St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-09
THE NUDE MODEL.
She Tells Of Her First Expe-
rienee, Which Is Very
Interesting,
And Makes One Indifferent
to the Surpou nd
ings.
II
They Greatly Prefer to Pose
Before the Male
Classes. rs
Fee male Amateurs Who Are
Fee male Amateurs Who Are
Not Moved by the Best Of
Motives.

OF Tie lluQG IuOueI D6IOTo q ulAtO Cldoo
in the Art Students league, induced a
woman who was formerly one OF the
most successful models for the nude in
this city to talk freely few days ago
upon the subject of the experiences
of models before the life classes
in this city, and especially upon the
models view of the controversy as to
mixed classes. The woman posed con-
tinuouslY during the season of 1S9S-'S9,
never missing day for six months,
SO much were her services IN de-
mand. She was engaged by the
Art Students league, the acad-
envy, the Gotham art students, the
Palette club, the Charcoal club, and by
several other smaller art classes and
societies. as well as by artists for their
private studios. Although she now de-
votes most of her time to other work,
she still poses occasionally for artists or
classes who wish her for some especially
difficult pose. or who insist that they
can find no figure.
So Good as Hers to Study From.
II got into it three years ago in Bos-
ton.,' she said, Through photographer
who knew of my poor circumstances,
and of the fact that | had young
daughter whom was very anxious to
educate for the stage. He said: why
don't you pose. You have the
figure. know your health is
good, and you are Self-pos-
sessed and COOL OF course, 1 said
| wouldn't think of such a thing, but
times were hard, and had no one but
myself to depend upon for my own liv-
ing and my daughters, and SO when he
asked me again il L wouldn't consent to
pose, and said that he knew a club
of young men who, he knew.
woul pay me fairly and give
me pretty steady employment.
[ agreed to try it. The club met
evenings, and as an indueement to make
me keep my word, my friend, the pho
tographer, offered to go with me the
first time and see that 1 got along all
right. He took me up into the room.
pencils ready and fixing up their easels.
and there was screen in the corner.
That was all. Ny friend told me
should go behind the screen and
Take off MY Clothes. y
II went behind the screen, and, after
thinking for while of the desperate
condition of my finances and of the
necessity Of getting something for nay
daughter to eat and wear, did take off
my clothes, some of them. / think my
basque was as far as got
after the first thinking spell.
L managed to remove skirt
after some more desperate thoughts,
and then stopped again. [ heard those
horrid men shutting their easels, and
thought | heard laugh. J imagined
my little girl suffering for food, and
that nerved me up, so that [ got my
shoes and stockings and some of my
other clothes off. Then | stopped to
think some more. The more /
took off the harder my soul
chung to what was left, and
it wasn't until my imagination had my
child sick a-bed and no money in the
house to get doctor, that | finally got
my courage up to the sticking point,
stopping to let my courage run down,
made desperate plunge for the plat
form outside. l don't exactly remember
much that happened
For the First Few Minutes,
but know that the teacher made one or
two courteous requests as to the position
in which should stand, and l obeyed,
more by instinct than with knowledge,
and that finally, when my head got a
little clear, was standing there with a
dozen men sitting in Semicircle before
the platform gazing up at me oc-
casionally, but putting in most of
their time bending over their work,
scratching away for dear life. Once in a
while one of them would sit back in his
thumb and finger and take squint at
some part of my figure. My impulse the
first two or three times this was done
was to call the man nasty, mean thing,
but didn't, and after awhile quit
Winding it. In fact, when [ noticed
how calmly every one was attending to
business. how intent all were OH their
work and how little attention they paid
to me, l actually blushed to think that
had felt ashamed. If there were any
bad thoughts there felt that they must
be in me and not in the men.
Hadn't Much Time
to moralize. though, for by the time my
wits were fairly about me began to
realize thatI was dreadfully tired. If
YOU think posing is easy Just try to
stand perfectly still in zone position for
five minutes. 1t is torture, and the
regular pose Of a model is not
for five but twenty-five minutes. A
model can never rest her weight on
both feet at once, for the artists are
looking for long lines and graceful
curves that can only be got by leaning
the body to one side or the other, so
that one foot must bear more than half
the weight. No one who has never
tried it can imagine bow hard it is.
swell, they were very easy with me
that first night. and let me rest often, so
that was still alive when the three
houls were ended, and all the men got
up and began to put away their pencils.
Then, you won't believe it. but it is a
fact, felt so scared | hardly knew what
to do. All the business seemed to go
out of it the moment they quit work,
and felt -
just Like a Naked Woman
among a lot of men. ran behind the
screen as though l tn ought they were
chasing me, and actually l was afraid
to begin putting On my clothes for fear
somebody would look at me while my
attention was distracted!
1t was a dreadfully funny feeling,
but got dressed finally, and sneaked,
yes, that's the word. sneaked out into
the room. The horrid men were smok-
ing and chatting; no one paid any at
tention TO me. My friend took my arm
and we went out. He told me
that the teacher had said that /
had done excellentIy, and that
there was no doubt l would
make great success in the profession.
/ didn't know whether to feel proud or
ashamed, but [ had a S1.5O of hard
earned money, honestly earned, in my
pocket, and made up my mind that
I'd stick to it.
1T Wasn't Hard After the First
a&l 1 did very we'll that winter. All
ti& artists told me that was foolish to
STAY in Boston. If went to New York,
they said, could be sure of steady en-
ployment the greater part of the year,
and get better pay besides. So with
$50 in my pocket I came here with my
little girl to make both our fortunes,
and that's how | came to get into the
York or To