Apres le Feu

Early in the morning of Sunday December eleventh a telephone call roused Paul Schuster. "You'd better get down here," he was told, "the building is on fire." Schuster arrived at the Palmer Street site of his former gallery in time to watch the Cambridge fire department quash the last of the flames. But the damage was irreparable: engravings, etchings, and paintings that had accumulated during his eight year tenure at the gallery were destroyed; from the ruins he salvaged a few pieces of pottery and a little jewelry.

Now removed to the first floor of a shabby yellow frame house on Mt. Auburn Street, Schuster has begun to rebuild his collection. In addition to the ceramics, he has assembled assorted graphic works, by far the most attractive of which are a group of Matisse lithographs, Florilege des Amours de Ronsard. Their graceful lines and warm color provide a welcome contrast to the drab rooms; even more striking is the difference between them and the highly stylized, gimmicky woodcuts and engravings that grace the remaining wall space.

Schuster's interest in the graphic arts is an old one, and, unfortunately, he does not plan to exhibit any paintings or sculpture until next fall. His next show will feature only wood cuts, along with some mosaics and drawings.

Perhaps too willing to please, Schuster is nervous and gentle, the kind of individual one could never hate, but readily become impatient with. When no one is in the gallery, he works by himself in a small frame shop in the rear--"You wouldn't want to sit around doing nothing all day." A considerable portion of his business derives from this task, a fact which follows logically from the present quality of his objects d'art. Proud of his framing work, he says "it's amazing how much bad taste you'll find around in framing; nothing hurts you more than to see a nice picture badly framed." With the increased mechanization of the times, he feels that there is too little framing done by individuals like himself. "There are not too many places where you can talk to one person about what you like!"

But his annoying use of "you" in speaking belies the occupational ambiguity of the gallery owner. While he claims that he doesn't "feel frustrated in the sense that I'm being gypped by not doing my own work," he is assuredly caught in the twilight zone between art and business.

As far as undergraduate art is concerned, there is little likelihood that he will exhibit it. On the other hand, he cites the tremendous growth of interest in art as an argument in favor of Harvard's establishing a school of fine arts comparable to Yale's. Were such a school founded, students would have more opportunity not only to create for credit but also to display their creations.

As the first individual to start a gallery in Cambridge, Schuster undoubtedly had some part, however small, in the growing national concern with art, and received many sympathetic calls and letters after the fire. While the loss of one's possessions is not quite the same as the loss of one's creations, Schuster understated his reaction when he said, "I hope it's the last." A certain resiliency became apparent when he added, "The fire is not a pleasant thing to talk about, but the main thing is getting back to work. It takes time to build up"--not too much, one hopes.