Art: Unfinished Business

In Montparnasse cafes last week, Parisians, who dearly love to argue about the art of law and the laws of art, pondered a question over their aperitifs. The question: "When is a work of art finished?"

The answer was at the heart of the Latin Quarter's latest cause celebre, the case of Georges Rouault, artist, v. the heirs of Ambroise Vollard, dealer. The case history went back to about 1914, when Rouault was an out-at-elbows modernist and Vollard was an up-&-coming dealer, one of the few who bought modern paintings. He gave Rouault a studio in his own house and advanced him...

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