Oil on canvas, David Rockefeller, Succession Matisse. See captions for details. Please support independent arts journalism today by designating your donation in dollars or Euros through PayPal to paulbenitzak gmail.
First published in the French original by Albin-Michel. Not that he was particularly interested in this major painter, but his editor tended to ask him to write about the subjects he was the least interested in. Just the bare minimum coverage needed for the weekly to appear au courant without turning off the majority of its subscribers, only now discovering, with rapture, Impressionism.
Fontenoy was permitted, like his colleagues, to talk about his fads from time to time. The editor in chief shrugged his shoulders.
Laivit-Canne, on the other hand, is an advertiser. Oil on canvas and black lead pencil, 27 x 46 cm. I try to perceive the mechanics which coordinate them…. This is what I try to paint. Fontenoy reddened with shame and anger. He was seized with a violent compulsion to throw up his hands and walk out, but he contained himself. Everything was broad with him, for that matter: His shoulders, his handshake, his critical standards. The only time he became particular was when it came to abstract art.
Morisset was always nice to Fontenoy, even if their opinions were completely opposed. He was one of those people eager to please everybody. Except for a handful of abstract art galleries, scattered and without a lot of means, Morisset lined his pockets with tips from all corners.
