Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 150, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 June 1913 — LIFE MUCH LESS THAN ART [ARTICLE]

LIFE MUCH LESS THAN ART

Frenchman’s Devotion to Things Beau tlful Something for Phllietinee to Wonder at. To spend 24 years on one work oi art, to have abandoned opportunity tc become a famous sculptor, and to die In poverty at seventy, was the destiny of M. Fraissard, who recently passed away at Ivry, a suburb of Paris. He would never part with any Of hie works, no matter what price was offered, so they remained by him, the wonder of beholders. Fifty years of overwork brought on a paralytic seizure, and for two years before the end he lay helpless in lodgings filled with works from his deft, painstaking hand. When a boy he was a stone cutter, but he discovered his bent and foL lowed it, and for 60 years Fraissard executed beautiful things, chiefly in mosaics. f Every piece was a masterpiece. One is a black marble table with a chessboard in onyx, and some cups, glases and bottles. So delicate Is the workmanship that the saucers are transparent. Eight years were occupied in the fashioning of this piece of work. M. Fraisard’s masterpiece took him nearly three times as long. It is a black marble table, In the middle is a chessboard, on either side of which are playing cards arranged as fans. On the table are dominoes and dice, cigars and cigarettes and several coins in gold and silver.