The evening world., 1888-05-08
SLAVES OF THE PALETTE.
ONE THOUSAND SKILFUL FEMALE ARTISTS
EARNING STARVATION WAGES.
Able After Spending Long Years and Mach
Money for their Education to Make 50 n
Week by Working from sunrise ia sun
seton Paintings mt n Few Cents Each
The secret Of Hand. Decorated Cards.

The odds against women in the everlasting
struggle for bread has been illustrated many
times by The EVENING WORLD. In no
sphere of life is the inequality more strongly
exemplifed than IN the work done by female
artists of this city.
Young women in whose education in art
hundreds of dollars have beeh spent. and
who have been finally graduated skilled in
the use of the palette and brush, find their
dearly bought education Of absolutely no
value to them.
The maid of the kitchen can command
from $40 to 800 a month and board. Ordi-
nary iaborers expect 81 a day, yet there are
in this city something like one thousand
women. ranging III age from eighteen years
upward, who can with the brush weave
sweet poems in color. or reproduce dainty
beauties of nature in all their glory, but who
are unable to get even a decent livelihood.
This is not because they can find no work
or are insufiiciently employed, for they toll
from earliest light till dusk.
There are a dozen firms in the city that
manufacture articles ornamental, useful. and
bosh from ivory, imitation ivory or celluloid
and other light materials. and they are the
employees of these thousand women.
The chrome business card having run its
course and become an absolute nuisance. the
dealer III novelties sought for new %attrac-
tions. And hand painted perfume Satchets
and holiday cards were the rage They were
done in water colors and were immensely
popular for n time.
Then followed the same goods done i'll
more enduring oil, and artists skilful IN re-
producing miniature landscapes, bouquets
and single flowers upon silk, velvet, card
board and ivory found exceedingly profit
able employment in this field.
But the inevitable followed. Schools
teaching this branch of art work as a spe.
cialty sprang up IN all the larger cities of
America and Europe and pupils were soon
numbered by the thousand.
There were many dabblers, but not a few
continued i'll the work for years. The re,
suit is that thousands of people are able to
produce creditable work.
Concurrentlv the enterprising maker of
advertising devices began the manufacture
of oil-painted dinner cards and ball pro.
grammes. Annual announcement or open.
ing cards became works of art. Business
firms presented their customers OF Christmas
or New Year or Easter with all manner OF
little gifts adorned with the handiwork of the
artist.
Cigar cases with delicately painted clusters
of ~yiolets, pansies or lilies of the valley
card cases, purses, sachets, and a hundred
other things all adorned in this way, became
~favorite mediums for the dealers expression
of the appreciation of the trade of his Gus
toners.
And the young woman who had devoted
years to careful study, found that in order
that these things should be made cheal
enough to give away by the gross, she mus
abandon most of the fair income she had an
~ticipated as the result of her education, ant
that she could not earn n decent living with
her brush and brain and skill and art.
THE EVENING WORLD has received a mum
Der of samples of one branch of this work
ranging in size from n narrow book-mark t
a panel eight by twelve inches.
One of these samples is q memorandum
book for the vest pocket. 1t is bound il
celluloid covers. backed with sheepskin
and bears the legend:
Compliments Of Smith, Robinson X Jones, .