San Francisco Call, Volume 73, Number 39, 8 January 1893 — A NAUGHTY NIGHT. [ARTICLE]

A NAUGHTY NIGHT.

Mrs. Ballou Is Entirely Too

Realistic.

Two Startling Nude Pictures Quarantined Behind Big Iron Doors at the Pavilion.

That "nud« in art" which was rejected B Mechanics' Institute ait con i« so bad that it lins bt-en quarantined behind a big iron doer with a combination lock on it.

It is out there at the Pavilion yet, but it ought to be takpn away, because strong men are being corrupted by it. Every little while somebody who has a right to open tha big iron door takes a friend by the collar, and saving "sh-sh," will lead him around for a peek at the interior decorations of the vault downstairs.

The main offenders are two tainting* by San Franci.«co artist?. B.th contributims to th« exhibit of California art arere intended for the World's i'air also, but they are likely 10 stay at Iminr. Mr. Stott, the

chairman of <he institute art committee, and who is mainly responsible for the nude being tabooed this year, hasn't got over his disgust yet. The local committee of artists who will decide what is to go to the California building at Chicago have made no decisions yet, but it 19 understood that they too will promptly condemn the pictures. They are said to be vulgar for one thing and bad in artistic execution for another thine. One of them is said by sr.me of the artists and other people concerned with tho' art exhibition to b« Horribly vulgar, and then the question of tie location of ihe line between the chaste mule and the vulgar ari?e?. The one that is said to be the most offensive to both decency and art is the product of a woman's brush. It is Mrs. Addie L. Ballou's '-'Night." Four years or so ago she painted "Morning." This female was a little scrawny about the neck, aud she was balancing herself ou one toe resting on the world, with her back turned to a dawn and ■ fading moon. The picture was exhibited twice at the Mechanics' Pavilion before the institute art committees g'-t particular, but when it got to the State Fair at Sacramento about two years ngo it was rejected on the ground of its realism, and there was a great comi! ( ■ on in consequence. Last year Mrs. IJallou tried her realistic Benin* again, and the result was'"Xisht." well. It is realistic. It is startllngiy so. In fact its fidelity to nature is said to be perfect, with the exception of form, coloring, modeling and drawing. _ It is even moro calculated to startle than was its eider companion. The Zola of San Francisco art ha* painted a voluptuous maiden floating this way o'er the stilly world with a mantle of black veiling, all of which floats behind her with her long tresses of - strawberry hair. There is a warm sunset glow at the edge of the distant waters, and the shadow of night has fallen on a far-away point of fading land. The form glows from the exercise of the trip,' and the young lady is apparently wide awake. It was this picture that moved Mr. Stott» to say that ii was fit to be hung only In places where it would be in keeping with th« occupants. "It is disgustingly bad," said a well-known artist who had seen it yesterday, "and It will never be allowed to go to Chicago." Mrs. Ballon did not learn until yesterday that the public bad been i.rotec ed fro in her "Night" and that she had offended the modesty <>f the art critics at the Pavilion. Mrs. Ballou doesn't think her picture a bit vulgar and she is very sarcastic about her critics. •They say it's vulgar, do they?" she said, "and it's too realistic. Well, I thought fidelity to nature wag au artist's greatest merit. lam not painting pictures for th«i>e natty, nice men, and to the pure all things «re pure. 1 guess I'll go out there and put Koine pantalettes on the ducks I've painted. That picture is copyrighted from photographs sent through the mails, and they - wouldn't copyright anything vulgar, would they? Would they let indecent photographs go through the mails? It is not as Indecent as that nude painting with the doves flying abDut that was exhibited there last year, because that was sugee3tive. It is more chaste, really, than my 'Morning.' that was hung out there for two years. li may, of course, bo warmer in its coloring and wore voluptuous in the form, but the subject demands it." Mrs. Ballou says she has written a line which properly goes with the painting. It is: "When roseate night her mantle flings o'er the repnieful world." Bat her "mm night" is getting chilled in r cold dark vault and she may have it whenever she scuds after it.

The other chief unfortunate student of the nude is J. • Ludovici, who Is a well-known artist of recognized ability, but his little "Bather" was too rich lor the art committee.

Other pictures by both these artists have been accepted for exhibition. The committee to determine what paintings shall go to the California building at the World* Fair held a ; meeting yesterday and decided not to judge any of the work submitted until the close of the fair. —