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JOURNAL DES DEBATS

Je regrette de n'avoir pas vu le buste qu'il a fait de Cornelia Chapin, auteur d'un Jeune éléphant en sa vraie grandeur, taillé dans le bois avec la plus intelligente décision. Mais j'ai vu et revu ses Chimpanzés, sa Chèvre aux chevreaux, ses Pingouins: c'est un ensemble admirable. Le groupe de chimpanzés taillé d'après le vif dans le grannit noir sera, je crois, son chef-d'oeuvre; il semble que sa maîtrise exprime là un accent nouveau: quel beau métier, quelle belle matière, quelle compréhension spirtuelle de la nature!

SARRADIN.


ACTION FRANCHISE

Les animaliers sont nombreux : Tremont, Mme de Bayser-Gratry, Mme Anne-Marie Profillet, Willy Wuillaumier dont le « Jars » est une parfaite réussite, Mme Cornelia Chapin, accompagnent honorablement le toujours admirable Mateo Hernandez qui, après Pompon, d'une autre manière, dans un style monumental, a ranimé l'art des grands Egyptiens.

Mais la peinture, bien que cette « religion nouvelle », selon un mot fameux, soit un peu en déclin, reste la partie la plus riche et la plus curieuse du Salon d'automne. C'est là surtout que l'on attendait. Nous dirons en quoi, s'il n'y a pas lieu de crier hosannah! hosannah! devant chaque toile, nous croyons y discerner des signes rassurants.

René BRECY.


MiNERVA.

A côté d'œuvres aussi pleines, que le « Travailleur de la mer », de Verdilhan paraît conventionnel et impersonnel. L'artiste use d'un métier solide, mais sans âme. Une « Pleureause » de Bouraine ne manque pas de construction, mais elle est plus décorative que vivante ; un « nu » de Cazaubon est banal et correct; un « nu couché » de Chauvel est solide et bien construit, mais n'exprime point une vigoureuse personnalité ; de René Iché, un « nu » encore, bien dessiné, harmonieux de volumes. Mauricheu-Bauprè expose le portrait d'une jeune martiniquaise, croustillant et gai. L'éléphant de Cornélia Chapon, entaille directe, a plus d'harmonie que de mouvement ; le portrait de José Lafarge n'est pas dépourvu de banalité, comme celui de Suzanne Lefèvre. Les bustes de Georges Chaumont sont d'un dessin serré et d'un métier très sûr. Marise Novaroka ne manque point de finesse, mais la matière qu'elle a choisie la dessert.

Les animaux triomphent. Le souvenir de Pompon n'est point effacé et inspire


PARIS. HERALD. 

2,000 Artists Exhibit Canvases, Maintain Level of Autumn Salon

Score of Americans Show Skill; Desvallières, President, Praised for Fine Arrangement.

By B. J. KOSPOTH.

More than two thousand works by French and foreign artists are on view at the Salon d'Automne in the Grand Palais this year. Among this multitude of exhibitors, who prove by their participation that they still have faith in this historic manifestation of Parisian art-life, are about a score of Americans.

There was a time, not many years ago, when to show a picture at the Salon d'Automne was the ultimate ambition of American artists abroad. But, in these days of disillusionment, many Americans of artistic repute, like their French colleagues, appear to have acquired the habit of regarding big collective expositions with a certain measure of contempt. The list of members of the Société du Salon d'Automne includes numerous famous contemporary French artists - to mention only Matisse, Braque and Dunoyer de Segonzac - who have made no contribution to the present show.

Glorious Past of Salon.

And yet the Salon d'Automne, under the guidance of its great founder, Frantz Jourdain, who died a few months ago at the age of 88, has played a vital and glorious part in the history of modern French art. In the hall of honor at the Grand Palais hangs Jourdain's portrait by Albert Besnard, surrounded by a few chosen works by the artists whose genius he was one of the first to recognize: Bonnard, Carrière, Cézanne, Gauguin, Redon, Renoir and Vuillard - names that reveal the important influence exercised by the late president of the Salon d'Automne on the development of French painting.

Strange as it may seem to ultra-modern eyes today, Frantz Jourdain, the architect of the Samaritaine building on the Quai du Louvre, was a revolutionary in his day. He was a friend of Zola's and Manet's when both were struggling against a hostile public; an habitué of the embittered Edmond de Goncourt's celebrated "attic," where gathered the greatest artists and writers of the time; and when he created the Salon d'Automne, it was to afford refuge and assistance to misunderstood genius.

Inevitably, Jourdain's Salon has grown old with its founder, but it has by no means died with him. On the contrary, there is every indication that it will receive fresh impetus from its new president, George Desvallieres, who merits praise for the selection and arrangement of this year's show. Important groups of contemporary artists, including such interesting painters as Gromaire, Goerg, Alix and André Foy, have remained faithful to the Salon d'Automne and help to maintain its reputation for modernity. With their interest in composition, so much neglected today, and their delight in the grotesque, these artists introduce a fresh and vigorous note into an exposition which in other respects, like all similar shows, is somewhat monotonous in its endless array of respectable but uninspired works.

Outstanding Canvases.

Among pictures standing out in this medley, are André Fraye's colorful landscapes, Bompard's sound and luminous "Allée d'Automne," Maurice Asselin's amusing "Portrait du Docteur Rehm" and his excellent "Devoirs de Vacances," showing two little boys bending over a table at their hateful holiday tasks; the Venetian landscapes of Gaston Balande, and Jean de Botton's "Portrait of Jules Romains," Coubine's landscapes and flower pieces are as delicately painted as ever. André Lhote is showing characteristic canvases, and Roland Oudot, Jean Marchand, Zingg, Terechkovitch, Sabbagh, and Paulemile Pissarro are represented by works worthy of their undisputed talent. Van Dongen, who is one of the faithful, is exhibiting a "Jeune Fille aux Pieds Nus" painted with his usual skill. Paul Poiret's still lifes merit more attention than is generally accorded the artistic endeavors of the once famous couturier.

Although few in numbers, the American exhibitors at the Salon d'Automne are distinguished by their sincerity and talent. Harold English has a vivid picture of a girl smoking a cigarette. Theodore E. Butler's autumn landscape shows depth of feeling, and his "La Lieutenance, Honfleur" is striking in composition and color. Wilmer Hoffman's sculpture of a fighting cock is full of animation and humor. Likewise showing promising works are: Henry Cannon (woodcuts for a book), Cornelia Chapin (wood carving of a young elephant), Lily S. Converse (two etchings of flowers), Lillian Cotton ("Nu Couché"), Gerald V. Davis, Eloise Egan ("Grande Rue, Saint-Paul"), Mabel Gardner (two remarkable pieces of sculpture: "La Vierge de l'Annonciation" and "L'Ange de l'Annonciation"), David Humphreys ("Port dans le Pays de Galles"), B. Jackson Humphreys ("Paysage Nuageux"), Cecilia Mackinnon (two drawings), Philip Perkins ("Portrait de Mlle. Sage"), Lendall Pitts ("Le Lac de Bienne"), Antoinette Schulte ("Paysage"), Maud Squire ("Maison Provençale" and "Vieille Villa"), Waldo Wallis ("La Foraine"), Dixie Watkins ("Portrait of Jacqueline Horner") and Mary Day Watrous ("Fleurs").

In the Salon's section for religious art are fine stained-glass windows for French country churches by Louis Barillet and Pauline de La Jarrige. Retrospective exhibits have been staged for Felix Denayer, Paul Gargallo, Gustave Gwoddecki, René Piot and Mme. Van Bever de La Quintine, and there is a special show of Paul Colin's inimitable theatrical and cinema posters. The Salon d'Automne will remain open until December 8.