Recollections of the Young Proust by Prestwich P.F.;

Author:Prestwich, P.F.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Peter Owen Publishers
Published: 2014-04-06T16:00:00+00:00

13

A New Venture

‘August in Paris was commonly referred to as “la morte saison”, but it never seemed less so to me,’ wrote Marie. ‘The days were over full and the portrait of Dr Proust was a greater problem than I had anticipated. I rarely went into Paris except to meet Reynaldo at the Bibliothèque Nationale. He was preparing a series of concerts devoted to Rameau, Lully, Gluck and Mozart, and consulting a variety of German books which had not then been translated into French or English. He had a good knowledge of colloquial German, but was hampered by the printed Gothic type, and I had acquired a habit of extemporizing a rapid, sotto voce French translation. We thus came across all sorts of information unknown in France where the cult of Mozart in particular had been limited …’ As for Lully, Reynaldo had to transcribe important fragments from the old seventeenth- and eighteenth-century editions by hand as no modern editions existed. He kept a watchful eye on the progress of Marie’s plaque until he went off to Berlin again to work with Lilli Lehmann. While he was away Marie used to cycle from Auteuil to Versailles to stay with her aunt at the Hôtel des Reservoirs for a night or two.

Marcel wrote to her in Auteuil early in August to say that he was not well enough to visit her but would like to see the sketch of the medallion; unfortunately she had already destroyed it. She took the preliminary cast to show to Mme Proust and her sons before Marcel went off to join the de Billys for a brief cruise on the steam yacht belonging to Mme de Billy’s father. If the commission from Mme Proust had been unexpected, Marie received an even greater surprise – from M. Bing.

Her memoir continues: ‘Unexpectedly one morning M. Bing’s niece, Mlle Léonore, turned up. “M. Bing says would you please come to dine tonight, it is very important for you – an idea he has had – he wants to tell you about it himself.” I went to Vaucresson;1 M. Bing certainly had something of interest to communicate and his concern for my welfare had manifested itself more speedily than I could have imagined.

‘He had that day received a letter from Mr Charles J. Morse, of Evanston, Chicago, scholar and collector, informing him that some three hundred Japanese colour-prints were being forwarded to him from California by a friend to whom M. Bing had sent them and who had now made his choice. Should they be returned to Paris? This is where I came on the scene; I was to meet the prints in Chicago, collect the balance of a selection of pottery sent to Mr Freer in Detroit, and exhibit and sell them on my own initiative in the Middle West, where interest in oriental art was apparently increasing daily! Simultaneously I was to explore every opportunity for myself as a metalworker and, finally, stay in New York some weeks, seeing old clients and making new contacts.

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