THE SCARABVOL. IV MAY • 1928 No. 8

Count of Saint-Germain Paul Honore

(Romantic Rascals, Robert H. McBride & Co.)

C$) CALENDAR OF EVENTS C|i)

Saturday, May 5 — Monthly Dinner, 6:30 p. m., fol-lowed by Installation of Officers and BoardMembers and auction of prints and drawingsfor the Garden Fund. Patrick Kearney, na-tionally known dramatist, Guest of Honor.Dinner by reservation only. Glendale 1820.

Wednesday, May 16 — Regular meeting Board ofDirectors, 6 :30 p. in.

Saturday, May 19 — Round Table Dinner and Dis-cussion. All artist members. Dinner by reser-vation only. Glendale 1820.

Wednesday, May 23— Club Gallery let to Bohem-ians for their Monthly Meeting.

Friday, May 25 — Closing date for entries in UnionTrust Competition.reservations by 12 :()0 o'clock.

Every Monday Evening — Layman's Sketch Club,7 :30 to 9 :30.

Every Wednesday and Friday Evenings — Artists'Sketch Class, 7 :30 to 9 :30.

Every Tuesday Evening— Research, 7 :30 to 9 :30.

Every Tuesday and Thursday — Luncheon at theClubhouse, 12:30.

Luncheon will be served on Mondays, Wednesdays,Fridays and Saturdays for Members w7ho makereservations before 12:00 o'clock.

THE SCARAB CLUB B U L L E T I NVOL. IV DETROIT * MAY 1928 No. 8

PAIL HONOREPainter of Murals andMaker of Wood Blocks

It has always been held as an unex-ceptionable axiom that a Michigan ar-tist in order to attain any measure ofnational prestige must needs leave theinartistic, uninspiring atmosphere ofDynamic Detroit and make his abodein New York or the immediately sur-rounding territory. And if New York

prove inhospitable or uncongenial,Rome, or Paris, or Brussels would do.In fact almost anywhere—except De-troit.

Some day this idea may prove tohave been a superstition left over fromthose not-so-ancient times when Indus-try and Art were thought to have been

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diametrically opposed, with no pointsof contact. However, superstition ornot, the fact remains that most of theartists whose earlier years were spentin Detroit or the vicinity have mi-grated to New York and there reachedthnr degree of success and publicitywhich makes a national figure.

Be that as it may, there is one artist,at least, who came here in his youthand has remained and who, despite theGypsy Curse of this particular portionof the Middle West, is slowly carvingfor himself an enviable place amonghis contemporaries. Paul Honore,muralist and maker of wood blocks,has become a national figure, particu-larly in the latter field, and his two,three and four color woodblock printsadorn some of the finest of the recentbooks. Born in a small Pennsylvania

town where his father owned the localmill and the neighbors were all farm-ers of varying degrees of prosperity,Honore's first memories are of springfloods, ox teams, and impassable roads,while his earliest dreams were of go-ing to Meadville, fifteen miles away, acity remote and desirable as the poet'sCarcassonne. Like many an inquisi-tive boy, his first expression of thecreative instinct was in mechanical in-ventions. He and a playmate spentmany intense days building an entirelynew type of steam-engine which turnedout, sadly enough, to be very little dif-ferent from the one invented two hun-dred years before by the venerableWatt. But by that time the youthfulinventor had turned his attention to adesign which sometimes lures him still,a perpetual-motion clock run by a con-

APPLICAT1&MURAL IN DEARBORN PUBLIC LIBRARY — PAUL HONORE

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tinuously moving, unbroken series ofmarbles. Another youthful ambitionwas to own and manage a zoo, contain-ing particularly lions and tigers, anambition which has been transmittedin a more practical form to his sonYork.

It may have been his restless Frenchand Irish blood which drove him toseek adventure in a field as foreign tohis environment as the visual arts, butwhatever the reason, Paul Honore de-cided to become an artist. During va-rious peregrinations of the family be-tween Detroit and Philadelphia, hestudied with Joseph W. Gies and JohnP. Wicker of Detroit and at the Penn-sylvania Academy of Fine Arts. "As Ilook back on that period," he says, "myimpression is that I was as lazy ashell. There were so many opportuni-ties which I passed up, so many pos-sible avenues of study and advance-ment from which I profited little ornothing. Youth is so completely self-centered, so wholly preoccupied withthe phenomena of its own personal ex-istence. The world goes its colorful,exciting way at one's very elbow, butyouth, unobservant, sees nothing buthimself."

Becoming interested in the gorgeouscolor and highly decorative quality ofFrank Brangwyn's work, Honore wentto England with the intention of enter-ing that painter's school, but when theboy called at Brangwyn's London stu-dio, he learned that it had been discon-tinued. There was nothing to do butgo on to Paris. But Brangwyn be-came so interested in depicting thedevastated condition of the Parisateliers caused by the modern art revo-

lution that he decided to let Honorestudy with him.

So, for almost a year, Honore workedin the studio of the famous Academi-cian, bringing for criticism such workas he did in his own studio in anotherpart of London.

"Brangwyn's most important in-fluence was due to his utter genuine-ness and humanity," thinks Honore."He forced me out of all finicky ultra-carefulness and artiness. Direct androbust in his own attitude toward lifeand art, he required of others the de-velopment of themselves as human be-ings without sham or self-illusion."

Upon his return to America, Honorebegan to devote himself to two types ofwork, murals and woodcuts, both ofwhich were well suited to his virilestyle. His best woodcuts are seen inhis illustrations for Charles J. Fin-ger's books, whose highwaymen, ban-dits, and vivid folk-people of the Andesmade a strong appeal to his imagina-tion. The color blocks in "Tales fromSilver Lands" are considered among thefinest in contemporary books.

But it is in mural art that he haspioneered. His introduction of PlasticMosaic, a new medium for murals,both indoors and on exteriors exposedto the weather, has opened a rich newfield for architectural decoration. Inconnection with the experts of the DowChemical Company, Mr. Honore hasperfected a cement medium in a widevariety of colors, the texture and per-manence of which recommend it aboveany other now in the market. The newMidland County Courthouse in Michi-gan, which has been called one of themost interesting and completely Amer-

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Bulletin of

THE SCARAB CLUBOF DETROIT

253 Forest Avenue EastDetroit, Michigan

GEORGE W. STYLES—EditorALBERT DE SALLE—Associate

Committee on PublicationsGEORGE W. STYLES, Chairman

Albert Apel Carl ChapmanA. C. Eastman Dr. Walker HeilPaul Honore Floyd NixonHarry Smith Lee White

Charles R. Jaquish

lean examples of contemporary archi-tecture, has several large exteriormurals in Plastic Mosaic, and one in-terior mural in the same medium, aphotograph of which is reproduced inconnection with this article. The Peo-ple's Church at East Lansing also hasseveral interior murals of the samematerial. Other murals by Mr. Honoremay be seen at the Highland ParkHigh School, the S. S. City of GrandRapids, the S. S. Put-in-Bay, the Dear-born Public Library, theatres in De-troit and Cleveland, the architecturaldepartment of the University of Michi-gan, the old Masonic Temple in Detroit,the offices of General Motors Building,New York City, and many privatehomes.

Painter of murals and maker ofwood blocks, Paul Honore is today oneof the most outstanding members ofthe group of artists who have casttheir fortunes with Detroit and achiev-ed a national reputation in spite of it.

CHARLES E. HILTON

Too late to be included in the AprilSCARAB we received word of the deathon March thirty-first of Charles E.Hilton. To the majority of Scarabmembers, Hilton was no more than aname, nor had his many interests per-mitted him an opportunity of becominga familiar figure in Scarab Club activ-ities. To the few of us, however, whohad the privilege of knowing him, Mr.Hilton's passing is the cause of verydeep and sincere regret.

PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST No. 2

The portrait sketch of Paul Honorein this issue of the Bulletin is the sec-ond in our series of ten Portraits ofthe Artists. The committee realizesfully that in limiting this first groupto ten artists it will be necessary toignore a large number of our artistmembership and include only those whohave been associated for several yearswith the growth of the Scarab Club.Nevertheless, if the series proves at allpopular or helpful either to the artiststhemselves or to our readers, we willundoubtedly continue it, including theleading architect, musician and adver-tising artists as well.

The portrait sketch by R. O. Bennettwas done about two years ago and re-mains one of the valued items in Mr.Honore's collection. The biographicalsketch was re-writ ten from one appear-ing in Anice Page Cooper's very inter-esting book "Authors and Others."

ACCESSIONS AND ACQUISITIONS

The infancy of practically every or-ganization is marked and illumined bythe gifts of those who are deeply inter-ested in it. In the early years thesegifts are usually of a highly utilitariannature; chairs to sit in, tables to workon, time and effort for necessary serv-

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ice of all kinds. Then as the organiza-tion reaches its maturity another typeof gift begins to make its appearance,aesthetic rather than utilitarian. TheScarab Club has been particularly for-tunate this year in the variety and ex-tent of the gifts which it has received.The wives of the members have beenvery active and the result of this socialactivity has been the gift of a fineEnglish coffee urn and over two hun-dred dollars to be used as the nucleusof a special fund. Mr. Otto Baumgar-tel, one of the newer craftsmen mem-bers, has been responsible for the clubsubscription to the Beaux Arts Insti-tute Bulletin, and Mr. Joseph Dodge,Life Member, for the New York SundayTimes.

The largest, and in many ways themost important donation has been thatof Henry G. Stevens. This was select-ed from the estate of the late PercyIves and included the entire art li-brary, most of the studio furnishings,and several folios of sketches and smallcanvases of that deeply mournedScarab artist. This gift was in thenature of a memorial to one whose de-votion to his art and unflagging inter-est in the growth of Detroit's artisticlife has made the Scarab Club an or-ganization of importance.

Several art books of importance havebeen bought by the librarian and twoor three new art magazines have beenadded to the list of periodicals. Thusit becomes apparent that the Club hasgrown greatly, not only in the numberof its members, but also in the interestwhich these members have in it.

The Walter Piper Purchase PrizeExhibition, which has been made pos-sible for the past three years throughthe generosity of Mr. Piper and two orthree other members, has added fourpictures by Scarab artists to the per-manent collection of the Club. Thisdonation is of many-sided interest andmakes this annual exhibit the mostimportant in this section, from a mone-tary standpoint, at least.

THE ANNUAL ELECTION OF 1928

Following a national precedent whichhas become a familiar necessity twicein this generation, Stanley M. Lewis,who was vice-president under WillySesser, was returned to the presidencyat this election without competition.George W. Styles was made vice-president and Don Kennedy and Hor-ace Boutell were both continued in theoffices which they have occupied withsuch conspicuous success.

One of the two constitutionalamendments which were passed at thiselection provides that two men be ap-pointed by the Board to serve as mem-bers of that body, one from the Life-Membership, the other from the LayMembership. These appointments willbe made at the first Board meeting inMay by the new Board of Directorswhich will be composed of Albert Apel,Roy Gamble, Paul Honore, HarryWoodhouse and F. S. Nixon. The greatinterest, which all of these nine menhave always displayed in club activitiesand projects, prophecies a very produc-tive and successful year for the ScarabClub, and on their wisdom and fore-sight depends to a very large degreethe future of the new club building.

THE UNION TRUST COMPETITION

Another and a very gratifying ex-ample of the place which the ScarabClub is beginning to occupy in the ar-tistic life of Detroit is the Union TrustCompetition for the Workmanship Pro-ficiency Certificate. Mr. Homer Guck,vice-president in charge of publicity forthe Union Trust Company, asked theclub to organize a competition for thedesign of a certificate of proficiencyamong the artisans who are erectingthe new Union Trust Building, and thedetails have been worked out in sev-eral meetings.

A prize of one hundred dollars forthe idea sketch receiving the award

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will be given by the Union Trust Com-pany, and at the suggestion of severalof the artist members this is to beturned over to the Scarab Club GardenFund. The finished drawing is to bepaid for at the usual rates. Letterson this competition have been sent to

all the artist members and the detailsmay be obtained at the club office byanyone who did not receive this letterbut who would care to compete. TheArts Committee is particularly anxiousthat everyone send in an idea sketchby the closing date, May twenty-fifth.

4fj$) SCHEDULES OF EXHIBITIONS ($j$

Because of the projected removal of the ScarabClub to its new building, as many as possible ofthe pictures now on exhibition in the communitycenters of the Detroit area must be returned tothe artists. For this reason only three exhibitsare scheduled for May.

Scarab Galleries

Until May 25th. Several pictures chosen from theScarab Club Exhibitions of 1927-1928.

May 25th to June 1st. Exhibit of Idea Sketchesfor the Union Trust Competitions.

Franklin Street Settlement

Until May 31st. George W. Styles.One Man Show.