Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-05-04

Who Rank Portrait Painters with Talors
No FIT. No Pay.
HINTS Ideas on THE II EJECT

Yuur stories Of IIuat remind NE @:
another. hardly less Amusing. ami.
Ike notwithstanding his sens Of the
lisni;y Of his art. and hi~ peculiarly
and ,cui.i".l WAY of showing ii.
During the last winter Of his life.
re one day called upon i'll art It t"
look upon 4 portrait which hal been
returned wiki some expression OF
dissatisfaction from the subject and
owner. and to give his friend. the ar
list. the benefit of his Judgment i'll
the matter Of changing and 50 i'm
proving the picture that II should
pass muster as Il creditab!e work
of art. even if it did not quite suit the
taste of the patron.
The chief defect complained of was
the complexion, which WAS thought 10
be sallow: and il was true that III the
process Of giving the flesh /. warm
glow the artist had given an expires
sion Of local yellow i'll the flesh tints
so strongly marked that the com
plcxion was yellow. When Mr.. Hunt
entered the studio he looked at the
portrait as it stood upon the easel and
said: They think it Is too yellow. dc
they! They always think it is toe
something except good. Your vel
lows are ali right with Your reds and
the general tone of the picture, and
that is We'll enough. Look at that
bit of sky in your landscape point
ing to another picture). Isn't that
good for sky to your trees and fore
ground? But it isn't much like that,
looking up at the light which poured
through the window. and who said
it was! The fact is. people don't
know any thing about art. and the
more they know about other things
the less they know about that. But
they know what they like and they
don't mean to pay till they set it.
They rank portrait painters with
tailors no fit, no pay. We ought t.
make a stand against the unrcason-
able demands of the public, and let
the patron share our risk. OF course
wc all do the best We can. and We
should be paid for our work Just a.
we pay our doctors and lawyers,
whether they bring us through OF
not
Il would have an order for por
trait mean the best thing that can
do with a reasonable effort, and that
should fulfill my obligation and en-
title me to be paid. Of course | lik,
to have the people satisfied when
am. but l am the one to be pleased
know something about my work and
they don't. and when l am willing to
let picture so that ought to stand
for something, whether they are sat
istied or not But then there is an
other way You know we should al
paint better portraits, if we don't
care a d-n for our sitters. Suppos,
now when patron calls to order ;
portrait l should say: Il will not
take your commission in tho usua
form. but l will hire You to sit ant
pay your 81 an hour, and. if you lik,
the picture when | call it done, YOU
can have it for a stated price, and i
you don't like it you needn't take i
and there will be no favor either
way
with a sitter on such terms
think / could turn out something
good. know l should have gooG
time. I'd manipulate him just a.
the barber does his victim, AMI if ht
dared to open his his head about ar
or anything improving, I'd stop hi:
yop with paint brush.
I'D just have my way till l got
through, and then he could have hi.
take it OF leave it.