DOI Heft:
No. 53 (August, 1897)
DOI Artikel:Studio-talk
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18389#0221
Studio- Talk
group, "is that these ugly, vulgar decorations spoil
both the drawings and the text."
"You surely don't mean that!" exclaimed the
third. " 1 think, it's the drawings themselves that
ruin the whole thing ! "
I could do nothing but shake each of them
warmly by the hand, and congratulate them,
individually and generally, on the soundness of
their taste !
-All this somewhat scandalised the eiegant sub-
scribers to the work, and the four of us were
requested to leave the galleries by order of the
firm of Manic, which, it seems, from its head-
quarters at Tours, had overheard all that was
said !
Some years ago a new cafe was opened, in
succession to many others, at the corner of the
Rue Lepeletier, on the Boulevard des Italiens.
For months the building was hidden by hoardings,
in order to excite the curiosity of the passers-by.
On the eve of the opening all the papers pro-
claimed in chorus—for a consideration, needless to
remark—the sumptuousness of the art decorations
in the new establishment. At last, like the walls
of Jericho, the boards fell asunder and revealed
a truly horrid spectacle. Nothing more hideous
was ever seen in this world. It was like a com-
bination between a butcher's shop and a bathing
establishment. 'Twere better say no more about
it.
However, the architect—or architects—conceived
one happy idea, at any rate ; and that is suffi-
ciently rare to deserve notice. M. Forain, the
brilliant draughtsman, whose impeccable pencil
has noted with so much keenness and penetration
the aspects of his day, was invited to do some
mosaic cartoons to serve as a frieze, for the facade,
between the windows of the first storey.
The work is altogether charming both as regards
line and colour, extremely simple in its decorative
CARTOON FOR A MOSAIC FRIEZE
I96
BY FORAIN
group, "is that these ugly, vulgar decorations spoil
both the drawings and the text."
"You surely don't mean that!" exclaimed the
third. " 1 think, it's the drawings themselves that
ruin the whole thing ! "
I could do nothing but shake each of them
warmly by the hand, and congratulate them,
individually and generally, on the soundness of
their taste !
-All this somewhat scandalised the eiegant sub-
scribers to the work, and the four of us were
requested to leave the galleries by order of the
firm of Manic, which, it seems, from its head-
quarters at Tours, had overheard all that was
said !
Some years ago a new cafe was opened, in
succession to many others, at the corner of the
Rue Lepeletier, on the Boulevard des Italiens.
For months the building was hidden by hoardings,
in order to excite the curiosity of the passers-by.
On the eve of the opening all the papers pro-
claimed in chorus—for a consideration, needless to
remark—the sumptuousness of the art decorations
in the new establishment. At last, like the walls
of Jericho, the boards fell asunder and revealed
a truly horrid spectacle. Nothing more hideous
was ever seen in this world. It was like a com-
bination between a butcher's shop and a bathing
establishment. 'Twere better say no more about
it.
However, the architect—or architects—conceived
one happy idea, at any rate ; and that is suffi-
ciently rare to deserve notice. M. Forain, the
brilliant draughtsman, whose impeccable pencil
has noted with so much keenness and penetration
the aspects of his day, was invited to do some
mosaic cartoons to serve as a frieze, for the facade,
between the windows of the first storey.
The work is altogether charming both as regards
line and colour, extremely simple in its decorative
CARTOON FOR A MOSAIC FRIEZE
I96
BY FORAIN