PAINTER-ETCHERS

HE etchings of two contemporary French painter-etchers present a vivid contrast. The two have very little in common except the fine quality of their work, but each artist is pretty sure to retain a permanent and distinguished place in art by right of his genuine originality as well as because of his technical power as an etcher.

Bracquemond, who was born in Paris in 1833, has survived his younger contemporary and he is still hale and hearty; while Buhot, who was born at Valognes, Normandy, in 1847, died in Paris in 1896.

The etchings of Bracquemond are very like the man who made them. He is a great, strong, virile man, and his forceful personality is reflected in every picture that he has made. As a technician in etching he is, perhaps, supreme; but he is not as well known among American connoisseurs as he deserves to be, and for the reason that his robust nature always scorned to descend to more or less feeble prettiness; and such prettiness is the quality which is the first to attract the great public everywhere. To demonstrate this let us contrast some very popular picture by

Oh Jimmie Whistler, ever fighting;
In rows and "ructions" still delighting;
Small as your fellowman's despiser;
Great artist as self-advertiser!
Like cackling hens or cocks a-crowing
Your tireless trumpet keeps a-blowing.
We can't forget you! You won't let us;
With flippant brag you still beset us
(I grant these lines are flippant too,
But then, they are addressed to you!)

You pounce on all men, rend them, shake them;
You give hard knocks and you must take them!
We know your foolish, glib verbosity,

But where's your moral generosity?

We know your moral color-blindness,

But where's your "milk of human kindness"?
Your least pronouncement full of venom is

"The Gentle Art of Making Enemies"!

Great men don't beat their drum, dear James M.

Their work's their monument; bragging shames 'em;
"William the Silent" - glorious nickname!

Jimmie the Noisy! There's a "slick" name!

Artists make shows for fame or pelf,

But your great show-piece is

yourself.

"Oh, notice me! Oh, talk of me!"
That is your cry unceasingly.

In funny speeches you're untiring,

Thinking the world stands still, admiring;
Ne'er dreaming (while you pose like statue)
Men are not laughing with but at you!

Forget not, Whistler, but remember,
Your May is past, you're near December:
And when life's evening shadows close

One friend is worth a thousand foes.

It is obvious that at this point all my intercourse with this extraordinary man came to an end.

PAINTER-ETCHERS

THE of two

HE etchings of two contemporary French painter-etchers present a vivid contrast. The two have very little in common except the fine quality of their work, but each artist is pretty sure to retain a permanent and distinguished place in art by right of his genuine originality as well as because of his technical power as an etcher.

Bracquemond, who was born in Paris in 1833, has survived his younger contemporary and he is still hale and hearty; while Buhot, who was born at Valognes, Normandy, in 1847, died in Paris in 1896.

The etchings of Bracquemond are very like the man who made them. He is a great, strong, virile man, and his forceful personality is reflected in every picture that he has made. As a technician in etching he is, perhaps, supreme; but he is not as well known among American connoisseurs as he deserves to be, and for the reason that his robust nature always scorned to descend to more or less feeble prettiness; and such prettiness is the quality which is the first to attract the great public everywhere. To demonstrate this let us contrast some very popular picture by

PORTRAIT OF M. EDMOND DE GONCOURT

Size of the original print, 18 by 12 inches.

From the etching by Félix Bracquemond, after his own drawing, of the same size, which now hangs in the Luxembourg Gallery, Paris. Edmond de Goncourt, the eminent author and art-collector, was born at Nancy, France, in 1822. In his will de Goncourt directed that, after his death, his art collections should not be "consigned to the cold tomb of some art museum," but that they must be dispersed at public auction, so that they would go into the possession of genuine art-lovers who could worthily appreciate them.

Size of the original print, 10 by 17 inches.

From the etching by Félix Bracquemond. When we remember that this etching was made before the days of instantaneous photography, and then consider how perfectly Bracquemond has understood and portrayed the rapid flight of this flock of gulls, we are filled with amazement that the human eye could see birds in flight and the hand record them so unerringly.