Fannie Barr House (another view)
New Ipswich Historical Society
Fannie Barr House (another view)
William Jurian Kaula diary
15 May 1898 - Buckle up, readers! This is a long one.
PARIS. I arrived yesterday afternoon and took a room in the "Menagerie" on the Rue Delambre. I saw Adolphe and had a room next to his. There is always some new and am using thing to see in his little overloaded den. Outside on the balcony were several yards of canvas in course of preparation. Inside I was struck with the awful smells of various mixtures of turpentine, wax, and glue. There were mysterious pieces of cloth hanging around on chairs and the table, small fragments of about six to eight inches square. He explained that he had cut up a pair of old trousers and primed up the pieces to paint on! Of course, I yelled with great amusement at such novel stuff on which to paint pictures. He assured me that it worked fine. There is too much of this kind of freaky nonsense about Adolphe. The idea of using old trousers for a surface to pain on! The cheapest kind of linen coated in a proper way is within the reach of almost any student who is hard up for money.
I spent all the morning in the Salons. It is such a wearysome [sic] task to attempt to view about six or seven thousand pictures. After an hour or so it is hard to distinguish a good work from a bad one. In the Salon de Champs Élysées the first room is devoted to Cormon's decorations which I have seen and mentioned before (see Dec. 24•1897). It is the most interesting room in the Salon and such a contrast to the cheap decorative panels that are strewn through the other rooms. Collins decoration, the largest of the set which he is painting for the Opéra Comique is exhibited this year. I saw this and the others in his studio (see Nov. 20•1897). It looks decidedly weak here and falls very flat as an imposing or masterly decoration. It is wrong to show a decoration which is made for a particular room and where it can alone harmonize with the effect of light and the color of the surroundings. To hang it in a large room full of glaring realistic pictures where the amount of color would kill any decoration which contained any delicate color is very wrong. The large centerpiece is not as pleasant or as attractive as the side panels which I saw in Collins' studio. A picture by M. Albert Laurens, the son of the celebrated John Paul, has much in it to attract much attention. A number of figures dressed in garments of light gauze of many colors are being blown every which way by a tremendous wind. The color of the draperies, the scheme throughout is splendid in color of a subdued and harmonious kind. The "La Bourrasque" is one of the works which I remember with pleasure. M. Henner is more interesting this year, they are the same soft and wooly faces which he has turned out in such quantities for so many years and every collector has one or two of his heads or nude figures which are remarkable for their similarity. J.P. Laurens has a most ordinary stage scene which lacks the firmness and solidity of his works in his better days. Constant's portraits are interesting for serious study, not for any vital qualities of the artistic sense. Aimé Moret's huge equestrian portrait is bold, solid, strong in color and forced in effect. It is not pleasing as a work of art though it may portray the character of the man. Henri Martin the man who is famous for reasons that I know not why for I have not seen those works which have made him so famous. It is incredible to me how this man can hold public attention as the French are delighted with freaks but they tire of them in a few years if it does not lead to something really good. His large work this year contains much more art than the horrible confetti spatter of last season. There are some mysterious floating figures with as much form as so many logs of wood. They do not "float," that is a mistake, they are rigid images stuck against some trees. It is the color that saves the whole, it is full and rosey [sic] light and shadow. Henri Rochfort calls it a "religious poster." Sorolla Bastida the famous Spanish painter who paints such strong and dazzling effects of sunlight, has only a few portraits this year. As for the famous Bougereau I cannot but agree with Henri Rochfort again when he says that "Bougereau gives us for the thirtieth time a figure of a young girl attacked by a dozen cupids, against whom she scarcely tries to defend herself. She pushes them away gently, as though she feared she might break them, for they are made of porcelain." I saw a multitude of landscapes of all kinds, of the most terrible storms of rude paint to vivid realistic effects of "foolish sunset." Who are the good and splendid landscape painters in France? Tanzi has a photographic green wood interior. I did not find Harpignies who stood at the top for years. Men like Corot, Rosseau, Daubigny are not living today in France. The New Salon has better examples in landscape work. Among the Americans I found a couple of landscapes by Frank Bicknell which were good, though both looked quite alike without any distinct difference in impression from nature. Tanner's "Annunciation" is not a successful work. It may possess "profound thought" but it is not a beautiful conception and he failed to make anything serious out of the absurd column of light. DuMond is certainly going to the dogs. It is more likely that he is an overrated man and is so well known through his advertising as a teacher and illustrator. The figures at the well is a harsh piece of color and a disagreeable contrast of crudity. There is too much realism of local color without the influence of atmosphere. Glover's work is ______ too bright to be even intelligable. Kronberg's fire dance is another poster, and a bad one too.
The Salon de Champ de Mars is much more interesting. There is life and much more real merit apparent. Dagnan-Bouveret has a religious picture which is the most complete work in either Salon. He is head and shoulders over most of them and a master compared with many of the famous men. Dagnan's works will live. This "Supper at Emmans" is a queer conception of Christ with the figures of today introduced in the background. They are exceedingly well painted but detract much from the work by the unusual attention that they attract. It fails too, in having the sentiment of a religious picture in which the old masters alone excelled.
Besnard shows some spirited works. His vigor is astonishing and his color so full and varied that his works posess [sic] snap that is delightful. These are unequal in merit. I cannot understand a market scene full of Besnard horses that look like so many glistening onions. One little stage scene with a dancing figure is charming. Besnard's portraits are full of beautiful color in the draperies and surroundings but the heads seldom amount to much. L'Hermitte does not send anything remarkable. Rafaelli who has painted so many of the street scenes in Paris in his hatching stroke, sends portraits this year. Courtois paints figures of leather with a premeditated usual background. Simon paints boldly and often strikes some good effects and tones. His "Cirque Forain" with the tightrope walker in a miserable country circus is very clever and effective. One of the most impressive pictures in the Salon is by Friant. It is not impressive save in subject which is handled with a startling realism. It represents a scene in a cemetery of a funeral with some five or six weeping women over an open grave. It is extraordinary for many reasons. The scene is well depicted in the most severe and accurate detail. As a work of art it sends only a shudder through the beholder and you have a desire to get into some other room. Subjects of this type are apt to arrest the attention of everyone but scenes of this kind are too solemn in real life for anyone to enjoy such a realistic counterfeit. Lerolle has a dancing figure of Loïe Fuller which lacks solidity. Cottet paints well and his large picture has been bought by the state. Carrieré paints with much feeling, there is a melancholy gloom about his low-toned pictures in which we find the figures dimly outlined and only a soft mass of light where the heads come. In the portraits there is more character given to the expression and enough firmness to make the figures have some real solidity. In color much is left to be desired as they are chiefly wrought in browns. But one is so apt to be interested in the mysterious envelopment of shadow that color is forgotten. Aman-Jean has earned quite a reputation for his harmonious schemes of color and the feeling for low full tones. His present works do not uphold the same qualities and it is curious to see how many men fail to produce an average of good work. The pastel was good. Duvis de Chavannes has something of his old power in his decoration of "Genevieve." Among the landscape painters none interested me more than Cazin and Thaulow. Both are not represented up to their best and both fall far short of the show they made last season. Thaulow's works are controlled by picture dealers and I do not think that they sent a good choice. One of some factory chimnies [sic] pouring forth dirty smoke on a sickly yellow day is a splendid piece of work. The subject does not sound like a very beautiful conception of nature? His moonlight pictures savor too much of the desired thing to make a picture saleable. On the whole they are "pot boilers" and few men can even paint a "pot boiler" as well and Thaulow Cazin's works are not important ones. He paints atmosphere and feels the play of reflected sky color with much truth and charm. Among the Americans Childe Hassam cannot fail to attract attention with his highly colored landscapes done in the most rabid of the Impressionists' style. They are loose and patchy, brilliant in sunshine and color. He is a clever man and expresses much in a simple way but does not equal his former efforts in producing pictures that are less tiresome. Alexander likes to paint a woman with long flowing gowns. It is the dress that plays the important part in his pictures. The poses are always eccentric. Sargent has a good portrait full of his usual swing and free handling. I have seen better rportraits by him.
Frank Branwyn has a small picture which has the color of an old tapestry. It is very agreeable and good in tone but nothing like the nature that it was intended to portray.
Transcriber note: PHEW!!!
James Roger diary entry
15th May 1912
Fair; cloudy, cool; wind west to southeast. David whitewashing downtown in forenoon and at Spoffords’ in afternoon. I cut lawn at Prestons’ and finished raking at front of Prestons’ house. Went to W. Prestons’ at night with Wilbur and D. Maynard to attest appraisement of Sophrania Knowlton’s inventory.