CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FINE ARTS LIBRARY Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 924063971 836 THIRD EXHIBITION OF CONTEMPORARY FRENCH ART MARCH 8 TO APRIL 3, 1915 CARROLL GALLERIES, Inc. HARRIETT C. BRYANT, Director 9 EAST 44th STREET, NEW YORK CJ:2 %0 THIRD EXHIBITION OF CONTEMPORARY FRENCH ART This, our third exhibition of contemporary French art, affords a complete survey of the evolu- tion of Cubism from its beginnings to the present day. Besides the historical interest which this group of works thus possesses, it is important be- cause it contains significant pictures by Pablo Picasso of a quality never before shown in America. With Picasso are grouped the men who have done most to bring Cubism to its place at the center of interest in modern art. Each artist is represented by characteristic examples of his work, and the opportunity is thus given to consider the art of each by itself as well as in relation to the idea held in common. The relation of Cezanne's art to the principles developed by these later men is now well known. But it seemed that the inclusion of the very characteristic canvas by Gauguin and the typical 'Still-Life' by van Gogh would be of in- terest as showing the preceding school of Post- Lnpressionism at its best. The four early landscapes of Derain show how earefully he was considering the principles of the Post-Impressionists ten years ago, as indeed nearly all of these artists did. In the earlier of the two pictures — 'Two Figures' — ^by Ribemont-Desseignes, whose work is here exhibited in America for the first time, the influence of Gauguin is apparent. In his later work he has taken his place definitely in the Ctibist movement. 'This new aistheticism,' says Guillaume Apol- linaire in his book Les Peintres Cubistes, 'was first evolved in the mind of Andre Derain, but tne most important and the most audacious works which it produced immediately afterward were those of a great artist whom we must consider as a founder of the idea: I mean Pablo Picasso.' From the time when Picasso first came to Paris at the age of seventeen, he and Derain have been close friends. Each one has influenced the other. Their development is to some extent to be studied together. From the four views of London shown here, Derain passed on to the stage represented by his water colors in our first exhibition, the change being from a study of effects of nature, rendered according to modern theories, to a freer handling of the aesthetic values thereby obtained. Derain's in- terest then turning from color to form, he produced the etchings also shown at our first exhibition and finally the 'Portrait' in the present group. Mean- while Picasso had developed from the purely Span- ish painting seen in the Greco-like 'Guitarrist,' through the researches in form (illustrated in his 'red period') to a style of painting where abstract harmony of form becomes his sole preoccupation. The transition from Derain's etchings to Picas- so's etchings, both shown at our first exhibition of contemporary French art, will readily be followed, and so the step to his earlier cubistic work, 'A Fig- ure,' and thence to the 'Still-Life' is not a long one. No admirer of Picasso feels that his earlier work need be consulted as proof of the talent for traditional painting which he possesses. The strength and sensibility which mark such a picture as 'The Sad Mother' are evident also in the 'Fig- ure' — done some twelve years later. But for those who see his work here for the first time, it will tf6ubtless be of interest to note that his adoption of his present methods is not a matter of sudden caprice, but is a logical evolution from forms in which he met the old masters on their own ground and produced work worthy to be ranked with theirs. The Derains and the early Picassos of the 'blue period' and 'red period' are shown as examples of fine drawing and painting — as the antecedents of, but not as the credentials of, the art of to-day. Albert Gleizes, whose work is already known in America, and Jean Metzinger whose painting is here shown in this country for the first time, are the authors in collaboration of Cubism, the first book on the subject. Their pictures are of especial in- terest as showing how they have gone from a more theoretical to a more expressive use of their prin- ciples. . In Marcel Duchamp's works we may again trace the painter from his earlier Cezannesque manner through his whole development, up to the two studies of the 'Chocolate Grinder,' which he has used in a large picture that he is engaged on to-day. It is true of this artist, as indeed of the others in this exhibition, that he produced complete works of art when he painted the 'Chess- Players' and the 'Portrait,' and not mere evolu- tionary studies. Plis brothers Jacques Villon and Raymond Duchamp-Villon have been represented at previous exhibitions at this Gallery. For those who see the beauty of Villon's ea,rlier work — 'Portrait of a VS^oman' — it must be a cause of confidence in the irtist that he is willing in his quest for personal ixpression to go on from that work to the more ab- siract expressions of significant form and color shown here. Of Duchamp-Villon's masterly applica- tion of cubistic principles to sculpture, no more than a mention is necessary. Little need also be said of the beautiful work of Roger Andre de la Fresnaye. While not purely cubistic in character, it shows how one of the strongest and sincerest of contemporary French painters has found the principles of Cubism a source of help in the development of his art. Of the nine living artists represented here, Picasso is a Spaniard and is not in the war. Six of the other eight, Derain, de la Fresnaye, Gleizes, Ribemont-Desseignes, Villon and Duchamp-Villon are fighting for the land of art. Derain has been wounded and returned to the trenches, and de la Fresnaye has been wounded twice and is either still in the hospital or has returned to the front. Whether any or all of these artists survive this war, the works exhibited here are certain to have an his- toric interest. A NOTE ON PABLO PICASSO BY FREDERICK JAMES GREGG Three paintings of the 'blue' and two of the 'red' period of Pablo Picasso such as arp shown on the present occasion would make any exhibition important. If anybody is not able to see their in- trinsic beauty and power so much the worse for him. But leaving out of account their relation to the absolute question, what a work of art actually is — so easily settled by the vulgar — it is possible to consider them, in their relation to the rest of the artist's work, in a way quite removed from the acrimony of controversy, in fact in a truly Christian spirit. The work of his 'blue' and 'red' periods made Picasso famous. Collectors bought his pictures eagerly. His dealer was delighted. But Picasso was discontented. He soon found himself following the law of nature, the same thing as the law of evolu- tion, according to which there is no life where there is no change since variation and real being are but convertible terms. At once there was the inevit- able protest. Why did he not leave well enough alone? The answer was that he could not. Here it may be remarked parenthetically that the ultimate judgment of posterity may be that the 'blue' and the 'red' paintings of Picasso are those on which his fame will depend. But no artist — painter, sculptor, dramatist, composer, novelist or poet — can always tell where or when he made the things that have in them the trace of the live coal from the altar. He is in fact most likely to think that the last child of his imagination is the true love-child, and overlook the ugly duckling of the family that is destined to grow to imperishable fame for beauty. Wordsworth was always a true, austerely true artist. He did not know, and his contemporary ad- mirers did not know, that his very finest work was produced in one decade, between 1798 and 1808. The point is that he would have been no artist if he had kept on in that maner, had parodied himself in fact. The real creator must make, must build, in a sad sincerity, as the mood demands. The result may not be so fine as what was done earlier, or what may be done later. That however has nothing to do with the case. In his 'blue' and 'red' paintings Picasso had found a formula of beauty. He could have spent his life in working it. If he had been a weak man he would have done so. But he did no such thing. So the value and significance of these pictures are increased vastly by the fact that they mark a stage in his career. As no blade of grass is quite like another, so no work of the imagination can be quite like another, even from the same brain and hand. To strive for likeness is to court death and disaster, as many do — the suicides of art, ruined by formalism and style. To be discontented even with what is lovely is the salvation of the artist. He cannot be contented with the known or the knowable. He must have a hankering after what the critical call the unknow- able. He must take the road to Damascus. Com- fort, respectability, the regard of his agent, the adoration of his patrons, the honors that come to those who are safe and sane, must be disregarded. An anonymous poet with a certain fantastic re- ligious turn put it this way recently: God in Thy mercy grant to me Thy own deep discontent, Send Thy swift wind with iron hail To seek out every rent; To break my roof and quench my fire, And leave me cold and spent. So only mayst Thou drive me forth From softness and delight. To stumble on the stony road. Throughout the roaring night. And stand at last amid the dawn Unabashed in Thy sight. The whole spirit of art, the art of the great old men, as well as of the great new men, was ex- pressed thus by Bonnagiunta Urbiciani in the mid- dle of the wonderful thirteenth century. E parvemi una luce Che lucea quanto stella: La mia mente era quella. 'And there appeared to me a light that shone bright as a star. It was my own soul.' March 6, 1915 CATALOGUE 1 The Sad Mother 2 Two Women 3 The Guitaeeist 4 Woman Dressing Her Hair 5 Woman at a Table 6 Figure 7 Still-T^it'e VAN GOGH 8 Still-Life GAUGUIN 9 A Tahitian DERAIN 10 Portrait 11 London — ^Dark Weather 12 London — Sunset 13 London — The Mist 14 London — Sun and Clouds DUCHAMP 15 Portrait 16 Chocolate Grinder I 17 Chocolate Grinder II 18 Chess-Players 19 Study of a Girl DUCHAMP-VILLON 20 Seated Figure (plaster) 21 The Lovers (terra-cotta) CATALOGUE DE LA FRESNAYE 22 Landscape with a Towek 23 Landscape with a Chimney 24 Landscape with a Pond 25 Flowers 26 Still-Liee (The Apple) 27 Still-Life (Wkiting Mateeial) 28 Still-Liee (Chair and Table) 29 Still-Life (Forms and Colors) GLEIZES 30 Woman at the Piano 31 Women at a Window 32 Landscape METZINGER 33 At the Velodrome 34 A Cyclist 35 Woman Smoking 36 Landscape 37 Head of a Young Girl 38 The Yellow Plume RIBEMONT-DESSEIGNES 39 Two Figures 40 Calculation and Dance VILLON 41 Portrait (Mlle. Y. D.) 42 Portrait (Mr. J. B., ^painter) 43 The Acrobat 44 Machine Shop 45 Portrait of a Man 46 Portrait of a Woman CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 1924 063 971 836