amicable arrangement alternated with the first and second prizes at the annual Salon , knew what the multi-millionaire was about to be asked to contribute and for what specific purpose.
The first vice-president, Christophe Paty de Pussy, had formulated the plan. He knew his colleagues had a frightful time investing their money. Established painters were under a perpetual disadvantage in the financial field. If they were careless and lost their earnings the rich bankers would say: âA man so defective in good sense cannot be a first class painter. After all, we are artists, too. We make patterns with money. The flow of currency must be subtle or bold, as the case may be, just like the flow of line. Monsieur So-and-So, whom I rooked so easily, must be a bad painter.â On the other hand, if an artist-investor showed too much shrewdness, the financiers would shake their heads with apprehension: â Maître Un Tel has his mind on other things than his models. One cannot serve art and Mammon.â In either case, the painter lost out. It had been Monsieur Paty de Pussyâs idea that Hugo Weiss and a few other magnates who controlled the worldâs purse-strings should establish an Institut Artistique de la Prudence et de la Sécurité which would handle the funds of Salon exhibitors, guaranteeing a profit of at least ten per cent to members whose paintings were hung âon the lineâ and of seven and one-half per cent to those whose works were placed above the line. Post-Impressionists, Cubists, Surrealists and all subversive painters were, of course, to be excluded from the benefits of the proposed Institut and pointillistes were to be admitted only by a two-thirds vote. The reward to be offered to Hugo Weiss in return for his acceptance of the presidency and his assumption of overhead charges was that the new institute was to be named the Hugo Schussschicker Weiss Institut Artistique de la Prudence et de la Sécurité .
âFrench artists would never accept assistance from an institute with a German name,â said the president, M. Haute Costa de Bellevieu.
âI have never seen them turn down anything that resembled money,â M. Paty de Pussy said.
âItâs after eight oâclock and the damned ingrate hasnât showed up yet,â the president said. That was substantially what all the other artists and members of the staff were saying. The committee had been obliged to spread itself. No detail had been overlooked. The menu contained the best that France had to offer, arranged traditionally and to be served with appropriate wines. Members who were likely to doze after eating had been placed at a safe distance from the speakerâs place and were to be screened by the roses and hydrangeas, lilies of the valley not having enough height for the purpose. The thing had cost a pretty penny, and some of the younger painters, that is to say, those under sixty-five, were hungry and had begun to fret.
By eight-thirty they were calling Hugo Weiss a pig and before nine oâclock had run through the list of lesser animals. At nine oâclock M. Paty de Pussy asked the maître d â hôtel to telephone the Plaza Athénée and inquire if M. Weiss had left.
âM. Weiss left the hotel, alone, at six-fifteen,â the maître d â hôtel reported.
âSix-fifteen? Ridiculous ! The dinner was to begin at eight,â the president said.
âPerhaps he has a mistress,â suggested Paty de Pussy.
âA mistress, at six-fifteen? With wines like Lafitte 1907 and Montrachet â21 in prospect? Barbarous. But one can never tell about these Americans, whatever country they really come from.â
âFind out if he has a mistress,â the president snapped to the maître d â hôtel . Within five minutes the maître d â hôtel returned.
âNot in Paris,â he said. Both the president and the vice-president grunted in
The first vice-president, Christophe Paty de Pussy, had formulated the plan. He knew his colleagues had a frightful time investing their money. Established painters were under a perpetual disadvantage in the financial field. If they were careless and lost their earnings the rich bankers would say: âA man so defective in good sense cannot be a first class painter. After all, we are artists, too. We make patterns with money. The flow of currency must be subtle or bold, as the case may be, just like the flow of line. Monsieur So-and-So, whom I rooked so easily, must be a bad painter.â On the other hand, if an artist-investor showed too much shrewdness, the financiers would shake their heads with apprehension: â Maître Un Tel has his mind on other things than his models. One cannot serve art and Mammon.â In either case, the painter lost out. It had been Monsieur Paty de Pussyâs idea that Hugo Weiss and a few other magnates who controlled the worldâs purse-strings should establish an Institut Artistique de la Prudence et de la Sécurité which would handle the funds of Salon exhibitors, guaranteeing a profit of at least ten per cent to members whose paintings were hung âon the lineâ and of seven and one-half per cent to those whose works were placed above the line. Post-Impressionists, Cubists, Surrealists and all subversive painters were, of course, to be excluded from the benefits of the proposed Institut and pointillistes were to be admitted only by a two-thirds vote. The reward to be offered to Hugo Weiss in return for his acceptance of the presidency and his assumption of overhead charges was that the new institute was to be named the Hugo Schussschicker Weiss Institut Artistique de la Prudence et de la Sécurité .
âFrench artists would never accept assistance from an institute with a German name,â said the president, M. Haute Costa de Bellevieu.
âI have never seen them turn down anything that resembled money,â M. Paty de Pussy said.
âItâs after eight oâclock and the damned ingrate hasnât showed up yet,â the president said. That was substantially what all the other artists and members of the staff were saying. The committee had been obliged to spread itself. No detail had been overlooked. The menu contained the best that France had to offer, arranged traditionally and to be served with appropriate wines. Members who were likely to doze after eating had been placed at a safe distance from the speakerâs place and were to be screened by the roses and hydrangeas, lilies of the valley not having enough height for the purpose. The thing had cost a pretty penny, and some of the younger painters, that is to say, those under sixty-five, were hungry and had begun to fret.
By eight-thirty they were calling Hugo Weiss a pig and before nine oâclock had run through the list of lesser animals. At nine oâclock M. Paty de Pussy asked the maître d â hôtel to telephone the Plaza Athénée and inquire if M. Weiss had left.
âM. Weiss left the hotel, alone, at six-fifteen,â the maître d â hôtel reported.
âSix-fifteen? Ridiculous ! The dinner was to begin at eight,â the president said.
âPerhaps he has a mistress,â suggested Paty de Pussy.
âA mistress, at six-fifteen? With wines like Lafitte 1907 and Montrachet â21 in prospect? Barbarous. But one can never tell about these Americans, whatever country they really come from.â
âFind out if he has a mistress,â the president snapped to the maître d â hôtel . Within five minutes the maître d â hôtel returned.
âNot in Paris,â he said. Both the president and the vice-president grunted in
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