His Masterpiece, Emile Zola [read ebook pdf .TXT] 📗

Part 8 Pg 151

Dining-Room Of Bennecourt! But What Could He Do In That Oblong Strip

Of Space,  That Kind Of Passage,  Which The Landlord Of The House

Impudently Let To Painters For Four Hundred Francs A Year,  After

Roofing It In With Glass? The Worst Was That The Sloping Glazed Roof

Looked To The North,  Between Two High Walls,  And Only Admitted A

Greenish Cellar-Like Light. He Was Therefore Obliged To Postpone His

Ambitious Projects,  And He Decided To Begin With Average-Sized

Canvases,  Wisely Saying To Himself That The Dimensions Of A Picture

Are Not A Proper Test Of An Artist's Genius.

 

The Moment Seemed To Him Favourable For The Success Of A Courageous

Artist Who,  Amidst The Breaking Up Of The Old Schools,  Would At Length

Bring Some Originality And Sincerity Into His Work. The Formulas Of

Recent Times Were Already Shaken. Delacroix Had Died Without Leaving

Any Disciples. Courbet Had Barely A Few Clumsy Imitators Behind Him;

Their Best Pieces Would Merely Become So Many Museum Pictures,

Blackened By Age,  Tokens Only Of The Art Of A Certain Period. It

Seemed Easy To Foresee The New Formula That Would Spring From Theirs,

That Rush Of Sunshine,  That Limpid Dawn Which Was Rising In New Works

Under The Nascent Influence Of The 'Open Air' School. It Was

Undeniable; Those Light-Toned Paintings Over Which People Had Laughed

So Much At The Salon Of The Rejected Were Secretly Influencing Many

Painters,  And Gradually Brightening Every Palette. Nobody,  As Yet,

Admitted It,  But The First Blow Had Been Dealt,  And An Evolution Was

Beginning,  Which Became More Perceptible At Each Succeeding Salon. And

What A Stroke It Would Be If,  Amidst The Unconscious Copies Of

Impotent Essayists,  Amidst The Timid Artful Attempts Of Tricksters,  A

Master Were Suddenly To Reveal Himself,  Giving Body To The New Formula

By Dint Of Audacity And Power,  Without Compromise,  Showing It Such As

It Should Be,  Substantial,  Entire,  So That It Might Become The Truth

Of The End Of The Century!

 

In That First Hour Of Passion And Hope,  Claude,  Usually So Harassed By

Doubts,  Believed In His Genius. He No Longer Experienced Any Of Those

Crises,  The Anguish Of Which Had Driven Him For Days Into The Streets

In Quest Of His Vanished Courage. A Fever Stiffened Him,  He Worked On

With The Blind Obstinacy Of An Artist Who Dives Into His Entrails,  To

Drag Therefrom The Fruit That Tortures Him. His Long Rest In The

Country Had Endowed Him With Singular Freshness Of Visual Perception,

And Joyous Delight In Execution; He Seemed To Have Been Born Anew To

His Art,  And Endowed With A Facility And Balance Of Power He Had Never

Hitherto Possessed. He Also Felt Certain Of Progress,  And Experienced

Great Satisfaction At Some Successful Bits Of Work,  In Which His

Former Sterile Efforts At Last Culminated. As He Had Said At

Bennecourt,  He Had Got Hold Of His 'Open Air,' That Carolling Gaiety

Of Tints Which Astonished His Comrades When They Came To See Him. They

All Admired,  Convinced That He Would Only Have To Show His Work To

Take A Very High Place With It,  Such Was Its Individuality Of Style,

For The First Time Showing Nature Flooded With Real Light,  Amid All

The Play Of Reflections And The Constant Variations Of Colours.

 

Thus,  For Three Years,  Claude Struggled On,  Without Weakening,  Spurred

To Further Efforts By Each Rebuff,  Abandoning Nought Of His Ideas,  But

Marching Straight Before Him,  With All The Vigour Of Faith.

 

During The First Year He Went Forth Amid The December Snows To Place

Himself For Four Hours A Day Behind The Heights Of Montmartre,  At The

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Corner Of A Patch Of Waste Land Whence As A Background He Painted Some

Miserable,  Low,  Tumble-Down Buildings,  Overtopped By Factory Chimneys,

Whilst In The Foreground,  Amidst The Snow,  He Set A Girl And A Ragged

Street Rough Devouring Stolen Apples. His Obstinacy In Painting From

Nature Greatly Complicated His Work,  And Gave Rise To Almost

Insuperable Difficulties. However,  He Finished This Picture Out Of

Doors; He Merely Cleaned And Touched It Up A Bit In His Studio. When

The Canvas Was Placed Beneath The Wan Daylight Of The Glazed Roof,  He

Himself Was Startled By Its Brutality. It Showed Like A Scene Beheld

Through A Doorway Open On The Street. The Snow Blinded One. The Two

Figures,  Of A Muddy Grey In Tint,  Stood Out,  Lamentable. He At Once

Felt That Such A Picture Would Not Be Accepted,  But He Did Not Try To

Soften It; He Sent It To The Salon,  All The Same. After Swearing That

He Would Never Again Try To Exhibit,  He Now Held The View That One

Should Always Present Something To The Hanging Committee If Merely To

Accentuate Its Wrong-Doing. Besides,  He Admitted The Utility Of The

Salon,  The Only Battlefield On Which An Artist Might Come To The Fore

At One Stroke. The Hanging Committee Refused His Picture.

 

The Second Year Claude Sought A Contrast. He Selected A Bit Of The

Public Garden Of Batignolles In May; In The Background Were Some Large

Chestnut Trees Casting Their Shade Around A Corner Of Greensward And

Several Six-Storied Houses; While In Front,  On A Seat Of A Crude Green

Hue,  Some Nurses And Petty Cits Of The Neighbourhood Sat In A Line

Watching Three Little Girls Making Sand Pies. When Permission To Paint

There Had Been Obtained,  He Had Needed Some Heroism To Bring His Work

To A Successful Issue Amid The Bantering Crowd. At Last He Made Up His

Mind To Go There At Five In The Morning,  In Order To Paint In The

Background; Reserving The Figures,  He Contented Himself With Making

Mere Sketches Of Them From Nature,  And Finishing Them In His Studio.

This Time His Picture Seemed To Him Less Crude; It Had Acquired Some

Of The Wan,  Softened Light Which Descended Through The Glass Roof. He

Thought His Picture Accepted,  For All His Friends Pronounced It To Be

A Masterpiece,  And Went About Saying That It Would Revolutionise The

Salon. There Was Stupefaction And Indignation When A Fresh Refusal Of

The Hanging Committee Was Rumoured. The Committee's Intentions Could

Not Be Denied: It Was A Question Of Systematically Strangling An

Original Artist. He,  After His First Burst Of Passion,  Vented All His

Anger Upon His Work,  Which He Stigmatised As False,  Dishonest,  And

Execrable. It Was A Well-Deserved Lesson,  Which He Should Remember:

Ought He To Have Relapsed Into That Cellar-Like Studio Light? Was He

Going To Revert To The Filthy Cooking Of Imaginary Figures? When The

Picture Came Back,  He Took A Knife And Ripped It From Top To Bottom.

 

And So During The Third Year He Obstinately Toiled On A Work Of

Revolt. He Wanted The Blazing Sun,  That Paris Sun Which,  On Certain

Days,  Turns The Pavement To A White Heat In The Dazzling Reflection

From The House Frontages. Nowhere Is It Hotter; Even People From

Burning Climes Mop Their Faces; You Would Say You Were In Some Region

Of Africa Beneath The Heavily Raining Glow Of A Sky On Fire. The

Subject Claude Chose Was A Corner Of The Place Du Carrousel,  At One

O'clock In The Afternoon,  When The Sunrays Fall Vertically. A Cab Was

Jolting Along,  Its Driver Half Asleep,  Its Horse Steaming,  With

Drooping Head,  Vague Amid The Throbbing Heat. The Passers-By Seemed,

As It Were,  Intoxicated,  With The One Exception Of A Young Woman,  Who,

Rosy And Gay Under Her Parasol,  Walked On With An Easy Queen-Like

Step,  As If The Fiery Element Were Her Proper Sphere. But What

Especially Rendered This Picture Terrible Was A New Interpretation Of

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The Effects Of Light,  A Very Accurate Decomposition Of The Sunrays,

Which Ran Counter To All The Habits Of Eyesight,  By Emphasising Blues,

Yellows And Reds,  Where Nobody Had Been Accustomed To See Any. In The

Background The Tuileries Vanished In A Golden Shimmer; The

Paving-Stones Bled,  So To Say; The Figures Were Only So Many

Indications,  Sombre Patches Eaten Into By The Vivid Glare. This Time

His Comrades,  While Still Praising,  Looked Embarrassed,  All Seized

With The Same Apprehensions. Such Painting Could Only Lead To

Martyrdom. He,  Amidst Their Praises,  Understood Well Enough The

Rupture That Was Taking Place,  And When The Hanging Committee Had Once

More Closed The Salon Against Him,  He Dolorously Exclaimed,  In A

Moment Of Lucidity:

 

'All Right; It's An Understood Thing--I'll Die At The Task.'

 

However,  Although His Obstinate Courage Seemed To Increase,  He Now And

Then Gradually Relapsed Into His Former Doubts,  Consumed By The

Struggle He Was Waging With Nature. Every Canvas That Came Back To Him

Seemed Bad To Him--Above All Incomplete,  Not Realising What He Had

Aimed At. It Was This Idea Of Impotence That Exasperated Him Even More

Than The Refusals Of The Hanging Committee. No Doubt He Did Not

Forgive The Latter; His Works,  Even In An Embryo State,  Were A Hundred

Times Better Than All The Trash Which Was Accepted. But What Suffering

He Felt At Being Ever Unable To Show Himself In All His Strength,  In

Such A Master-Piece As He Could Not Bring His Genius To Yield! There

Were Always Some Superb Bits In His Paintings. He Felt Satisfied With

This,  That,  And The Other. Why,  Then,  Were There Sudden Voids? Why

Were There Inferior Bits,  Which He Did Not Perceive While He Was At

Work,  But Which Afterwards Utterly Killed The Picture Like

Ineffaceable Defects? And He Felt Quite Unable To Make Any

Corrections; At Certain Moments A Wall Rose Up,  An Insuperable

Obstacle,  Beyond Which He Was Forbidden To Venture. If He Touched Up

The Part That Displeased Him A Score Of Times,  So A Score Of Times Did

He Aggravate The Evil,  Till Everything Became Quite Muddled And Messy.

 

He Grew Anxious,  And Failed To See Things Clearly; His Brush Refused

To Obey Him,  And His Will Was Paralysed. Was It His Hands Or His Eyes

That Ceased To Belong To Him Amid Those Progressive Attacks Of The

Hereditary Disorder That Had Already Made Him Anxious? Those Attacks

Became More Frequent; He Once More Lapsed Into Horrible Weeks,  Wearing

Himself Out,  Oscillating Betwixt Uncertainty And Hope; And His Only

Support During Those Terrible Hours,  Which He Spent In A Desperate

Hand-To-Hand Struggle With His Rebellious Work,  Was The Consoling

Dream Of His Future Masterpiece,  The One With Which He Would At Last

Be Fully Satisfied,  In Painting Which His Hands Would Show All The

Energy And Deftness Of True Creative Skill. By Some Ever-Recurring

Phenomenon,  His Longing To Create Outstripped The Quickness Of His

Fingers; He Never Worked At One Picture Without Planning The One That

Was To Follow. Then All That Remained To Him Was An Eager Desire To

Rid Himself Of The Work On Which He Was Engaged,  For It Brought Him

Torture; No Doubt It Would Be Good For Nothing; He Was Still Making

Fatal Concessions,  Having Recourse To Trickery,  To Everything That A

True Artist Should Banish From His Conscience. But What