CROQUET GALLERY:  Croquet à Boulogne-sur-Mer

1871
by Édouard Manet (1832-1883)

22 August 1993
by John Russell in The New York Times

At the newly formed National Croquet Gallery in the Newport Art Museum, there is an exhibition called The Art of Croquet. It is not, and does not pretend to be, an exhibition of major art, but it will give pleasure and amusement to every amateur of that most insidious of summer games.

…, we see at once why it was that in the 1860's and 1870's the cry of "Croquet, anyone?" began to be almost mandatory among weekend parties in the United States, in Britain and in France. A weekend without croquet was a weekend cut short.

Croquet had something for everyone. It could foster an exquisite expertise. It was also — up to a point, and at a beginner's level — a game that almost anyone could play. It could also be played with beat-up old mallets and balls overdue for retirement and on almost any patch of ratty old grass.

Croquet had a confidential side, made up of whispered asides and glances that spoke for admiration and connivance. In that regard, it was the next best thing to the dance floor. But it could be played in a boisterous, up-front manner that allowed of the settling of old scores and the racking up of new ones.

In short, it was an all-purpose game for all-purpose people. As such, it was perfectly made for the art of the day. …

… Manet's painting of the late 1860's, Croquet à Boulogne-sur-Mer, hits off to perfection the look of an amateurish croquet game in which nobody knows quite what to do and at least one of them has settled for a long look out to sea. …

If we don't get to see paintings by Manet, Homer or Tissot in the Newport show, it is because the National Croquet is still in its infancy, has no climate-controlled premises and cannot afford to borrow enormously valuable pictures. The invention of Theo Holcomb, himself a ranking tournament player in croquet, the gallery has made a modest beginning in one room in the Newport Art Museum. In fairness, I should add that there are engravings by Homer and Tissot that give us the essence of these two great storytellers.

But under the auspices of the National Croquet Association, and in association with the American Federation of Arts, the gallery has in hand for 1996 a major exhibition of croquet art. …

Meanwhile, the inaugural show is made up almost entirely from the collections of two fellow enthusiasts, Tremaine Arkley and Richard Pearman. …

…

The exhibition also has a delightful surprise for visitors who have sometimes felt that they will be doomed for life to play croquet with balls that are too big to go through the hoops. There on the wall, just to console us, is an untitled picture by an unknown artist that sets out precisely that unpleasant state of affairs. Huge balls have drifted up against hoops that will never let them through. "Help! Help!" we say aloud as we head for the door.