Studio: international art (59.1913)

The Salon of the Socidte Nationale, Paris

'"pHE SALON OF THE SOCIETE
I NATIONALE DES BEAUX-
1 ARTS, PARIS.

In studying the twenty-third Salon of the
Societe Nationale, in passing again and again
through the twenty-eight rooms in which are
displayed some 1300 works, one cannot fail to be
struck by the general characteristics of this Salon.

This year, though it maintains an excellent level,
it does not offer us any work of outstanding
significance, and when at the end of June its doors
are closed to the public, and the remembrance
of the exhibition fades gradually from the memory,
there will not remain in our minds any such vivid
recollections as those by which some of the past
exhibitions still live in our hearts.

It must, indeed, be admitted that no one among
the established masters of the
Nationale has absolutely surpassed
his previous achievements, no one
has signed a chef-dl oeuvre in this Salon.

Nor if we turn to the young men do
we find any revelation among their
exhibits, despite the efforts made by
M. Aman-Jean, the distinguished
“ hanger ” of this year’s show, to
place in the forefront the works of
the less known artists. Very gene-
rously M. Aman-Jean has set apart
for these latter an entire salle, and
that perhaps the best in the Grand
Palais. Here, it is true, several very
good productions have been hung,
for example, a luminous picture by
M. Chapuy; some vigorously
painted peasants by Louis Chariot;
the Mort du Toreador, by Vasquez-
Diaz, a Spanish painter who here
shows himself a fine colourist;

Charmeurs de Serpents, by M.

Sureda, a very picturesque work;
some nudes by C. N. Lambert, and
an admirable portrait of a man by
H. de Beaumont; but none of these
works really proclaims the presence
of a master who should aspire to the
highest destiny. As my eminent
confrere, M. Arsene Alexandre, wrote
last year, the Societe Nationale has
here had to face a very disturbing
problem. However, let us study
the present without troubling our-
selves too much about the future; “aida boni,

and since I have pointed out what are in my
opinion the defects of this Salon, it is right that
we should also place on record its merits.

It is beyond question, and I think no one will
disagree with me in this, that the major part of the
exhibition is excellent. We find here in the
different branches of art, an address, a style, a
facility which cannot fail to arouse the admiration
of even the most critical, at the same time afford-
ing overwhelming evidence of the superb vitality
of the French school.

M. Roll, the eminent President of the Nationale,
has executed a vast ceiling commissioned by the
City of Paris for the Petit Palais. Taking as his
theme TApothlose de la Republique, M. Roll has
painted a very vigorous work showing two allegorical
figures, La Republique and the Ville de Paris,
flying through the sky, while around them are

DE l’op£ra” BY GUIRAND DE SCflVOLA

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