The Galleries of the Exposition | Page 9

unusual character. Alongside of it a very
intelligently painted little canvas by Albert Guillaume shows the
interior of an art dealer's shop. The agent is making Herculean efforts
to bamboozle an unsuspecting parvenu into buying an example of some
very "advanced" painting. The canvas is fine persiflage in its clever
psychological characterization of the sleek dealer and the stupid
helplessness of the bloated customer and his wife, who seem
hypnotized by the wicked eye in the picture. As a piece of modern
genre in a much neglected field, it is one of the finest things of recent
years. On the extreme left of this wall a very fine bit of painting of an
Arabian fairy tale by E. Dinet deserves to be mentioned.

Almost opposite this small canvas Lucien Simon has a large picture
painted with the bravura for which he is famous. The atmosphere of
this fine interior is simply and spontaneously achieved, and the three
figures of mother, nurse and balky baby are excellently drawn. The
still-life by Moride, to the left of this picture, shows all the earmarks of
the modern school without sacrificing a certain delicacy of handling
which is often considered by many modern painters a confession of
weakness. A fine Dutch canvas on the extreme left of this wall, by
Guillaume-Roger, attracts by a fine decorative note seldom found in
pictures of French easel painters.
The east wall of this gallery is distinguished by a number of fine
landscapes by different men. Beginning on the left side of the door
Jules-Emile Zingg presents two tonally skillful winter landscapes of
great fidelity, while on the right is Henry Grosjean's delicate
atmospheric study of a broad valley floor. A decorative watercolour of
the Versailles Gardens, by Mlle. Carpentier, commands admiration by
reason of its fine composition as well as by the economical but
effective technique of putting transparent paint over a charcoal drawing.
The sculpture in this gallery is of no great moment. Like much of the
modern French sculpture it is very well done in a technical sense
without disclosing great concentration of mind.
Gallery 17.
A variety of subjects continues to impress one in this gallery. Portraits,
landscapes, and historical subjects, with here and there a genre note,
make the general character of the French exhibit, showing at every turn
the great technical dexterity for which French art has long been
celebrated. There is no picture of outstanding merit in this gallery,
unless one would single out a very sympathetic, simple landscape by
Paul Buffet and the Lucien Griveau landscape called "The Silver
Thread," diagonally opposite, a canvas of rich tonality and distinctive
composition.
Gallery 16.
An adjoining gallery toward the east has a great number of excellent
pictures to hold the attention of the visitor. To begin with the figure
painters, the Desch portrait of a little girl in empire costume appeals by
its genuinely original design. The carefully considered pattern effect of
this canvas is most agreeable and well assisted by a very refined colour

scheme. Although a trifle dry, the quality of painting in this canvas is
the same as that which makes Whistler's work so interesting. This
painting is one of the great assets of the French section, and to my mind
one of the great pictures of the entire exhibition. Balancing the Desch
canvas, one finds another figural canvas of great beauty of design, by
Georges Devoux. "Farewell," while of a sentimental character, is strong
in drawing and composition. It is very consistent throughout.
Everything in the picture has been carefully considered to support the
poetic, sentimental character of the painting, which is admirably
delicate and convincing without being disagreeably weak.
Jacques-Emile Blanche is represented in this gallery by his well-known
portrait of the dancer Nijinski. A certain Oriental splendor of colour is
the keynote of this canvas, which is much more carelessly painted than
most of Blanche's very clever older portraits. On the opposite wall
Caro-Delvaille shows his dexterity in the portrait of a lady. The lady is
a rather unimportant adjunct to the painting and seems merely to have
been used to support a magnificently painted gown. There is a peculiar
contrast in the very naturalistically painted gown and the severe
interpretation of the face of the sitter. Ernest Laurent's portrait of Mlle.
X is typically French in its loose and suggestive style of painting, and
easily one of the many good portraits in the gallery.
Among the landscapes Andrè Dauchez' "Concarneau," Charles
Milcendeau's "Washerwomen," on the opposite wall, and last but not
least, Renè Mènard's "Opal Sea" - a small picture of great beauty -
deserve recognition. Pierre Roche has a statuette of Loïe Fuller in this
gallery which is conspicuous by its daring composition and simple
treatment.
Gallery 15.
Entering this gallery, the first canvas to attract