DOI issue:
No. 376 (July 1924)
DOI article:Valotaire, Marcel: The Paris salon of 1924
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21400#0037
THE PARIS SALON OF 1924
" PORTRAIT D'ALEXANDRE
LELEU." BY E. MAXENCE
(Artistrs Francais ; Copy-
right H. Bonnaire, London;
Photo Roseman)
On the one hand there is less of the
wretched work which causes one to deplore
the fact that so many men seem to have
missed their vocations, in a time when
good workers are scarce—and on the other,
there is no trace at all of the ultra-modernist
insanities, which seem to have been
banished at last by logic and common-
sense. This is not to say that there are not
some landscapes like colour-prints, photo-
graphic portraits and puerile compositions,
or that we have not to smile at the effron-
tery (farcical enough, nevertheless) of some
fashionable painters. The Salon would not
be the Salon if its doors were not widely
opened. 0 a a 0 a
On the contrary, if the general level this
year gives clear evidence of a considerable
and intelligent effort, there is no really out-
standing performance, epoch-making in
significance, showing the blossoming of a
genius or the master of a school, a man
whose name will later become a landmark
in the history of art. Assuredly no ardent
controversies, no passionate discussions,
no devoted adorations will arise out of this
Salon. 000000
In these conditions we will forbear to
particularise in respect of names, excepting
only the very noble and notable work of
G. Leroux, which welcomes the visitor
on his entry, the fresco ordered by the
State to commemorate the heroes of the
Great War, the sketch for which appeared
in The Studio in connection with the
Salon of 1922. We must also note the
retrospective exhibitions of Bonnat, Raf-
faelli, Puvis de Chavannes and Lhermitte,
which constitute a real tribute to the
great departed, and give the visitor a proved
echelle d'estime. 0000
The good general impression which the
visitor takes away with him is perhaps not
unconnected with the actual physical pre-
sentation of the works, for which the com-
mittee are to be thanked. They have even
gone to the trouble of arranging in rooms
together works by artists of common aims
or methods, and thus there are rocms
devoted to the Orientalists, the religious
painters, the modernists, and even the
foreign artists. 0000
These happy innovations, which one
might wish even further extended, are
doubtless due to the inclusion of the
decorative artists, who now have open
access to the Salon, the traditional barriers
between major and minor arts being now
quite broken down, which is most satis-
factory. 00000
The schemes and models exhibited by
" M. HUBERT D'lLLIERS "
BY JEAN DUPAS
(Artistes Francais; Copy-
right H. Bonnaire, London ;
Photo Vizzavona)
17
" PORTRAIT D'ALEXANDRE
LELEU." BY E. MAXENCE
(Artistrs Francais ; Copy-
right H. Bonnaire, London;
Photo Roseman)
On the one hand there is less of the
wretched work which causes one to deplore
the fact that so many men seem to have
missed their vocations, in a time when
good workers are scarce—and on the other,
there is no trace at all of the ultra-modernist
insanities, which seem to have been
banished at last by logic and common-
sense. This is not to say that there are not
some landscapes like colour-prints, photo-
graphic portraits and puerile compositions,
or that we have not to smile at the effron-
tery (farcical enough, nevertheless) of some
fashionable painters. The Salon would not
be the Salon if its doors were not widely
opened. 0 a a 0 a
On the contrary, if the general level this
year gives clear evidence of a considerable
and intelligent effort, there is no really out-
standing performance, epoch-making in
significance, showing the blossoming of a
genius or the master of a school, a man
whose name will later become a landmark
in the history of art. Assuredly no ardent
controversies, no passionate discussions,
no devoted adorations will arise out of this
Salon. 000000
In these conditions we will forbear to
particularise in respect of names, excepting
only the very noble and notable work of
G. Leroux, which welcomes the visitor
on his entry, the fresco ordered by the
State to commemorate the heroes of the
Great War, the sketch for which appeared
in The Studio in connection with the
Salon of 1922. We must also note the
retrospective exhibitions of Bonnat, Raf-
faelli, Puvis de Chavannes and Lhermitte,
which constitute a real tribute to the
great departed, and give the visitor a proved
echelle d'estime. 0000
The good general impression which the
visitor takes away with him is perhaps not
unconnected with the actual physical pre-
sentation of the works, for which the com-
mittee are to be thanked. They have even
gone to the trouble of arranging in rooms
together works by artists of common aims
or methods, and thus there are rocms
devoted to the Orientalists, the religious
painters, the modernists, and even the
foreign artists. 0000
These happy innovations, which one
might wish even further extended, are
doubtless due to the inclusion of the
decorative artists, who now have open
access to the Salon, the traditional barriers
between major and minor arts being now
quite broken down, which is most satis-
factory. 00000
The schemes and models exhibited by
" M. HUBERT D'lLLIERS "
BY JEAN DUPAS
(Artistes Francais; Copy-
right H. Bonnaire, London ;
Photo Vizzavona)
17