The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-04-20

art for arts sake is very well, but bread and
butter is better went to work to clean up
his bootblacks and TO once more endoW
them with the coloring of Barnum Circas-
sian beauty.
1t is not far different with Huntington,
the President of the academy.
He is not bad painter if he does occupy
that position.
But he paints for the people that like
their portraits to look as il they were made
OF pink aud white ice cream, and like pink
and white ice cream he frequently makes
them.
He has what you might call an ideal por-
trait in the place of honor in the Academy
now, and it is not half bad, and the old
fellow it shows us as done pretty strongly
and as if there were some bones beneath his
skim but it is an unusual fling for Hunting
ton--he has gone in for pleasing himself for
once as an especial luxury; he usually
pleaSes his patrons
But you say some Of the men who are the
most radical in their devotion to art, for
arts sake, get portraits to paint and make
stacks OF money out Of them. True, but #
TIE people are up to the latest pretensions
IN art, if they understand what is good
form and what is not In portraits, they
don't want the President of the Academy
to paint their pictures at all they go 10
john Sargent or Chase or Herkomer. 1t
may be that they secretly like Huntington's
smooth prettiness best, but whether they
do or not, if high art aud not smooth pref
tiness is what they are going in for, they
want name identified with high art Then
If Sargent or Chase, or HerkOmer sacri-
ticeS all their poor looks to some scheme of
their own about the pictures, as has been
known to happen, they at leas5 have big
name to console themselves with when none
OF their friends recognize the portrait.
''vICTIMs" OF THE MARKET.
But for one painter who can do better
than his clientele permits there are dozen
who can't do anything strong to save their
lives, whose COWS or deer or babies look
like confectioners' ornaments, and always
would look like confectioners' ornaments,
despite their best efforts, who still go on
posing as the victims of the market, and
intimating that they would paint like Troy
an or Daubigny or Millet if they could
afford to.
The average American picture buyer
loves beyond anything else in pictures close
imitation. He does not sympathize with
the japanese connoisseur who was taken
through one of our exhibitions and who ex-
claimed in troubled accents about the pic
lures: But they try to deceive me and they
don't deceive me-" He was not used to an
art that tried as its chief end
10 initiate nature. But that is what
the RhlllStlne cares ABOUT, ana gen
orally all he cares about. Donnet's
"Quartette" at the Metropolitan Museum is
a superb piece of painting, and it is also
very Elusive, but all its qualities are lost
sight of by the average observer in the de-
light of the fact that the woman's dress
looks exactly like black silk. So with an
admirable little picture at the academy, by
W. G. McClosl1y, of Mandarin oranges. 1t
is very fine in color and admirably handled,
but the great thing in its popular favor is
that it looks as if you could pick the
oranges right up, and also that you can see
them wrapped up right through the paper.
That always strikes the unsophisticated
mind as great, to see one thing through
another in picture. Frederick Freer has
an old gauze fan that he says is his mascot
Whenever he paints woman holding the
the gauze fan so that you can look through
it his picture sells.