Identity:

Roger Marx was a civil servant, art critic, journalist, writer and collector. His son Claude Roger-Marx (1888-1977) was also an art critic, journalist, writer and collector, who donated drawings to the Louvre in 1974 and 1978. He had another son Pierre Roger-Marx.

Life:

Marx, who became a prolific writer and defender of the avant-garde, began his career writing for the Progrès de l'Est in 1878, and in 1882 he published Etudes d'art lorrain. In 1882 he was also appointed Secrétaire des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and succeeded Jules Castagnary as Directeur de l'Administration des Beaux-Arts in 1887. In 1889 he became Inspecteur des Musées de Province and was responsible for organising the great Exposition Universelle in this year.

In 1891 he instituted a new section for the decorative arts at the Salon and was instrumental in the acquisition of Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother (YMSM 101) by the French government. JW, acknowledging this in a letter of the early 1890s, wrote 'I was very touched by your sympathy - and flattered to know that in you, I have found an expression of approbation by the new generation, of which you represent refined and independent tastes'. In recognition of his support, JW sent Marx a small etching (#10590). JW was in correspondence with Marx at various points throughout the 1890s. Writing to him in May 1899 to invite him to dinner, he spoke of 'the flattering and overwhelming kindness - you have always shown me' (#09302).

Marx, who had a significant collection of contemporary drawings and prints, was friendly with a large number of artists including Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir and Camille Pissarro, whom he persuaded to exhibit at the Exposition Universelle in 1900, and also Paul Cézanne, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Auguste Rodin and Eugène Carrière. The latter painted Marx in 1885 (Musée d'Orsay, Paris) and his son Pierre in 1886 (Musée d'Orsay, Paris).

Marx was a contributor to the Gazette des beaux-arts from 1895, and its editor from 1905. He also edited L'Image and Les Maîtres de l'affiche, and was one of the founders of L'Estampe originale.

Bibliography:

Marx, Roger, Etudes d'art lorrain, Paris, 1882; Marx, Roger, Henri Regnault, Paris, 1886; Marx, Roger, Etudes sur l'école française, Paris, 1903; Marx, Roger, L'Art social, Paris, 1913; Marx, Roger, Maîtres d'hier et d'aujourd'hui, Paris, 1914.

Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908; Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980; MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995; 'Roger Marx', The Grove Dictionary of Art Online, ed. L. Macy, http://www.groveart.com (accessed 6 June 2003).