DOI Heft:
Nr. 115 (October 1902)
DOI Artikel:Holland, Clive: Student life in the Quartier Latin, Paris
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19877#0046
Student Life in Paris
of South Kensington, with all its " correctness " the dots, and other odds and ends, the subjects of
and plaster casts. which appeal most to the artist who is a camera man
The student arrives in the Quarter, perhaps, in as well. Against the walls are stacked a score or so
the springtime. The friend—that friend who has of canvases, a discarded easel or two, and a few
been at Julian's for a year past, and has obligingly packing cases;—the latter because Johnson could
offered to show him round — does not think it really paint decently before he came to Paris, and
necessary to meet the train. The cab from the sends over a picture now and then to an accommo-
Gare St. Lazare, engaged after an interchange of dating dealer in the purlieus of the Haymarket,
almost incomprehensible French and little less who used to give him five-and-twenty per cent, of
incomprehensible English, rattles away towards its what the work fetched, tell his patrons they had a
destination along the wide boulevards, through by- bargain by a rapidly-rising young artist, and coolly
ways, across the river, and up a seemingly endless inform Johnson himself that if he could not do
street, narrow and picturesque, to an impasse near better he needn't send over any more !
the Luxembourg, Then, when the box, easel, and In the far corner of the room stood a stove, on
odds and ends have found temporary lodgment which the owner does (or some obliging model
with the concierge, and cabby has been paid what does for him) his cooking, stews his afternoon tea
seems (and is)' an extortionate fare—the octroi his when giving an informal five o'clock, and brews
kind levies on all nouveaux entering the French his matutinal coffee. The bed occupied one
capital—five flights of stairs must be climbed to corner; a bachelor's bed, which looked as though
reach Johnson (for so let us call him), who, the it was never properly " made," and the untidiness
concierge remarks, as it is only a little after eight of which was after midday disguised by a travelling
in the morning, may not yet have risen. rug thrown across it. In a word, this chambre
But it proves not to be an "off" day with garnie was very typical of scores of others in the
Johnson, and so a knock on the door, on which Quarter.
his card is nailed with a tack at each corner and Johnson quickly dressed, found his hat, and then
one in the middle, produces an " Entrez ! " To be out went nouveau (for such he will be called for a
candid, Johnson is at his toilet, but evinces no time) and mentor into the clear springtide air of the
astonishment. He had forgotten for the time being sunlit street in search of rolls and coffee. Hard
that he was expecting any one, but that is to be by was the little cretnerie which the etudiants of the
looked for in the Quarter where one often forgets neighourhood patronised—a quiet little place,
to get up till the afternoon. where a roll and cafe au lait, almost ad lib., made
The room is very much like those of scores of a hole in but half a franc. And where, in times
other students. It combines within its four walls of leanness, madame had a smile and — what
the sitting-room, studio, bedchamber, and kitchen, was of infinite more importance—a trustful heart,
with—as was once wittily remarked—
the peculiar features and disadvantages
of all these. It is fairly commodious ; 'VfjRP'flFf ' ~' f£HHHHHH^£9' l^^HI
for rooms, except mansardes, rule large
hereabouts. In many cases they are i.....■............„„.....,JjLi........................,.......ffM
those of historic hotels (palaces), still
retaining in panelled walls and deco-
rated ceilings more than a memory of
the high estate from which they }
have fallen. On the walls of John- j Br •' (
son's atelier, as he liked to call it, flHHY-JSlHtt r
hang sketches innumerable; nudes |P>S*>',""'!
from Colarossi's, with a vividness of Blik^f^iffBB ■_«-<— >-^-
flesh tints worthy of a freshly-copied WP'^tM
Rubens ; landscapes, with figures of ^—^
an impressionist type ; charcoal " time " K jHHJHJ —^-^^^
studies, most of them smudged by the B • | j .
hands of admiring or critical friends; ^^^^^^ /*"''-'"
snapshot—also impressionist—photo- "the Luncheon hour" from a photograph
graphs of friends, models, groups in by clive Holland
34
of South Kensington, with all its " correctness " the dots, and other odds and ends, the subjects of
and plaster casts. which appeal most to the artist who is a camera man
The student arrives in the Quarter, perhaps, in as well. Against the walls are stacked a score or so
the springtime. The friend—that friend who has of canvases, a discarded easel or two, and a few
been at Julian's for a year past, and has obligingly packing cases;—the latter because Johnson could
offered to show him round — does not think it really paint decently before he came to Paris, and
necessary to meet the train. The cab from the sends over a picture now and then to an accommo-
Gare St. Lazare, engaged after an interchange of dating dealer in the purlieus of the Haymarket,
almost incomprehensible French and little less who used to give him five-and-twenty per cent, of
incomprehensible English, rattles away towards its what the work fetched, tell his patrons they had a
destination along the wide boulevards, through by- bargain by a rapidly-rising young artist, and coolly
ways, across the river, and up a seemingly endless inform Johnson himself that if he could not do
street, narrow and picturesque, to an impasse near better he needn't send over any more !
the Luxembourg, Then, when the box, easel, and In the far corner of the room stood a stove, on
odds and ends have found temporary lodgment which the owner does (or some obliging model
with the concierge, and cabby has been paid what does for him) his cooking, stews his afternoon tea
seems (and is)' an extortionate fare—the octroi his when giving an informal five o'clock, and brews
kind levies on all nouveaux entering the French his matutinal coffee. The bed occupied one
capital—five flights of stairs must be climbed to corner; a bachelor's bed, which looked as though
reach Johnson (for so let us call him), who, the it was never properly " made," and the untidiness
concierge remarks, as it is only a little after eight of which was after midday disguised by a travelling
in the morning, may not yet have risen. rug thrown across it. In a word, this chambre
But it proves not to be an "off" day with garnie was very typical of scores of others in the
Johnson, and so a knock on the door, on which Quarter.
his card is nailed with a tack at each corner and Johnson quickly dressed, found his hat, and then
one in the middle, produces an " Entrez ! " To be out went nouveau (for such he will be called for a
candid, Johnson is at his toilet, but evinces no time) and mentor into the clear springtide air of the
astonishment. He had forgotten for the time being sunlit street in search of rolls and coffee. Hard
that he was expecting any one, but that is to be by was the little cretnerie which the etudiants of the
looked for in the Quarter where one often forgets neighourhood patronised—a quiet little place,
to get up till the afternoon. where a roll and cafe au lait, almost ad lib., made
The room is very much like those of scores of a hole in but half a franc. And where, in times
other students. It combines within its four walls of leanness, madame had a smile and — what
the sitting-room, studio, bedchamber, and kitchen, was of infinite more importance—a trustful heart,
with—as was once wittily remarked—
the peculiar features and disadvantages
of all these. It is fairly commodious ; 'VfjRP'flFf ' ~' f£HHHHHH^£9' l^^HI
for rooms, except mansardes, rule large
hereabouts. In many cases they are i.....■............„„.....,JjLi........................,.......ffM
those of historic hotels (palaces), still
retaining in panelled walls and deco-
rated ceilings more than a memory of
the high estate from which they }
have fallen. On the walls of John- j Br •' (
son's atelier, as he liked to call it, flHHY-JSlHtt r
hang sketches innumerable; nudes |P>S*>',""'!
from Colarossi's, with a vividness of Blik^f^iffBB ■_«-<— >-^-
flesh tints worthy of a freshly-copied WP'^tM
Rubens ; landscapes, with figures of ^—^
an impressionist type ; charcoal " time " K jHHJHJ —^-^^^
studies, most of them smudged by the B • | j .
hands of admiring or critical friends; ^^^^^^ /*"''-'"
snapshot—also impressionist—photo- "the Luncheon hour" from a photograph
graphs of friends, models, groups in by clive Holland
34