Studio: international art (13.1898)

Decorative Art in Paris

In collaboration with M. Alexandre Charpentier,
M. Aubert also displays a Mural Decoratio?i for a
Bath-roo7n in enamelled earthenware, executed in
the great manufactory of Sarreguemines. Interest-
ing as this work undoubtedly is, it must be regretted
that the two artists should not have chosen, to
carry out their ideas, some material less common-
place, less hard, less cold. The same scheme pro-
duced in stoneware would have been far superior.
As it is, however, the work is worthy of all praise,
for it reveals a keen sense of novelty, a spirit of
invention, expressed in truly characteristic fashion.
This background of water, shimmering with change-
ful lights behind the arum lilies in the foreground;
this low-relief frieze of girl bathers, whose every

BRONZE LAM? BY TONY SEI.MERSHEIM

movement is reflected in the pure blue of the
stream; these combinations of yellows and greens,
blues and pinks, displayed in happily balanced
masses, produce a really exquisite impression of
freshness and light. In modelling the figures,
Charpentier has shown all his well-known gifts of
grace and flexibility; the poses are most har-
monious and delightfully true; there is in these
women's forms something of the serene elegance
of the Tanagra statuettes. Be it added that the
artist has modelled his work with scrupulous regard
to the flow of the enamel which covers them, and,
indeed, makes them stand out the more boldly and
effectively.

A brooch in silver, representing a baby's chubby
head; two silver seals of delicate modelling; a
Siren and a Ganymede; a bronze plaquette of St.
Sebastian—intended as a prize in an archery com-
petition, a sport to which M. Moreau-Nelaton is
devoted; a large number of embossed leather port-
folios, cigar-cases, blotting-books, &c.; four um-
brella stands in varnished pottery, in which the
artist, unfortunately, has not attempted to vary
a form only too familiar already; a gourd in
leather, representing a huge bunch of grapes, very
broadly treated ; and the medallion of Dr. Besnier ;
these make up the sum of Alexandre Charpentier's
exhibits. The medallion is a work of highest art.
I know no artist of to-day capable of producing it
with more power or more intensity of expression,
more delicacy, or more finish. Without excess of
minuteness, there is in this work every requisite
detail, shown with the utmost precision ; and, more
than that, there is a breadth of vision, a realisation
of character rising to actual greatness.

M. Jean Dampt this year shows us no furniture,
but metal-work instead—a dish in repousse silver,
a silver door-handle, several gold brooches, and
some artistic little medals. I don't much care
for the door-handle, made in the form of a couple
of snails, by no means inviting to the hand ; more-
over, the design generally appears to me heavy and
too suggestive of certain eighteenth-century styles.
His dish, on the other hand, is very fine, entirely
simple in scheme and perfect in execution. The
ornamentation, consisting solely of chestnut leaves
and chestnuts themselves in their spiky shells, runs
around the brim, while two large leaves form the
handles. This is a truly beautiful work, rich
both in material and in workmanship. I have,
however, one criticism to make, from the decora-
tive point of view. It seems to me the work would
gain in effect, would have greater uniformity, if the
leaves on the brim of the dish were designed on

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