Zurich Herald, 1927-08-04, Page 6JOSEPH DUVE
ART CONNOISSEUR
Who He Is And What He Does, Explained Things We
Have Wanted to Know
1t
FRIEND OF CANADA
Art lovers and tiro public at large
have for the past few years often
woudered who Sir Joseph Duveen
was. "Haw come" that a "Sir" should
Send art treasures from New York
to "Thee Grange„ in Toronto and lend
canvaeses of priceless value for ex-
hibition in Canada. An , article by
Walter Tittle in the July "World's
Work" cleared away the mystery and
we quote excerpts for our readers' in-
formation.
His Early Life.
Sir Joseph Duveen was born in
Hull, England, in, 1369. His father,
Sir Joseph J. Duveen, was born at
Meppel, in Holland, in 1$43, He was
drectly descended from a Duveen who
was an array contractor to the King
oi' Saxony at Golsen, but was ruined
by the refusal of Napoleon to ac-
knowledge - the debts . of the • Saxon
forces. Sir Joseph J. Duyeen settled
in Hull at the age of twenty-three
least as prominent as any other ceun-
try in this field owing partly to her
preeminence in its twill art of archi-
tecture. America is by far the great-
est of the nations in this important
art, One of my liveliest interests is
in the British School in 11.anis. After
architecture students have had their'.
training there, they are sent to Anieri-
ca for additional study.
"I have no patience with a current
notion that art is practically a thing
of the past. There is plenty of great
art being produced today, sometimes
I think almost as much as was ever
produced at any one time. People so
often think that a work of art to be
good must bo old. What a fallacy!
A thing is never good just because it
is old; there are enormous quantities
of old rubbish on the market. Re-
cently in England, I started a move-
ment for the buying of contemporary
art by an appeal that I made in favor
and fortune smiled upon the small of the artists working oto -day. I ad -
antique business that he started
there. Ho specialized in tapestries
and Oriental porcelains, In 1877, with
his brother Henry, w1io had become
his partner, he opened 'a branch in
New York, and two years later return-
ed to England and Started their first
house in London, Henry remaining
charge on this side. Their Paris es-
tablishment followed, and now their.
organization covers Europe.
Early Transactions.
Sir Joseph started as a "runner" for
his father's business, his duties being
to "scout" and buy works of art. For have to turn down important pictures
max' Years, he told me, he crossed that are offered to me. I refused two
the Channel to England weekly to
pats the weak -ends at home. Excel-
lent training, this learning of the
fundamentals of the business, supply-
ing a ground -work of inestimable
vales against the day when he would
heed the art business.
Art and National Wealth.
1 t -an the beginnings of the little•
shop in Hull the house of Duveen was
•
destined to blaze new trails in the his-
tory et art dealing. When England,
the creditor nation of Europe, formed
her great collections at the conclu-
sion of the Napoleonic wars, the
price;+ paid for many great Master-
piece's now in the National C-allery
and other British collections seem ab-
eth•dly small in the light of recent de-
velopments—though they were, in
mane cases, sensational for the time.
The shifting of wealth to our side of
the Atlantic, coincident with a vastly
higher average of wealth for , the en-
tire avorld, has caused' America to pay
stupendous prices for works of the
great old masters. Wealth can in-
crease, but the number of tho works
from those hands, long still, remains
a fixed quantity.
- Recent Thrills.
dressed an open letter to the Prime
Ministeron the subject and 'received
a most enthusiastic and sympathetic
reply. The idea was taken up gener-
ally and the newspapers were full of
it for weeks. Interest of this sort is,
much needed to -day both in England
and in America.
Secrets of Success.
"One of the most important secrets
of success in collection is elimination.
From the mass of material offered the
precious things must be chosen.
Every day, in my own experience, I
The house of Duvicen early started
its quoit for the best art, and years
ago startled the world by the acquisi-
tion of a Raeburn at the record price
of $111,300, for which the artist had
received $250. In the long list of suc-
cessive purchases that might be
quoted, I shall content myself with a
few. An epoch-making milestone in
their anccessive dealings was the pur-
chase, in 1906, of the Hainauer col-
lection in Paris for the then unheard-
of sum of $"_,500,000, and the art world
hardly had time to catch its breath
when news came of the aequisitiou of
the llc;olphe Kann collection for five
million:: in the following year. Of
Individual pictures the list is long:
Rombrandt's "The Mill," that passed
from Lord Lansdowne to Mr. Widen-
er; and Reynold's "Mrs. Siddous" and
Gainsborough's "The Blue Boy," that
went, with many other English mas-
terpeces, to Henry E. Huntington in
California, may be cited as outstand-
ing examples. "The Mill" and "Mrs.
Sidclons" are among those that are
reputed to have cost their possessors
a half -million each, while "The Blue
Boy" brought $300,000.
Duveen Brothers' spent $14,000,000
buying back from the Morgan collec-
tion works of art, most of which they
had originally supplied: the price of
the famous Chinese porcelains, the
finest collection ever assembled, was
$5,000,000, while the Fragonard room
brought $1,250,000. The magnitude of
their activities can be realized in
some degree from a selection of some
of the loading names of the many col-
lections that they have formed, either
wholly or in major part: The collec-
tions of Henry C, Frick, Peter A. B.
Widener, Benjamin Altman, Henry E.
Huntington, Philip Lehman, ' Henry
Goldman, Clarence H. Mackay, Jules
Bache, and Mrs. Hamilton Rice.
Very recent thrills of the same sort
have been afforded .in the purchases
by Sir Joseph of Rornney's lovely lit-
tle portrait of Miss Davenport for
$300,000, Lawrence's superb "Pinkie"
for $377,000, and—only a few weeks
ago—one of the Stillman Rembrandts,
of moderate size, for $275,000. These
stupendous sums would have been
asnfSeient to form a whole collection
a century or more ago, when England
had a: happy hunting ground on -the
! Contineist, and the paint on the eigh-
teenthoentury , masterpieces w a s
scarcely dry.
Sir Joseph Says—.
I Good Art Need Not be Old.
' "'The time has now come for proper
Rembrandts yesterday; they are
genuine, but not up to the necessary
standard of excellence and condition,
"I make it a rule never to buy a
work of art hastly, and never one that
I do not love, no matter what the
market value of what profit it could
yield. I never buy at first sight. If
the thing is groat it will be better the
second time I see ft; if not, it will
Swindle. All the mistakes that I have
ever made resulted from hurried de-
cisions. If these things can happen
to a professional, what chance has an
amateur, unaided?
"No amateur, however good, can
make a fine collection without assist-
ance. Expert advice and guidance'
are utterly indispensable. I know of
no great collection that was ever
formed without professional advice.
One of the greatest difficulties for
either amatour or professional is the
temptation to buy, and it takes many
years of experience to learn to resist
that temptation. One is so apt to be
carried away by immature enthusi-
asms. Most people buy too much. In
eighteenth century huge collections
were often assembled that contained
only a few really great pictures,
BRITISH FLIERS DEMONSTRATION
Six men leap from planes with parachutes perilously close together in aerial pageant at Hendon, England,
witnessed by the icing and Queen.
of his active life as a runner for our
firm, and many years ago when I was
occupied in the same service we had
worked much together Gladly we in-
dulged in reminiscences of the happy
times we had had in that pursuit, and
he begged me, for old times' sake, to.
make one more trip with him. Our,
objective was to be an old chateau
in the Midi where a set of very fine
old tapestries could be acquired. I
know from photographs that he had
that the tapestries would be of no use
to me, but it was evident that a re -
fusel to make the journey would be
a bitter disappointment to the old,
chap, so I gave him my promise. I
regretted it later, as one business
complication after another over a
period of nearly three months caused
postponements, but finally, to keep
my word, and the day before my de-
parture for London en route to New
York, I met him at the railway station
at seven in the morning and we start-
ed on a tiresome journey of five
hours. At the end of this ordeal a
motor met us and another consider-
able ride brought us td the castre.
"The tapestries were excellent, but
I could not use them, and as my
friend was expatiating upon their
quality my sense of hearing suddenly
dulled and I was drawn into a dim
corridor by an object that I saw on
tap of an old armore. It was :a sculp-
tured bust, and it seemed to have
great possibilities even in that inade-
quate light.
"'Is it of plaster?' I asked of an old.
A Thrilling "Find."
"A remarkable discovery contingent
upon an amazing coincidence came to
me in England not long ago. In St.
James Street I met an old friend, Sir
Samuel Scott, whom I had not seen in
a long time. He asked me to run
down to his country place on the fol-
lowing Saturday for luncheon. The
following Saturday found ire at Sir
Samuel's. As we sat smoking beside
the fire after luncheon, he motioned
with his pipe to an old cabinet.
"'There are some interesting docu-
ments in there,' he said, and brought
out a large sheaf of bills of sale from
the old Wertheimer establishment,
bearing dates of sixty years ago. I
looked them over rapdly with mild
interest, casting my eye along for the
large totals, and found the final one
to be around $350,000, a huge sum
for those days, One item caught my
eye: 'Spoons, knives, and forks,
French, Louis XIII., pale tortoise and
gold, 1,000 guineas,' a considerable
sum to spend for articles of that des-
cription, so I asked about them.
"At his request his wife brought
from another room. a box in which, on
three trays, were knives, forks, and.
spoons of a beauty and quality of
workmanship utterly unique. Made
for the King of France himself when
the standards of the goldsmith's art
were very high, they were exquisite.
My friend explained that one knife,
ono fork, and a spoon were missing
from the set; they had been sent to
Christie's byamistake with some other
things and had not been recovered.
"I coveted those beautiful objects
enomously for my own house, and
asked,if I might buy them. My friend
agreed, and in due course, after the
average of these appraisals by lead-
ing London houses had been struck,
they carte to me for about $10,000, al-
most exactly what his father had paid
for them.
The following Saturday found ire
at the house of my other friend, the
acceptance of whose hospitality I had
postponed, and after I• had related to
him the story of my find, he got up
from his chair excitedly, rushed into
another room, and cattle back with
the missing knife, fork and: spoon!
He had bought then! at Christie's
auction, and insisted that my . set`
be made cotnplete. It was one of the
most remarkable coincidences in art'
collecting that I have ever observed..
Another Find,
"Another happy adventure indis-
covery occurred as the result of one
representation et American art in of my annttal visits to Pares. There
British. galleries. I welcome it I in- came to the office to see Me an old
elude soulpture in this.; America is at ratan of eighty, who had spent most
"I asked 'for a step ladder, and a
Close inspection revealed it to be the
finest portrait by the Florentine Laur-
ana in existence. Only a half-dozen
are in all the museums. of the world.
I bought it for a few hundred francs
and sold it to Mr. 'Frick. In passing
his house from Fifth Avenue you can
see it standing in one of the will -
dews. It is one of the treasures of
the Frick collection.
"In another room of the same cha-
teau groups of arms were arranged
for decorative effect upon the walls:
spears!, swords, helmets, cuirasses—
you know the sort of thing—mostly
junk. In the middle of one of the
shields, however, I espied a marvel-
ous old sword of Richard Coeur de
Lion, with his arms worked into the
hilt, a rare and exquisite piece of
workmanship aside from its enor-
mous historical value. Later I wrote
to the owner and tried to acquire it,
but he had learned my identity in the
meantime, and what do yeti think he
demanded for it?"
Sir Joseph threw his head back and
gave vent to his ringing laugh.
"The equivalent of four hundred
thousand dollars! And he evidently
didn't know it was worth a sou be-
fore!" '
He leaned forward and tapped me
on the arm and said with a chuckle:
"I'll get it yet, some day," and the
look in his sparkling eyes carried con
viction with it.
•
Paradise for Prexys.
servant who accompanied me. The story goes that several college
" `No, sir it is of marble," was the presidents were discussing what they
would do after they retired. What
would they be fit for, was the ques-
tion.
"Well," said one of them, "I don't
know that I'd be lit for anything, but
I know what I'd like to do. I'd like to
b,e superintendent of an orphan asy-
lum .so I'd never get any letters from
parents."
"I've a much better ambition," ex-
claimed another. "I want to be war-
den of a penitentiary., The alumni.
never come .back to visit."—Harper's.
•p
Scapegoat.
Agatha—"Did Elia dare to find fault
with her young daughter for arriving
home with the milkman?"
Harriett—"No. She scolded the
milkman for coming so late."—Life.
reply. 'We dug it out of the Loire.
twenty years ago.'
Canadian is King's Chorister
Edmonton, Alta. Robert Henry
Palmer, a boy soloist of Holy Trinity
Church in theis city has received the(
position of probation choir boy in St.
George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, Eng-
land. During the visit of the West-
minster Choir to western Canada in
the early part o 1this year Dr. Fel-
lowos, who accompanied the choir,
heard this Edmonton lad sing, and ar-
ranged for his inclusion in the famous
English choir. This boy is the son of
Col. R. Palmer, D.S.O. This is be-
lieved to be the first time that a Cana-
dian boy has been chosen King's
chorister.
Sonnet :by Rostand
(Fromm The Century),
To Sarah,
4Il these days without beauty, yo
rertralll,,,
Descending slowly some broad
marble stair
Swordiin hand, with a lily in your
h.
A queen of (;race, a princess of dis.\
(lain
In these times without folly, you cora-\,
plain
To ramie, die for love, rejoice, des)
pair,
13id soul and flesh lay one white
bosom bare,
Or Phaedra -dream what dreams ours,
selves contain.
Groody of grief, you make our tearsr
" Canada to 1 -lave Airports
Victoria, B,C.—Harbors along the
coast of British Columbia will be ex-
amined by experts of the Canadian
Department of National Defense
shortly in their search 'fo rsuitable
locations for national airplane sta-
tions. The Canadian Government is
planning to establish airports at many
points to promote commercial naviga-
tion and in their ',election the Pacific
coast will figure prominently. Loca-
tions around Victoria for ° the most
western outposts of aviation in Can-
ada
anada will be investigated by Federal
Government engineers this summer.,
Sooke Harbor, outside Victoria, is be-
ing suggested by Vancouver Island
commercial interests as a suitable
base for flying operations.
The Cork Cure.
A young woman called at the house
of a homoepathic doctor, and, after
discussing on all the topics of the day,.
settled down to tell him her ailments.
among other things, she said she was
greatly alarmed by a "sinking feel-
ing:"
„
The doctor prepared a bottle of
medicine and gave it to her, with
directions as 'to how it should be
taken. The woman began to talk,
but at length, after many vain efforts
on the doctor's part, to get rid of her,
she made for the door. She had just
opened it, when she turned and said:
"Oh, doctor, what shall I do if this
medicine does not cure me?
"Take the cork, he retorted. "They
tell me that is good for a sinking
feeling."
Window Shades
Window shades can be renewed if
'softer', at the bottom by removing from.
the roller and reversing, hemming the
torp and tacking the bottom on the
roller.
The cycle ke this: When he is
a little boy, his father knows more
than any man in the world; he is a
walking encyclopedia. When the boy
becomes ten or twelve years old, his
father begins to go back, and by the
time he is seventeen years old his
father is absolutely dumb and knows
nothing at all. Then comes a change,
and the father begins to pick up. By
time this young man is twenty-one
his father is almost normal again.
ADAMSON'S ADVENTURES—By 0. ,Iacobssen.
• i.
e,.,,-..
He Fools the Pickpocket.
your own;
Have we not, seen gathering in your
eyes ,
All sorrows in all hearts hidden alonoY.
And yet you keep one secret still . , 1
the lips
Of Shakespeare, while you 'spear
his. fantasies,
Furtively Pressed upon your finger]
tips.
--Translated`' by Brian Hooker)
Tolstoyts Love of Music
In the seventies my Sather was spa
carried away by music that he played
far three or four hours a. dray. The
impression produced by his playa
is one tof the most vivid. of my ohildiA
recollections. When we children went
to lied he used to sit down at the
pianoforte and play till midnight awl
after, sometimes ;taking part in four-
handed pieces with my mother. +.1
well remember how at that time he'
played sonatas by Mozart, Weber, and)
Beethoven lot hie first period), some
things .of Chopin's, ,Schumaunts "Jud-
endalbuni," the "Acceleration Walt;
nem" of Strauss•, Rudolph's "Trot," and
others; how he tried to play pieces
of which the technical demands were
too great for him, moll as Chopin's
Scherzo -in B flat minor, Schumann's
"Symphonic Etudes" or Henseit'e
"Poeme d'Amour," and Trow he play-
ed (in duet arrangements' with my
mother) Haydn's and Mozart's sym-
.phonies, Beethoven's Septuoe, and
other pieoes..
i remember my first sweet impres-
sions of musts heard by nae from afar
—from the upper storey where my
Sather was playing—imin`esoons ming-
ling orith childish h faunconseheue
dreame, merging gradually fate eteeee
For some reason I speciat`.dy remember
the first biers of Weber's Sonata in A
Sat major, of which he was particul-
arly land. Subsequently he express.
ed to N. Rubinstein his astonishment
that this 'sonata and other pieces by
Mozart and Haydn were scarcely ever
performed at conceits. Rubi+nsteIn
replied that bhey are 'Millenit, because
they must be .played faultlessly
Remembering now my •1ath•e6, play-
ing, I should say it was rhythmical
and exprestsive, but sometimes inter-
preted in a way of his own rather
than as the composer intended; and
insufficient technical mastery hind-
ered him from fully 'expressing what
lee himself intended.—From "Family
Views of Tolstoy," a chapter written
by his son, Count Sergiu's Tolstoy.
Not Doing a Thing.
Wife (sternly)—"What Is that hair
doing on your shoulder?"
Hubby (regarding hair innocently)
—"It's perfectly quiescent, my dear;,
it's not doing a thing."
Swallows
Through the warm rain,
Dipping and darting ae they go,
The swallows wheel and turn again
Cerciisssly to and fro..
Yea • after year,
Sunlight and shadow dashing through,
The blue backs glitter fax and near
And wheel and turn anew.
--John C. Van Dyke, in "Tete Mea.
draws."
-'1'
Ownership in Doubt. ,
Traffic Coln --"Hoy, you! Is that
your ear?"
"Well, officer, since you • ask me,
considering the fact that I still have
fifty payments to make, owe three re-
pair bilis, unci haven't settled for the
pew tire, I really, don't think it
outlook.
before and After. 4
"My wife has been using a flesh -re-
ducing roller for nearly two months."
"And can you see any result yet"
"Yes -the roller is much thinner"
--lie Muskete (Vienna).
Patience and gentleness is power.;
--Leigh Ilunt
A botanist on, the ,Assam and Tibet
border has found the mnottutainst cat
-
Vapid with fioveerze up to 14,000 feen
to