Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-08-04
ART AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Mr.. JOHN SARGENT and Mr.. Grsi Melchers
are the two American artists who received
medals at the Paris Exposition
Mr.. CHARLES WALz has a study of a vase Of
flowers on view at Young's. The treatment is
in the style of a decorative panel. and shows
flowers of several different kinds.
Miss MADGE IRWIN is busily engaged in her
favorite occupation of painting flower studies,
with an occasional sprig from q blackberry
bush, branch of cherry tree by way of va
aiety: % Sic has three pictures % ready to & exhibit
landscapes, and are works OF pretty fair size;
the third q small study of a nook in the woods,
where tiny stream tumbles down over the
rocks.
Two small paintings that were shown in the
Gillespie gallery some time ago have reap
peared there. and will prove Of interest to those
who have not yet seen them. One is an autumn
landscape of more than ordinary richness of
color, painted by Mr.. Alfred 8. Wall, and the
other is scene in midsummer by II. p. Smith,
OIL New York This latter picture is about the
best expression of afternoon sunlight that has
ever been seen In this city.
THE latest work by Mr.. A. F. King is fruit
piece, which may be seen in the Gillespie gal
lery. The subject is o very simple one, consist
ing merely of a tin pan of peaches, but the pan
has been overturned. depositing the major por-
tion Of its contents upon the table. As a COM
position Of the simplest description, entirely
devoid of any intricacy of form, this work
takes the lead of anything that has been shown
mere 1or some time, there being virtu-
circular tin vessel and the practically globular
fruit. In consequence of its extreme simplicity
the drawing in the work is but slight though
apparently quite accurate. This being the case,
the ch1ef interest is conferred in the coloring
winch, being perfectly true to nature, renders
the picture thoroughly satisfactory one.
Inere Is good effect of metallic luster about
tne TIN. and true expression of ripeness and
bloom about the peaches, with perhaps as
much variety of tone and color as the subject
admits of.
ETcHINGs, accompanied bv title cards bear
ing the name u. I. Beutly, ESQ.," may be oc-
casionallv noticed in the different art stores
Presumably the "Esq." is insisted upon as
bearing evidence that the work is English,
you know" and it is doubtless expected to add
considerably to its value. from a monetary
standpoint at least, II not in an artistic sense.
This etcher's idea of balance seems to be the
making of picture as nearly as possible the
same on either side of the median line, so
that one side shall be to all intents and pur-
poses the counterpart of the other. The latest
work Of this kind has just been published under
the title Of the Valley Gate" companion to
the Kings Highway" The '.valley" is largely
left to the imagination, with such assistance as
may be derived from a contemplation of a
slight hollow between some Insignificant and
barren looking mounds of earth, while the
gate must be understood as being repre-
sented by two trees placed as usual. one on
each side-of the center. And such treesi
They look as If made Of cast iron, and are SO
much the counterpart of each other that they
are suggestive OF having been cast from the
same mold with some slight alterations. 1t is
a difficult matter to decide whether such
pictures possess less OF nature or of art, but
more difficult still to discover any excuse for
their being in existence at all.
IN. no way can we be made to more fully
realize the wonderful mastery of mind over
matter than when we consider the commonness
and simplicity Of the materials of art, and the
surprising effects that are produced with
them. A piece Of ordinary paper. bit of
charred wood properly manipulated by the
hand of genius, anG the result is a picture that
it will delight US to look upon. In every
branch of art the materials, as means to
an end, appear all but .contemptible
their agency White paper, pen and ink, PEN
Gil, black chalk, what Insignificant things they
are to be the means of furnishing such keen
and refined pleasure as IS Afforded by good pic
lures. And In oil painting. the most intricate
and complex Of all the graphic arts, what are
the materials but such as we daily trample
principally refuse and rubbish. The ochres
and siennas. highly valued pigments,
simply common earths; ivory black,
animal charcoal, in other words burnt bones;
blue black, bog earth. and so on throughout
the list, the pigments in most frequent use are
all either very common substances in nearly
their natural state. or else they are chemical
compounds of common minerals, such as
chromate of baryta, lemon yellow, or sulphate
of iron, venetian red. There is a single color
used in oil that is very rare and valuable, and
that Is the genuine ultramarine, made
from the lapis lazuli, but its extreme costlIness
prevents it coming into ordinary use. The
value of all the materials that enter into the
production of work of art is a mere nothing
beside that of the finished product. 1t is the
result of human thought, the labor of the mind
that is highly priced, and a picture is of worth
by just so much as it gives evidence of the
mental power that produced it.