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Small newspaper article with handwritten. In two parts with title cut out above small article. Article is as follows: "Negress Sculptor Wins Honors in Paris/ Meta Vaux Warrick, the talented young negress sculptor of Philadelphia, has received word from Paris that five of her small statues have been accepted for this year's Salon. Of these titles of three are "Mauvais Larron," (Bad Thief) "L'Homme qui a Faires" (The Dead Man?) and "Les Miserables." (The Wretched)
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Small newspaper article in French with handwritten note above 'Signal' and beneath 'Myra, 23 April' In French: "...les Malheureux, groupe en bronze de Mlle Méta Warrich [sic], une des plus belles choses que j'aie vues en ce genre depuis longtemps ; c'est d'une sauvage poésie, d'une intensité de misère et de faim qui vous font passer un frisson au coeur." In English: "...the Wretched, Miss Meta Warrick's bronze group, one of the most beautiful things I have seen like this in a long time; it is of a savage poetry, of an intensity of miscarriage and of hunger which see make pass a shiver in the heart."
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Small newspaper article in French with handwritten note above 'The Figaro' Blue lines are down each side, drawn in after printing. In French: duc, Dampt (tres joli buste d'enfant). Puis les figurines dramatiques et mouvementees de M. Nocquet, artiste de beaucoup d'avenir; les envois divers de Mmes Meta-Warrick, Lafaurie; de MM. Hugo Kaufmann, Sorensen-Ringi, Mulot, Gosen, Giessendorff, Voulot, Froment-Meurice, Saint-Lerche, Leonard, etc,"
In English: duke, Dampt (very pretty bust of a child). Then the dramatic and eventful figurines of M. Nocquet, artist of many, of the future; various contributions from Mmes Meta-Warrick, Lafaurie; by MM. Hugo Kaufmann, Sorensen-Ringi, Mulot, Gosen, Giessendorff, Voulot, Froment-Meurice, Saint-Lerche, Leonard, etc,"
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Long newspaper article with a separate headder "Philadelphia Woman is a Successful Playwright and Another a Maker of Weird Statuary" with pencil notation "The North American Sunday". The article about Meta is longwise and contains two pixel images of 'Secret Suffering (Sorrow) and "The Wretched". The article has another headder "Philadelphia Mulato Girl's Statuary Weird as Rodin's" The article is as follows: "There are women who model in clay and women who carve in marble. They sometimes produce things of beauty having lines of charm and delicacy, but in these examples of feminine art one misses that touch of power which characterizes the work of men. Let the things they do be cast in the most lasting bronze, they will yet look as soft as wax. One woman there is, indeed, who may claim exception from this mild indictment. She is Meta Vaux Warrick, sculptor - one hesitates to use the term sculptress. Climb four flights of stairs in the quaint old-fashioned building, 1432 South Penn Square, rap on the door that bears her card, and it will be opened by a young mulatto woman of remarkably prepossessing appearance. She is the sculptor whose masterly epression of strange and original thought led Rodin - the celebrated, uniquel Rodin - to give her his special attention and a great deal of his valuable time during the three years of study she spent in Paris. Meta Warrick was born 23 years ago in South Twelfth street, Philadelphia, of hardworking, ambitious parents. Her mother is a hairdresser, her father was a barber. She does not know of anyone related to her who has taste or talent for art. When she went to the public schools, modeling clay was put into her hands and she found her element. Those people who in the educational movement stand up for the aesthetic principle, hoping to discover artistic talent in teh children of the people, must congratulate themseles on this young woman. It was worth while putting modeling tools into many inept fingers to discover a gift like hers. She won a scholarship in the School of Industrial Art and there carried off first prize for modeling. She is to-day on its board of control. Urgued by her instructors and aided by her self-sacrificing mother, she sailed for Paris to study the art to which she was born. There she drew under Collin, modeled the antique under Carles and had as instructors Ingalbert and Rollard. She studied the art galleries and throught long and hard, finding herself a stranger in a strange land in more ways than one. After six months of this she abandoned the paths of conventional study, took a studio and worked by herself, depending on an artist friend for criticism. Thus she labored, alone but not lonesome, so eager and earnest that she frequently forgot to eat the food she had purchased with her scanty allowance. Despair came to her after - the black despair of the artist possessed by talent too great to be set aside or destroyed. When she was scarcely nineteen she took to Rodin a small clay which caused him, who had seen and known so much, to gasp at its power and daring. It was the study of a man eating his heart. In some strange, obscure way which one shrinks at analyzing, she has drawn the heart from the breast of an agonized man and put it into his convulsed hands where he gnaws it. It symbolizes unceasing sorrow profoundly secret and silent. Under the great master she produced rapidly. After her study with Rodin, M. Bing, of the celebrated galleries of L'Art Nouveau, threw open his salon for an exhibition of her works, of which he sold a number. The well-known art critic, Edouard Gerard, wrote a glowing preface to the catalogue and stirred Paris with interest. M. Bing had "The Wretched" cast in bronze, and when the critics saw it they called it genius. It is the expression of wretchedness in all its phases: in resignation, in despair, in torpor, in rebellion, and in defiance. The original conception, the movement of palpitating life, the mature man. As it is the work of a young girl one ponders deeply for an explaination. The answer is found, perhaps, in the artist's mixed race. The white blood in Miss Warrick's veins cannot say "It is mine," for African speaks here. In the "Man Gnawing his Heart" her Ethiopian descent expressess itself, and in all her other works there is the voice of that people. In her graceful "Spirit Dancing" with its roughly modeled face, there is a visible and mad abandon of the Voodoo. "The Impenitent Thief," starting in its unsparing truth, shows the crucified man cursing God as he dies in the determined defiance of bondage. The most nearly feminine thing that this young woman has yet done is a little fancy six inch high called "Dispair." The face is hidden, but the writhing limbs closely interlaced tell its thought. Turn it any way you choose, glance at but a part of it, and still you perceive clearly that it is the despairing remorse of a woman's heart. In all her work there is the sadness of serpent-infested swamps, the mysteris of miasmatic forests, the sombre glow of evening skies relfected in lonely payous. Yet Miss Warrick has not a morbid personality. Canaries sing in her little studio and she has a feminine fondness for pretty clothes. The fingers that modeled the "Impenitent Thief" can trim a hat with Parisian 'smartness.'
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Small magazine article on white paper. Written in French. Appears to have originally been printed in a Paris publication, then reprinted in the New York Herald. First paper in English is "The New York Herald," The article below in French: "Exposition./ Mlle. Meta Warrick, une jeune artiste americaine, qui expose en ce moment quel-ques-unes de ses oeuvres aux galeries de l'Art Nouveau, chez Bing, rue de Povence, semble etre hantee par une esthetique mouvementee tres moderne, dont la formule est evidemment due a cette ecole, dont le chef inconteste est le grand sculpteur Rodin Dans une vingtaine de petits platres, Mlle. Warrick aborde le mouvement humain sous ses formes les plus diverse avec une surete de main qui est presque d'un maitre, mais si la vie et la force humaines y sont completement representees, je dois constater a regret qui l'agreable beaute physique meme en son expression la plus simple en est absente. Il semble que l'artiste ait traduit toute son oeuvre en un groupe initule "Les Malheureux," qui indique chez son auteur une puissance et une originalite de premier ordre. Dans une oeuvre plus haute, "Le Mauvais Larron," l'article a aborde avec audace un grand morceau, dont l'execution est remarquable, mais ici encore leel a outrepasse, il me semble, les limites de la laideur humaine dans l'expression si violente qu'elle a donnee a son modele. Paris, Dimanche 10 Aout, 1902" In English: "Exhibition./ Miss. Meta Warrick, a young American artist, who is currently exhibiting some of her works at the Art Nouveau galleries, at Bing, rue de Povence, seems to be haunted by a very modern aesthetic. , whose formula is obviously due to this school, whose undisputed leader is the great sculptor Rodin. In about twenty small plasters, Miss. Warrick approaches human movement in its most diverse forms with a surety of hand which is almost of a master, but if human life and strength are fully represented there, I must note by regret that the pleasant physical beauty even in its simplest expression is absent. It seems that the artist has translated all his work into a group called "Les Malheureux," which indicates in its author a power and originality of the first order. In a higher work, "Le Mauvais Larron," the artist daringly tackled a great piece, the execution of which is remarkable, but here again feel has overstepped, it seems to me, the limits of human ugliness in the art. She gave to her models expression so violent. Paris, Sunday August 10, 1902"
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Small newspaper article, undated. There is a pencil notation next to it '2500 F', a correction to the article. Article is two pieces glued together. Article is as follows: "Miss Meta Warrick has received a commission for a portrait bust of the late William Still. Recently Miss Warrick received a letter from M. S. Bing of the L'Art Nouveau, Paris, to whom she sold a group called "The Wretched" after her exhibition there last June, who writes that it has been cast in bronze and it is admirably done, and has been sold for 1500 francs. Mr. Bing also wrote Miss Warrick some suggestions in regard to sending work to him, as the people who have seen the few pieces she left at the L'Art Nouveau are anxious to see more of her work. Miss Warrick has a very interesting studio at 1432 South Penn Square."
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Long newspaper article with handwritten above in pencil 'Sunday Inquirer/ Dec 19-1902(or 3). Article is as follows: "Miss Meta Warrick has taken a studio 1432 South Penn Square. She has just returned from three years' study in Paris where she worked alone in her own studio. Rodin criticised her work and no one can look at the pieces she has brought back without feeling how much she has been influenced by her great master. Perhaps the best is a fine head of John the Baptist, a type of vigorous and exalted youth. A portrait study of a young girl is very pleasant. But the main interest of her work is comprised in ten or twelve small casts - groups and signle figures. These are truely Rodinesque through their intensity of thought expression. And what thoughts! One could more readily understand them in a strong man, but hardly in a young and happy girl. All violent or fantastic, they are too sugestive of a Maupassant, they show a morbidness, a lack of altruism from which one shrinks. Her "Oedipus" is an image of anquish, he has torn his eyes from their bleeding sockets and kneels, his face upturned as if with a terrible effort at sight. In another, "Death," a grizly horror leans on his staff and laughts while the wind blows his long cloak. "The Cloud" shows a fantastic group of figures. Those beneath are bent with sorrow and pain, they wring their arms and allow their streaming hair to hide the light of day, those above clasp their hands meekly or look upward with joyous countenances. They see the bright uses of the heavens whatever sorrow is under their feet. Her "Primitive Woman" is a cat-like creature, terribly near the brute, who crawls along with a strange questioning face. Rather more pleasant is one called "The Flame," an upward curling tounge of fire, which is all compact of sinuous creatures, some beautiful, some repulsive, what any dreamer might see in the fierce element. All her work has a value. Its very abandon makes it effective; with a more mature judgement and a stronger technique it would be powerful. All that she needs is technique to be the master of brute facts and make bone and muscle spring into life under her hands. That one acquired, it only means study, she might be anything she wished. The blood of the long enslaved negro runs in her veins and inspires her with weird conceptions and strange Heina-like contrasts. All the feelings of her race, the 'hants' and 'spirits' of the South, the bitter philosophy of the North may find spledid expression in her."
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Large, folded article about Meta Warrick and her sculptures from the Philadelphia Sunday Press October 19, 1902. It is quite an impressive spread, with lots of text and images of her works. Images include one of her seated facing right and three works: 'John the Baptist', The Thief on the Cross', and one of her workong on a standing nude. Headline is as follows "The only Sculptress of her Race. Meta Vaux Warrick a Philadelphia colored girl wins fame and honor in the art schools of France. Foreign masters and critics declare that her works reveals a master of the Sculptor's Art that promises Great Results in the Future. she is a product of the Art Schools of This City." Full typed article will be found on the server. The article notes her amazing drawing tallents that won her a scholarship and goes into detail on her time in Paris, and about her setting up a studio in Philadelphia.
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Small newspaper add from an unknown newspaper. States "Only Sculptress of her race, Meta Warrick, a Philadelphia colored girl, wins fame and honor in the studios of France. Foreign critics declare that her work reveals a master skill."
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Newspaper article with a photograph of a sculpture bust with the wrighting beneath "'Bust' - Miss Meta Vaux Warrick". Beside the article written in pencil is "New York __ter" Newspaper article is as follows: "Among Philadelphia artists of note at the exhibition is Miss Blanche Dillaye, who exhibits an attractive moonlight - a row of old houses with a lamplit window or two reflected in quiet water - and a twilight, entitled 'Nuit d'Ete.' The latter is the charming view of a vast field with gently sloping hills beyond a wooded hollow. Ther far horizon is defined against a luminous sky where fleecy clouds reflect the last rays of the sun. The sense of distance and the tranquillity of evening are very finely interpreted. Another Philadelphian, whose name is not yet so well known, is Miss Mary Smyth Perkins, a former student at the School of Design in Philadelphlia, and at present a pupil in Mr. Parker's studio. Miss Perkins exhibits three very creditable little views of the Luxembourg ; nice in tone and composition. Other Philadephians include: Mrs. Inez Addams, an apprentice of Whistler's; Mrs. E. Plaisted Abbott, whose plaster advertising the present exhibition is not the least attractive thing t obe seen there ; Miss Edith Bristol S. Stone, whose portrait of Miss K., whose Holland scene and those still-life all display a wide range of talent, and Miss Veta Vaux Warrick, who has the distinction of being the only sculptor represented."
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Newspaper or magazine article in French titled 'Femina' dated March 1, 1902. On white paper with curved text to the upper left as if once around an oval image. In French: "Beaucoup moins nombreuses sont les femmes sculpteures: ici, vingt-deux exposantes en tout. Mais ce ne sont pas les moins vaillantes et l'effort d'art, pour être plus rare, n'en est pas moins grand. L'Endymion de Mme la duchesse d'Uzès n'est qu'une esquisse, mais le groupe atteste une belle inspiration. L'oeuvre de Mme Coutan-Montorgueil est toute de délicatesse et de charme: c'est de la sculpture très féminine - et par cela même - intéressante. Je ne ferai pas le même compliment à Mlle Warrick; il n'y a rien de féminine dans son oeuvre; ses satyres, son Bûcheron et la mort, son groupe des malheureux, voilà assurément un art dont on ne peut dire qu'il est plaisant; il y a là une fougue, une aprêté, une imagination exubérante et violente, qui étonnent, qui choquent peut-être, et dont l'intérêt est intense. Mais comme on voudrait que ce soit un homme et non une femme qui ait signé une aussi belle hallucination! Citons encore Mme Malvina Brach, qui sait bien son métier, Mme de Frumerie, très vivante et très intéressante, Mme Berthe Girardet, pittoresque, avec son Départ de l'Islandais, Mmes Gruyer-Caillaux et Maginot. Et avant de quitter le Salon des Femmes peintres, n'oublions pas les bijoux de Mlle Jeane de Montigny, qui n'est pas une inconnne pour les lectrices de Femina, les cuirs repoussés de Mlle Marguerite Roy, de Mme Matyld Mourier, de Mlle Combette, etc. " SMILIS In English: "Much fewer are the women sculptors: here, there are two exhibitors in all. But they are not the least valiant and the artistic effort, to be rarer, is no less great. The Endymion of Mme la Duchesse d'Uzes is only a sketch, but the group attests to a beautiful inspiration. Mme Coutan-Montorgueil's work is full of delicacy and charm: it is very feminine sculpture - and by that very fact - interesting. I will not give the same compliment to Miss Warrick: there is nothing feminine in her work: her satyrs, her Lumberjack and death, her group of the unfortunate, here is certainly an art which one cannot say that it is. pleasant: there is an ardor, a sharpness, an exuberant and violent imagination, which astonishes, which perhaps shock, and of which the interest is intense. But how we would like it to be a man and not a woman who has signed one: so beautiful a hallucination! We can also cite Mme Malvina Brach, who knows her profession well, Mme de Frumerie, very lively and very interesting, Mme Berthe Girardet, picturesque, with her Depart de l'Islande, Mme Gruyer-Caillaux and Mme Maginot. And before leaving the Salon des Femmes Peintres, let's not forget the jewels of Miss Jeane de Montigny, who is no stranger to Femina readers, the repousse leathers of Mlle Marguerite Roy, of Mme Matyid Mourier, of Mlle. Combette, etc."
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Elle a vingt ans à peine; et il y a déjà plus que promesses dans ouvrages. Même ils étonnent par les plus rare qualités.
Mlle Meta Warrick sait réfléchir, sait vouloir. Elle ne traduit pas n'importe quel aspect des choses, --mais, parmi les aspects les plus caractéristiques, choisit le plus caractéristique. Cette recherche exige une extrême acuité d'observation, et, dans l'esprit, la faculté tout intellectuelle de saisir en chaque objet les principes qui formeront synthèse.
Il faut aussi de la hardiesse, oser s'exprimer librement, et ne pas faire de concessions aux mannieres convenues de voir et de sentir. Sur la jeune artiste ne pêse aucun dogme d'Ecole. Elle médite, elle rêve, elle travaille sans que la tyrannie des formules l'intimide.
De plus, on doit estimer les statues, statuettes, groupes exposé ici pour l'équilibre, les heureuses combinaisons de lignes, le mouvement.
Le movement surtout, la vie nervouse, inquiète, tourmentée, L'imgination de Mlle Warrick est, en effet, tournée vers les effrois, les fievers, les souffrances. Elle a dédié aux Malheureux un groupe des plus dramatiques, d'une belle vigueur de conception, d'une ordonnance plastique tout à fait louable. De la même compassion sans mièvrerie est né l'Homme qui a faim, le misérable qui n'a plus que son coeur à manger, et qui le ronge avec les grimaces, les contorsions du désespoir. Désespoir sans grossièreté, sans prosaïsme même, qui est realisée sculpturalement--la peine affreuse déscrite, se figure-t-on, par quelque conte, quelque ballade, quelque légende... Même impression est donnée par le Mauvais larron, morceau considérable, qu'il faut espérer voir l'an prochain au Grand Palais.
Et je veux citer encore des figurines comme l'homme qui rit, l'Homme à l'épine, Falstaff, la Mort dans le vent, si bizarrement souples, des groupes mouvants, turbulents, énergiques comme les Lutteurs, Feux follets, les Satyres.
Mlle Warrick est une Américaine de Philadelphie. Elle travaille là-bas selon le système d'un professeur allemand, -- système propice au développement de l'imagination, de la volonté, de la franchise dans l'expression. Trente, quarante, cinquante equisses différentes étaient demandées sur le même sujet à la toute jeune élève. C'était l'habituer à ne pas s'en remettre aux premieres impulusion de son instinct d'artiste, à les raisonner, à s'interroger profondément; c'était rendre sa vision pénétrante.
Depuis trois ans qu'elle est en France Mlle Warrick a continué, dans la discipline du travail, à prendre posession d'elle-même. La Fronde 26 Juin"
In English: "Sculpture / Miss Meta Warrick / She is barely twenty; and there is already more than promises in his works. Even they amaze with the rarest qualities. Miss Meta Warrick knows how to think, knows how to want. It does not translate just any aspect of things - but, among the most characteristic aspects, chooses the most characteristic. This research requires an extreme acuity of observation, and, in the mind, the entirely intellectual faculty of grasping in each object the principles which will form a synthesis. It is also necessary to be bold, to dare to express oneself freely, and not to make concessions to the agreed manners of seeing and of knowing. No school dogma weighs on the young artist. She meditates, she dreams, she works without the tyranny of formulas intimidating her. In addition, we must estimate the statues, statuettes, groups exhibited here for the balance, the happy combinations of lines, the movement. Above all, movement, nervous, restless, tormented life. Ms. Warrick's imagination is, in fact, turned towards fear, fever, suffering. She dedicated to the Unhappy a group of the most dramatic, of a beautiful vigor of conception, of a quite laudable plastic order. From the same compassion without meekness is born the Man who is lazy (Lazy Bones), the miserable one who has only his heart to manage, and who gnaws at it with grimaces, the contortions of despair. Despair, without rudeness, without even prosaism, which is carried out sculpturally - the awful pain described, one imagines, by some tale, some ballad, some legend ... The same impression is given by the Bad Thief (Theif on the Cross), piece considerable, which we can hope to see next year at the Grand Palais. And I still want to cite figurines like the Laughing Man, the Thorny Man, Falstaff, Death in the Wind, so strangely supple, moving, turbulent, energetic groups like Wrestlers, Wisps, Satyrs. Miss Warrick is an American from Philadelphia. She works there according to the system of a German professor, - a system conducive to the development of imagination, will, frankness in expression. Thirty, forty, fifty different exquises were requested on the same subject from the very young pupil. It was to get him used to not relying on the first impulses of his artistic instinct, to reason with them, to question himself deeply; it was to make his vision penetrating. For three years that she has been in France Miss Warrick has continued, in the field of work, to take possession of herself. The Fronde June 26 "
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Newspaper article from 'The Philadelphia Inquirer's Summer Magazine' with written in pencil next to it 'Sum Aug 24, 1902'. The article is as follows: "A young Philadelphia art student, a mulatto, Miss Meta Warrick, has been creating something of a sensation in Paris, by an exhibition of small plaster figures displayed some weeks ago at L'Art Nouveau galleries. Miss Warrick was for several seasons a student at the School of Industrial Art in this city. There she showed an aptitude for modeling wiht a decorative tendencey. Two years ago she went to Paris to study, and since then she has developed rapidly. Though quite young - barely twenty - she has a decided talent and works with much force and originality. She is a follower of the great Rodin, and, therefore, an impressionist in clay. French critics are inclined to predict a brilliant future for her.
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Newspaper article from The __ Daily Eagle of New York dated Sunday August 10, 1902. Contains a long article about Meta as well as a drawing of her, full bodied, leaning back on a couch wearing a stripped dress and holding a hat. The article is as follows: "Miss Meta Warrick/ An American Colored Woman Who Gives Promise as a Sculptor./ Those of you who are interested in American art, must remember the name of Meta Warrick. Meta Warrick is a colored American girl, and a sculptor. She came here two years ago. She had hardly enough money to travel and keep herself in half-starved way, for a year, then her mother managed to keep her another year. What she has accomplished is marvelous; marvelous because she found a way to accomplish it, and marvelous her art will be. I have very little faith in a woman sculptor. They will succeed in making a bust of a pretty woman or a statuette, which, even in marble, will look as soft as putty. But Miss Warrick cannot be classed in that category of woman sculptors. When she went to Rodin with a piece of her work, he said: 'But, mademoiselle, you are a sculptor. Your work is powerful.' I think Miss Warrick, will prove, if she works long enough, to have not only talent, but genius. There is already the sign of it in the works she exhibited at Bings. To critics and amateurs they were a revolution. Now, people who are fond of sweet little sculptured angels, academical art in general, will at once class Miss Warrick's work as vulgar, gross, painful and pay no more attention to it. Every piece of her sculpture, in fact, tells a tale of woe of sorrow, of fear, or of intense love or joy. For instance, her almost life-sized thief on the cross is almost frightful to behold. It is the realistic face of the thief in the throes of death, with protruding lips, that become blanched with blasphemies as well as death. Every line of the body shows anatomical study and that the girl did not hesitate to produce the lines as her vision of the thief revealed them to her. In her studio she has a small plaster relief which was inspired by the lines: be still, sad heart, and cease repining; Behind the clouds the sun is shining' The relief is a cloud peopled with the suffering, the sorrowful and the desparing, then around the edge, those who can see the light behind the cloud take courage, and the smile of hope on their faces is intense. Think of the powerful imagination of that woman. Her grandfather, while she sat on his lap, as a little child, fed her mind with ghost stories; she saw much suffering around her: she afterward learned Edgar Alan Poe's weird tales by hear. All this she materailzed in plaster and some of her works, I must repeat, are marvelous. She herself is not at all morbid in disposition. She talks well, has a certain education. She is so much wrapped in her work that she said to me, 'I might stay well with my mother in Philadelphia and be well clothed, have a good table, and a better roof than the rickety one of a studio over my head, but no privation can keep me from my work'"
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Newspaper article in French on blue paper. Cut into three different sections. In French: "Le Petit Bleu De Paris - /Dimamche 22 Juin 1902/ L'exposition de sculptures de Mlle Meta Warrick a L'art Nouveau Bing/ Mlle Meta Warrick est une artiste americaine. Elle releveralt de Rodin et de Rosso par le mouvement qu'elle cherche a donner a sa sculpture. Cette sculpture est plus que vigoureusc, elle est violente. Les danseuses de Mlle Warrick ont des dehanchements excessifs et des faces presque masculines. Quand Mlle Warrick est ealme et modele tranquillement un buste, ce buste a de la vie et de l'interet. C;est un talent a qui un brin d'assagissemeat ne miessierait pas." In English: "Le Petit Bleu De Paris - / Sunday June 22, 1902 / Miss Meta Warrick's sculpture exhibition at L'art Nouveau Bing / Miss Meta Warrick is an American artist. She is similar to Rodin and Rosso through the movement that she seeks to give to her sculpture. This sculpture is more than vigorous, it is violent. Miss Warrick's 'dancers' have excessive swaying and almost masculine faces. When Miss Warrick is quietly modeling a bust, that bust has life and interest. It is a talent that a bit of sobering up(?) would not try.
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Newspaper article with a reprinted drawing image of Meta. The image is her from the side, but facing slightly backwards to the left. She has a flat hat and a bow in her hair, which is tied into a bun at her neckline. Underneath the image is printed 'Miss Meta Warrick/ A young Philadelphia sculptor.' Above this article in pen is written 'Sunday Press July 20 - 1902' The article, cut out seperately, but pasted overlapping the drawing is as follows: 'Miss Meta Warrick, whose portrait from an etching by Duvre appears above, returns to this city from a stay of several years in Paris toward the end of this month. After a visit to Atlandic City, Miss Warrick will open a studio in this city. She had already made her mark among the youngest art students of the city before she left it. A most promising sketch by her, made in 1898, while a student at the Pennsylvania School of Industrial Art, is still on exhibition at the school as worthy permanent attention. In Paris Miss Warrick has studied at the Julian Academy and elsewhere. She has twice had a special exhibition of her work, the last of some twenty-two members, exhibited in June at "L'Art Nouveau, Bing." on the Rue de Provence. "In her work," writes the critic, Mr. Edouard Gerard, "there is much promise because there is in them the most precious qualities that one can find in a young artist - sense of form, originality of view, an easy daring and force of expression." Miss Warrick has sought, as he points out, in her work movement, vigor and a sense of extreme action. "Mlle. Warrick," says Mr. Gerard, "does not feel with the French poet. I hate the movement which displaced the line and believed instead that the line is the chief gift movement has to creat. In her art she constantly seeks it. Nothing seems alien to this young genious which conceives and executes with a singular force."
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Very thin paper poster printed in French. In French: "Galeries de L'Art Nouveau Bing/Exposition de Sculptures/ Mlle META WARRICK/ a partir du 18 Juin 1902/ Tous le Jars de 10 h. a 6 heurs, Dimanches exceptes" In English: "Bing Moves Art Galleries / Exhibition of Sculptures / Miss META WARRICK / from June 18, 1902 / Every day at 10 a.m. at 6 a.m., except Sundays"
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Newspaper article from the Boston Sunday Journal dated August 17, 1902. "American Colored Girl Startles Paris By Her Art. Paris, Aug. 16 - Americans in Paris are much interested in the work of Meta Warrick, a colored American girl, and a sculptor. She had hardly enough money to travel and keep herself in a half-starved way, for a year, then her mother managed to keep her antoher year. What she has accomplished is marvelous: marvelous because she found a way to accomplish it, and marvelous her art will be. When she went to Rodin with a piece of her work, he said 'But madamoiselle, you are a sculptor, your work is powerful. Miss Warrick will prove, if she works long enough, to have not only talent, but genious. There is already signs of it in the work she exhibited at Bings. To critics and amateurs they were a revelation. Every piece of her sculpture, in fact, tells a tale of woe, of sorrow, of fear, or of intense love or joy. For instance, her almost life-sized Theif on the Cross is almost freightful to behold. It is the realistic face of the theif in the throes of death, with protruding lips, that becomes blanched with blasphemies as well as death. Every line of the body shows anatomical study and that the girl did not hesitate to produce the lines as her vision of the theif revealed them ot her. In her studio she has a small plaster relief which was inspired by these lines: Be still, sad heart, and cease repining; Behind the clouds the sun is shining The releif is a cloud peopled, with the suffering, the sorrowful and the desparing, then around the edge those who can see the light behind the cloud take courage, and the smile of hope on their faces is intense. Her grandfather, while she sat on his lap as a little child fed her mind with ghost stories; she saw much suffering around her; she afterward neared Edgar Allan Poe's weird tales by heart. All this she materializes in plaster and some of her works are marvelous. She herself is not at all morbid in disposition. She talks well, has a certain education. She is so much wrapped in her work that she said: "I might stay with my mother in Philadelphia and be well clothed, have a good table and a better roof than the rickety one of a studio over my head; but no privation can keep me from my work."
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Newspaper article in English from the Atlantic City, New Jersey published Monday July 21, 1902. "Miss Warrick Returns - Daughter of a Resident Here is an Artist of Renown. Miss Meta Warrick, daughter of Mrs. Emma Warrick, of 1002 Atlantic avenue, this city, who went to Paris about four years ago, to complete her education as an artist, arrived in New York Saturday evening on the steamer Umbria. After visiting her mohter here for a time, Miss Warrick will open a studio in Philadelphia. She has already made her mark among the younger art students of the city before she left it. A most promising sketch by her made in 1898 while a student at the Pennsylvania School of Industrial Art, is still on exhibition at the school as worthy permanent attention. In Paris, Miss Warrick has studied at the Julian Academy and elsewhere. She has twice had a special exhibition of her work, the last of some twenty-two members, exhibitied in June, at "L'Art Noveau, Bing," on the Rue de Provance. "In her work," writes the critic, Mr. Edouard Gerard, "there is much promise because there is in them the most precious qualificaties that one can find in a young artist - sense of form, originality of view, an easy daring and force of expression."
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Newspaper article, in French, titled Mlle Meta Warrick. Found in two parts back to back with pencil 'over' written below the first part and above the first 'Europeen'."Chez Bing, des bustes, une grande figure, un petit groupe, puis, dans deux vitrines, des statuettes. Tout d'abord, il me faut citer quelques lignes de la préface du catalogue. Aussi bien, quelque chose d'aussi symptomatique ne se présente, tous les jours. Le préfacier qui nous présente les oeuvres de Mlle Warrick, après avoir affirmé 'que le règne de la démence s'annonce' - il y a quelques printemps déjà que cette aimable prédiction nous a été faite, et on la retrouverait dans le bon Cnoeus Noevius, ainsi que l'affirme quelque part, je pense M. Anatole France, - le préfacier débute ainsi:
'Si nul ne conteste que les artistes du passé aient fidèlement représenté chaque époque de l'histoire avec l'infinie variété de ses caractères, s'ils nous out bien légué les témoignages les plus indiscutables de ce qu'ont senti, aimé, vécu, leurs contemporains, si grâce à leur exquise sensibilité, à l'affinement et à l'acuité de leur vision, ils ont pu subtilement enregistrer tous les frémissements, toutes les passions de leur temps et de leur pays, nous devons constater que ceux de l'heure présente n'ont pas failli à cette noble mission, et qu'ils sont, eux aussi, le pur miroir où se reflète dans toute sa féerie, et sous ses innombrables aspects, l'âme moderne.
'La sérénité et la paix ont déserté nos patries. L'epoque des grands gestes calmes, des pensées simples et des coeurs naïfs n'est plus qu'un vague Eden où s'envolent nos songes, et que notre scepticisme situe dans le passé, laissant à l'avenir son décor de voiles impénétrables et son obscurité de consolant mystère. Et pourtant, les dieux et les muses n'ont pas à jamais pris leur fuite sous l'effroi de nos tumultes: ils ont, eux aussi, subi les lois de la Terre et de la Vie, et, victimes résignées de l'Evolution universelle, ils se sont fait modernes à leur tour, se modelant à notre image.
'Nous sommes tous aujourd hui, plus ou moins agités et inquiets; le règne de la démence s'annonce. Toute cette vie fébrile et bouillonnante, ces accidents plus ou moins morbides, notre art les reflète avec une surprenante intensité, aussi ses manifestations ont-elles revetu un caractère d'originalité et de personnalité absolument nouveau dans son histoire. L'individualisme passionné de notre siècle s'est attaché à la traduction des sentiments les plus complexes et des mouvements les plus intimes de l'esprit: notre inconvenante curiosité a déchiré bien des voiles.
'Aussi, l'Art a-t-il dû acquérir un nouveau langage, plus riche, mais plus touffu; ses modes d'expression se sont multiplies à l'infini sous l'attouchement fécondant des magiciens les plus experts. Parmi ceux-là, l'illustre Rodin ne fut pas un des moins puissants et les mots qu'il a créés sont déjà devenus les formules claires par lesquelles s'évoque notre temps.
'Des jeunes et audacieux artistes ont suivi la trace de ce séducteur, et, chosé curieuse, sous l'action de ses exorcismes, des talents féminins d'une qualité tout à fait rare se sont révélés. Le grand souffle haletant du siècle s'est incarné en de frêles natures, et des doigts légers ont pétri la terre pour dire nos souffrances, nos angoisses, et pour affirmer en de précieuses images le rythme de nos coeurs.
'Au nombre de ces nouveaux venus, Mlle Warrick qui vient d'abandonner les cités sonores du Nouveau Monde et s'est réfugiée parmi nous pour se donner tout entière à son Rêve et à l'Art, veut bien, aujourd'hui, nous prendre à témoin de ses premiers efforts. Sous ses mains souples et nerveuses, la glaise à pris forme, et une vie tumultueuse a circulé dans la froide matière.'
Je m'arrête, et cet extrait suffit. Je voulais simplement montrer avec quel souci de mettre complètement en valeur les jeunes talents, on organise maintenant les petites expositions, où nous sommes régulièrement conviés. Il faut féliciter M.E. Gérard de la chaleur et de la conviction de son appel.
Mais, je crains fort qu'au lieu de servir Mlle Meta Warrick, il ne la desserve... Je ne discuterai pas ici les idées de M. Gérard, je n'ai la place nécessaire; et, aussi bien en montrerai-je seulement le dangereux et la fausseté relative, alors qu'elles sont appliquées trop tôt, avant la culture nécessaire, indispensable, - en faisant le tour des très intéressants essai de Mlle Warrick.
Ah! les belle paroles de Rodin, que je rapportais, à cette place même il y a huit jours! comme il faut les pénétrer et les appliquier!..
Le morceau principal de la petite exposition de chez Bing, est assurément le Mauvais larron. Malgré l'effort très louable qu'il faut marquer, c'est médiocre; la figure est convinue, l'anatomie pas assez simple; le sculpteur a voulu trop montrer et faire le 'bon devoir'; puis, sur cette impossible croix, cette main restée clouée et ces deux pieds ne sont assez éloquents dans leur réalisme trop 'noyé'.
J'en dirais autant des Malheureux, un groupe ou diverses figures s'accotent, synthétisent la douleur et la désespérance humaines; la désolation effroyable qu'a voulue l'artiste, ne sort, impressionnante et définitive, ainsi qu'un grand cri, de ce groupe qui dénote pourtant des qualités de détail et d'observation très justes.
Puis, ce sont des toutes petites statuettes en plâtre, sous les deux vitrines: l'Homme qui rit, Oedipe, les Lutteurs, Falstaff, l'Homme portant un mort, la Femme primitive, Danseuse, le Mort dans le Vent, etc. qui attirent toutes, décèlent beaucoup d'originalité certes, une recherche louable du mouvement rare, une préoccupation amusante de l'effet brutal, mais auxquelles il manque, sous les envols des draperies, dans la construction des corps cette vérité des structures, cette science dans laquelle on ne fait rien de durable...
Et, si je me permets cette remarque grave, c'est que je crois très sincerement Mlle Meta Warrick très douée, je lui crois beaucoup de belles et rares qualités, et qu'il est évident qu'on lui fait commencer par la fin, une initiation qui pourrait aboutir à des oeuvres.
Ce que j'ai trouvé de mieux, dans le petit ensemble qu'elle expose, c'est le buste de John et celui d'une jeune fille. Encore beaucoup d'études de la valeur de celles-là, d'autres encore, et que Mlle Warrick refasse alors Silènes et Satyres." Virgile Josz.
In English: At Bing, busts, a large figure, a small group, then, in two display cases, statuettes. First of all, I must quote a few lines from the preface to the catalogue. As well, something so symptomatic does not present itself, every day. The prefacer who introduces us to the works of Miss Warrick, after having affirmed 'that the reign of madness is coming' - this pleasant prediction was made to us a few springs ago, and we would find it in the good Cnoeus Noevius , as I think M. Anatole France says somewhere, - the preface begins like this:
"If no one disputes that the artists of the past have faithfully represented each period of history with the infinite variety of its characters, if they have left us the most indisputable testimonies of what have been felt, loved, lived , their contemporaries, if thanks to their exquisite sensitivity, to the refinement and acuity of their vision, they were able to subtly record all the thrills, all the passions of their time and their country, we must note that those of present time have not failed in this noble mission, and that they too are the pure mirror in which the modern soul is reflected in all its magic, and in its innumerable aspects.
"Serenity and peace have deserted our homelands. The era of great calm gestures, simple thoughts and naive hearts is no more than a vague Eden where our dreams fly away, and which our skepticism places in the past. , leaving in the future its decor of impenetrable veils and its obscurity of consoling mystery. the laws of the Earth and of Life, and, resigned victims of universal Evolution, they became modern in their turn, modeling themselves in our image.
We are all today, more or less agitated and worried; the reign of madness is announced. All this feverish and bubbling life, these more or less morbid accidents, our art reflects them with a surprising intensity, so its manifestations have taken on a character of originality and personality absolutely new in its history. The passionate individualism of our century has attached itself to the translation of the most complex feelings and the most intimate movements of the mind: our unseemly curiosity has torn many veils.
Also, Art had to acquire a new language, richer, but fuller; its modes of expression have multiplied to infinity under the fruitful touch of the most expert magicians. Among these, the illustrious Rodin was not one of the least powerful and the words he created have already become the clear formulas by which our time is evoked.
Young and daring artists have followed in the footsteps of this seducer, and, curiously enough, under the action of his exorcisms, feminine talents of a quite rare quality have been revealed. The great panting breath of the century was embodied in frail natures, and light fingers kneaded the earth to express our sufferings, our anxieties, and to affirm in precious images the rhythm of our hearts.
Among these newcomers, Miss Warrick who has just abandoned the sound cities of the New World and has taken refuge among us to give herself entirely to her Dream and to Art, is willing, today, to take us to witness his first efforts. Under his flexible and nervous hands, the clay took shape, and a tumultuous life circulated in the cold material."
I stop, and this extract is enough. I simply wanted to show with what concern to fully showcase young talent, we now organize small exhibitions, where we are regularly invited. M.E. Gérard is to be congratulated on the warmth and conviction of his call.
But, I'm very much afraid that instead of serving Miss Meta Warrick, he's not serving her... I won't discuss M. Gérard's ideas here, I don't have the necessary space; and, moreover, I will only show their relative danger and falsity, when they are applied too soon, before the necessary, indispensable culture, - by going around the very interesting essays of Miss Warrick.
Ah! the beautiful words of Rodin, which I brought back to this very place a week ago! how they must be penetrated and applied!
The main piece of the small exhibition at Bing is undoubtedly the Bad Thief. Despite the very commendable effort that must be made, it is mediocre; the figure is certain, the anatomy not simple enough; the sculptor wanted to show too much and do the 'good duty'; then, on this impossible cross, this hand remained nailed and these two feet are not eloquent enough in their too 'drowned' realism.
I would say as much about the Wretched, a group where various figures lean together, synthesizing human pain and despair; the appalling desolation that the artist wanted emerges, impressive and definitive, like a loud cry, from this group which nevertheless denotes very accurate qualities of detail and observation.
Then there are very small plaster statuettes, under the two windows: the Laughing Man, Oedipus, the Wrestlers, Falstaff, the Man Carrying a Dead Man, the Primitive Woman, Dancer, the Dead in the Wind, etc. which all attract, certainly reveal a great deal of originality, a commendable search for rare movement, an amusing preoccupation with brutal effect, but which are lacking, under the flight of draperies, in the construction of bodies, this truth of structures, this science in which we do nothing lasting...
And, if I allow myself this serious remark, it is because I very sincerely believe Miss Meta Warrick to be very gifted, I believe she has many beautiful and rare qualities, and it is obvious that she is being made to start at the end, an initiation that could lead to works.
What I found best, in the small set that she exhibits, is the bust of John and that of a young girl. Many more studies of the value of these, more still, and may Miss Warrick redo Silenus and Satyrs then."
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Newspaper article, in French, in the Le Figaro published on Monday June 23, 1902 by Arsene Alexandre. Arsene puts Renoir and Meta in the same article, noting how both will benefit greatly from this 'season'. In French: "Expositions Renoir et miss Warrick "Profitons de cette mauvaise saison, qui n'a pas l'air de finir, pour nous donner l'illusion que nous sommes encore en mars et en avril, et pour aller, suivant l'usage, visiter des expositions.
Elles sont deux qui vont bénéficier de cette saison étonnante, et toutes deux non seulement valent un coup d'oeil, mais encore sont de celles qui auraient été le plus admirées à l'époque normale des "petits Salons."
L'une est celle de toiles recentes de Renoir. On n'a plus maintenant comme jadis à batailler pour ce beau maître. Il a désormais assez d'admirateurs pour faire vigoureuse résistance à ceux qui le discutent encore, et qui ne sont pas encore ouverts à ses exceptionnelles qualités de fraîcheur et de grâce.
De ce Renoir, qui se rattache directement aux artistes les plus delicieux du dix-huitième siècle, on verra à la galerie Durand-Ruel des tableaux très importants, dont deux de nu grandeur nature, qui, par leur beauté de couleur, leur noblesse de style, sont parmi les choses capitales de toute sa carrière. Puis des paysages, et des intérieurs, et de ces têtes féminines si vivantes et d'une animation si originale...
L'autre exposition a lieu à la galerie Bing. Une jeune artiste américaine, miss Meta Warrick, expose des sculptures d'un caractère dramatique saisissant, presque visionnaire, en même temps que d'une très puissante et très savante exécution.
Ou nous nous trompons fort, ou il y a là la revelation d'une grande, d'une très grande artiste. Miss Meta Warrick avait déjà montré quelques-uns de ces petits groupes si extraordinaires au Salon des Femmes peintres, mais ils étaient mal exposés. Ici, ils sont dans la lumiere et le cadre qui conviennent. Il y a des figures, telle petite danseuse ou tel 'homme se rongeant le coeur'; des groupes, par exemple les 'femmes dans les flammes,' enfin une grande statue, le Mauvais Larron, qui sont vraiment de premier ordre.
Encore une fois, miss Warrick nous parait une nouvelle venue qui ira loin. In English: "Renoir and Miss Warrick exhibitions Take advantage of this bad season, which does not seem to be over, to give us the illusion that we are incurring in March and April, and alternatively, according to custom, visit exhibitions. They are the two who will benefit from this astonishing season, and both are not only worth a look, but are also likely to have been most admired in the normal days of "small Salons". One is that of recent paintings by Renoir. We no longer have to fight for this handsome master as in the past. He now has enough admirers to make vigorous resistance to those who argue about him, and who are not open to his exceptional qualities of freshness and grace. Of this Renoir, who is directly linked to the most delicious artists of the eighteenth century, we will see at the Durand-Ruel gallery some very important paintings, including two in life-size nude, which, by their beauty of color, their nobility of style, are among the capital things of his entire career. Then landscapes, and interiors, and these feminine heads so alive and of such an original animation ... The other exhibition takes place at the Bing gallery. A young American artist, Miss Meta Warrick, exhibits sculptures of a striking dramatic character, almost visionary, at the same time of a very powerful and very skilful execution. Either we are greatly mistaken, or there is the revelation of a great, a very great artist. Miss Meta Warrick had already shown some of these extraordinary little groups at the Saion des Femmes Painters, but they were poorly exhibited. Here they are in the right light and frame. There are figures, such and such a little dancer or such a man gnawing at his heart; groups, for example the women in the flames, finally a large statue, the Bad Thief, which are really first order. Once again, Miss Warrick seems to us a newcomer who will go far."
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Article in French, cut out from a larger article. Beneath written in handwriting in ink "L'Ermitage" No-7-July 7 92 F-C-Guérin" "A la même galerie, une jeune artiste, Mlle Meta Warrick, nous invite à voir ses dernières scultpures. J'ai déjà vanté ici, à propos des Femmes-Peintres et Sculpteurs, les promesses et les qualités de son talent. Son nom est un nom à retenir. Allez voir tous ces petits groupes si remuants, ces equisses puissantes, nouvellement sorties de sa pensée à travers ses doigts de femme, regardez Mauvais Larron, dont le geste maudit le ciel et vous serez tout étonné quand vous saurez que leur auteur est une jeune créole de vingt ans."Francois-Charles. Le Gerant: L. Didier des Gachons 1MP. Humbert-Droz. - Etampes -80-" In English: "At the same gallery, a young artist, Miss Meta Warrick, invites us to see her latest sculptures. I have already praised here, about Women-Painters and Sculptors, the promises and qualities of her talent. Her name is a name to remember. Go see all these small groups so restless, these powerful sketches, newly emerging from her thought through her woman's fingers, look at her Bad Thief, whose gesture curses the sky and you will be astonished when you know that their author is a young twenty-year-old creole."
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Short article in French that mentioned a few artists. In French: "A la sculpture, de nombreuses oeuvres de Mme Malvina Branch, le buste d'enfant de Mme Girardet,"Mlle Warrick a une imagination très singulière, servie par un don d'expression qui fait songer à Daumier." Cut out just beneath this is "L'Action Francaise 15 mars 1902" In English: "In sculpture, of numerous works by Mme Malvina Branch, the bust of a child of Mme Girardet, Mlle Warrick has a very singular imagination, served by a gift of expression which makes one think of Daumier." and "L'Action Francaise March 15, 1902"
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Short article cut out from a pamphlet about Meta. Written in French. Includes a headshot of her with typed lettering underneath "Mlle Meta Warrick. (Cliche D'athos.). Above the article written in pencil is 'Femina'. Article is as follows, in French: "Mlle Meta Warrick est une artiste américaine dont les oeuvres de sculpture ont fété lort admirées lors de leur récente exposition. Par le mouvement un peu exagéré qu'elle cherche à donner à ses oeuvres, elle semble relever directement de Rodin; et la caractère violemment réaliste de sa sculpture ressortait de chacune des ouevres qu'il nous fut donné d'admirer. Le mauvais Larron, les Malheureux et de toutes petites stauettes en plâtre. l'Homme qui rit, Oedipe, les Lutteurs, Falstaff, l'Homme portant un mort, la Femme primitive, Danseuse, le Mort dans le Vent, etc., attirent toutes, décèlent beaucoup d'orginalité, une recherche louable du movement rare et une préoccupation amusante de l'effet brutal. Le plus brillant avenir semble assuré à cette artists douée de rares qualités."
Translated into English: "Miss Meta Warrick - Miss Meta Warrick is an American artist whose works of sculpture were greatly admired during their recent exhibition. By the somewhat exaggerated movement that she seeks to give to her works, she seems to fall directly under Rodin; and the violently realistic character of his sculpture stood out in each of the works that we were given to admire. The Bad Thief, the Wretched and all small plaster statuettes, the Laughing Man, Oedipus, the Wrestlers, Falstaff, the Man Carrying a Dead, the Primitive Woman, Dancer, the Death in the Wind, etc., all attract, reveal a lot of originality, a laudable search for rare movement and an amusing preoccupation with the brutal effect. The brightest future seems assured to this artist gifted with rare qualities."
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Long newspaper article in English sent via cable to both the Philadelphia and New York Times. Article is about Meta and her attention in Paris. The article is as follows: "Young American Sculptor/Creation of a Miss Warrick Attracts Much Attention in Paris/ Special cable to The Philadelphia Times - New York Times./ Paris, July 5 - In artistic circles much attention has been aroused by an exhibition of little plaster figures by a young American artist, Miss Warrick, at Bings Art Nouveau Galleries. Miss Warrick, who is a Creole and only just 20, is an impressionist, and has adopted the modeling methods of Rodin. Her very great talent, amounting to almost genious, is admired by the best circles here. Another of the cheif promoters of art nouveau, G. De Fenre, a naturalized Dutchman, who also exhibits at Bings, is leaving for New York very shortly, where he will exhibit his work, which covers the whole domain of applied art. - (The name of Miss Warrick is not known in America, and L'Art Nouveau has more enemies than friends over here. But there are practitioners of industrial art who find their time not misspend, seeing that buyers take their wares. The sculptor Rodin can scarecly be considered an authority on this new phase of decorative art, although the spirit of his sculpture has a certain resemblance to the groutesque figures the modelers of art nouveau bronzes and pottery sometimes produce. It is in architecture and furniture that L'Art Nouveau has made its greatest sensations and received its most violent attacks. Spreading quickly to Austria and Southern Germany, it has almost become a recognizable department in the arts. The Hollander who proposes to make an exhibition of work in this line in New York will likely to have a success so far as curiosity is concerned.)
