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260 The Field of Art
Reproduced by the courtesy of Kennedy & Co.
The Palais de Justice from the Pont-Neuf. By Lester G. Hornby.
of the poor"). This last recalls the "Soupe
a trois Sous" of Whistler, who found in
Paris his first inspiration
to try etching.
His early impressions,
however, were
of types and nooks
—mustard-seller,
ragwoman, French
children—not of
buildings and street
scenes, if we except
that unfinished
sketch of the Isle de
la Cite. Long after,
he gave us some Paris
views, particularly
those light, airy, joyous
transcripts of
bits of the Luxembourg
Gardens, its
terraces, bebes, and
Punch-and-Judy
shows.
The Pont-Neuf.
It is interesting to
see how the lure of Paris has reacted on
the different artistic personalities of the
younger men whose work forms part of the
present revival of etching in our country.
To Herman A. Webster, for example, the old
buildings speak with a direct force, telling
their story unadorned with extraneous trimmings
of sentimentality or melodrama. He
did a series on the old Marais quarter, find­
Reproduced by the courtesy of Frederick Keppel & Co.
ing fresh material, as
one of his biographers
said, in "its grimness
and its picturesqucness,
its romance and
its tragedy." George
C. Aid has often been
preoccupied with the
play of light and air
on familiar spots.
His five etchings of
the Pont-Neuf each
show a different aspect,
its cool arches
contrasted with the
sunny brightness of
the houses beyond on
a hot summer day.
Notre Dame, too, has
attracted him, with
Pont St. Michel as a
foil. Also the "Hotel
de Cluny," with
wistaria-crowned walls, the " Palais de Luxembourg,"
and the "Apple Market," akin
By Herman A. Webster.
in subject to Meryon, yet not suggesting
him in any way.
The fine old Pont-Neuf has been interpreted
in different ways—as have, of course,
other Seine bridges as well — by Cameron,
D. S. MacLaughlan, E. L. Warner,
Webster, Hornby, F. M. Armington, Chandler,
Goeneutte, Bejot, and many others;
most recently in plates by Charles K. Glee-