SALON PICTURE "PAINTED" BY A DONKEY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14375, 21 May 1910, Page 2 (Supplement)

SALON PICTURE "PAINTED" BY A DONKEY.

EXHIBITION HOAXED BY PARIS STUDENTS. A picture " painted" by a donkey has been shown at the Salon des Independants, Paris, an exhibition which makes it a rule to accept every canvas sent in. Some students concocted the joke at a Montmartre cafe in consequence of a bet that it would be impossible to hoax the managers of the exhibition. An easel and a canvas were set up and a number of pots of paint. placed near by. Then a donkey was brought in, a brush was attached to its tail and dipped into a paint pot. The brush was placed on the canvas, and one of the students beat the donkey, which brandished its tail violently— the groundwork of the picture was completed. Then the brush. was dipped in paint of another colour, and the process was repeated until the canvas had been covered with weird colour mixtures. The " completed" canvas was entitled "And the sun went down beneath the Adriatic," sent to the exhibition, and promptly*.accepted. A commissioner of oaths was present at the painting of the "picture" in order to be able to attest to the manner in which it was prepared. His. affidavit has now been published, and the managers of the exhibition are furious* ;