg has
in brief been trans-
ported to San Fran-
cisco with the com-
ing of these canvases
which, in a sense,
constitute the van-
guard of modernism.
It is a notable col-
lection, and while as
a rule the best ex-
amples by the vari-
ous artists are not
in evidence, yet
enough remains to
convey the essential
message of the men
selected.
Pavilion constitute a
those devoted

Foreign painting at the
PANAMA-PACIFIC EXPOSITION
BY CHRISTIAN BRINTON

LXXXIX