However, she was not seduced by Impressionism, writing:
She had arrived in Paris at the beginning of 1881, the same year as the sixth Impressionist exhibitions. Every one, artists and their friends, ceased their examination of the pictures, and openly gazed, murmuring their pride and joy in their idol, Sarah Bernhardt…” Head of a French Peasant Woman by Cecilia Beaux (1888)Īll artists at one time or another make a choice about what medium they prefer to use but also what is to be their artistic style. The striking point in her costume - and there was but one - was that the upper part of her corsage, or yoke, was made entirely of fresh violets, bringing their perfume with them. She was a dazzling blonde, somewhat restored and not beautiful, as one saw her nearer. Though she was small, her step and carriage, slow and gracious as she moved and spoke, were queenly. The lady was dressed in black lace, strangely fashioned. “…Into the gallery one day, as our obscure party moved about,- there entered a Personage a charming figure, with a following of worshippers. I longed to get closer - not to meet them, but to hear their talk, their dispute about the supreme Subject…”Īnd later describes how she witnessed one special visitor to the Salon: How new to me to see a group of forceful, middle-aged, or old men, masters in some field without doubt, stooping over a small picture, arguing with heated insistence, denouncing, eulogizing! Never had I seen assembled so many men of ‘parts’ - real men, I would have said - so absorbed, so oblivious, greeting each other warmly, and with absolutely no general curiosity pausing a moment, with great deference, before some quiet lady, or obvious beauty, but really there through profound interest in contemporary art. To Vernissage flocked the elite of Paris, the aristocracy of Society, of the Stage, of Music, and Literature, as well as of the Plastic Arts: in other words, the French Crowd, always intelligent, always amused, always disputive.
In her autobiography she recalls such a time with great excitement: She revelled in her visits to the Salon not only viewing the paintings but also “people-watching” the visitors circulating the galleries. However, she had her course at Académie Julian and numerous art galleries to visit which, for her, made life worth living. Add to this their insalubrious and uncomfortable pension and the way they had to dress in warm but shabby winter clothes, it is possible that Cecilia’s dream of the French capital may have been wavering. The weather had been typical January weather – wet, cold, and thoroughly miserable, rarely catching a glimpse of the sun. …………………….Cecilia Beaux and her cousin May Whitlock had arrived in Paris in the last week of January 1888. The Lady Artist by Charles “Shorty” Lasar
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