London Days: A Book of ReminiscencesWarren, Arthur
History
London Days: A Book of Reminiscences
Warren, Arthur
London (England) -- Intellectual life; London (England) -- Social life and customs
When the period of gratuitous service had stretched far enough, a
Boston journal of much interest and overwhelming respectability,
deigned graciously to pay five dollars a letter for my London "stuff."
The magnitude of this offer did not shock me, but five dollars meant a
sovereign, and the addition of twenty shillings to one's weekly income
suggested wealth to a young scribbler in London. Three or four letters
had been despatched when, one evening, an expensive acquaintance who
had rooms above mine, near Queen Square, dropped in at my snug chambers
and spun a yarn. He had "seen Leighton, you know, President of the
Royal Academy, good sort, dev'lish good fellow. What do you suppose he
's done now? Taken up a sculptor in Paris, French of course, poor as I
am, poorer, if it 's possible to be poorer than I am, and has had a
piece of the chap's work sent over here for exhibit at the {30}
Academy. Sculptor could n't send it. No money. Not even a studio.
Devilled for years in other men's studios. Leighton saw, says fellow
must become known in London. Got artist chaps to pay expenses of
sending over. Good fellow, Leighton. Go see it, you! Press
Day--Royal Academy--next week. Forgot French chap's name!"
This brought to my recollection the fact that in Paris, the previous
Easter, when haunting Bohemia with a pack of student friends, I had
heard of a needy sculptor who was doing things of strange power, and
was hard up because he would not work in accepted forms, but persisted
in carving things that nobody wanted. And who, in those days, would
buy sculpture from an "artist unknown"? My friends promised that I
should meet the man, but I was called away from Paris before this could
be arranged.
I went to the Royal Academy on Press Day, and saw the specimen of the
"new man's" work. I was quite alone with it. One is always sure to be
alone in the Statuary Room of the Royal Academy. An article came out
of the silence. It went to my five-dollar editor. He responded with
this note:
"Sorry we can't pay for any more of your letters. We printed the last
one, but, really, we don't want articles about unknown sculptors,
especially French ones."
The unknown sculptor, whose name, of course, I gave, was Auguste Rodin!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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