DOI issue:
Nr. 43 (October 1896)
DOI article:Studio-talk
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17298#0079
Studio- Talk
PANELS LITHOGRAPHED IN COLOURS FOR FOURFOLD SCREEN BY PIERRE BONNARD
PARIS.—M. Paul Desjardins has been
instrumental in starting a society,
known as the " Union pour 1'Action
Morale," the object of which is to
check the demoralising influence—
growing every day—of certain posters, illustrated
journals, and theatrical photographs displayed onthe
street walls, and in the shop windows and kiosks.
The subject is one which, of course, offers an easy
excuse for ridicule in a sceptical city like Paris ;
but one can afford to ignore all cheap sarcasm, for
the matter is a serious one and deserves to be con-
sidered as such.
All cant and prudery apart, one may well be
shocked at the shameless display of more or less
naked figures which modern advertising thrusts in
the faces of all and sundry. I am aware of the
strong-minded argument—that corruption exists,
and will exist, whether such pictures be displayed
or not, and that they do nothing to increase it;
that men's lower instincts are very much the same
as they were in the earliest times, as gross and as
animal; that progress is a snare and a delusion,
and so on. Be it so, for the sake of argument;
but the admission by no means implies that we are
therefore to tolerate these scandalous exhibitions,
which stand out in all their effrontery from the
walls, and by their gaudy colouring must needs
attract the attention of all who pass them by, not
only men, but women and girls, and young
children.
It must be admitted that it is no easy task to bring
about an improvement in these matters, but every
one with a healthy mind, every self-respecting man
who values the dignity of humanity, will wish all
success to M. Paul Desjardins and his efforts.
Thus, it was with no little astonishment that
Parisians a few days ago found their walls covered
with large placards on which was a design in out-
line of the Ste. Genevieve fresco in the Parthenon,
67
PANELS LITHOGRAPHED IN COLOURS FOR FOURFOLD SCREEN BY PIERRE BONNARD
PARIS.—M. Paul Desjardins has been
instrumental in starting a society,
known as the " Union pour 1'Action
Morale," the object of which is to
check the demoralising influence—
growing every day—of certain posters, illustrated
journals, and theatrical photographs displayed onthe
street walls, and in the shop windows and kiosks.
The subject is one which, of course, offers an easy
excuse for ridicule in a sceptical city like Paris ;
but one can afford to ignore all cheap sarcasm, for
the matter is a serious one and deserves to be con-
sidered as such.
All cant and prudery apart, one may well be
shocked at the shameless display of more or less
naked figures which modern advertising thrusts in
the faces of all and sundry. I am aware of the
strong-minded argument—that corruption exists,
and will exist, whether such pictures be displayed
or not, and that they do nothing to increase it;
that men's lower instincts are very much the same
as they were in the earliest times, as gross and as
animal; that progress is a snare and a delusion,
and so on. Be it so, for the sake of argument;
but the admission by no means implies that we are
therefore to tolerate these scandalous exhibitions,
which stand out in all their effrontery from the
walls, and by their gaudy colouring must needs
attract the attention of all who pass them by, not
only men, but women and girls, and young
children.
It must be admitted that it is no easy task to bring
about an improvement in these matters, but every
one with a healthy mind, every self-respecting man
who values the dignity of humanity, will wish all
success to M. Paul Desjardins and his efforts.
Thus, it was with no little astonishment that
Parisians a few days ago found their walls covered
with large placards on which was a design in out-
line of the Ste. Genevieve fresco in the Parthenon,
67