Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-04
ART MATTERS IN THE CITY.

|
ART MATTERS IN THE CITY.
AN oil portrait of Mr. Beltzhoover, painted
by Jasper Lowman, is shown at Gillespie's.
Mr.. GEORGE HETzEL's large picture, ''Tht
Confluence of the Conemaugh and Loyalhan
ma" was sold last week.
THE portrait of Washington, which Mr.. w
H. Artzberger painted in little over an hour
on wager of S100 is on exhibition at 1oungs
AMONG the lost arts may be included that OF
producing that variety of Chinese porcelain
known as "kiansing." This was very delicate
kind of pottery that ordinarily appeared to be
of single tone of color, but which exhibited
beautiful tints and designs as soon as any
| were made very thin and fine, and, as a con.
sequence, were semi-transparent
THE best work which Mr.. g. F. Hetzel has
| yet shown is now on exhibition OF Morrison's.
The subject is a still-ife, consisting of a couple
| of quail hung to q nail on a white pine board.
| The picture is good in color and drawing, and
| has been well handled. Although this study is
| much simpler than some of his previous works,
1t has been more skfllfully execured; indeed. its
| excellence in this respect would seem to indi-
he will fnd the best field for the exercise of his
talent.
QUITE large number Of paintings have been
| disposed of from the walkley-Stevenson collec-
| tion, during the past two weeks, and judging
from the list of pictures sold it would appear
that fortune has shown about an equal favor TO
each OF these artists. OF the A oil paintings
shown by Walkley about three-fourths still
| remain, and somewhat the same proportion of
| those exhibited by Stevenson, while in water
| colors Walkley has done still better. The re-
mainder of these pictures will be sold at auction
| tomorrow afternoon.
SINCE Ridgway Knight is one of the most
| famous of the American painters who are now
| studying abroad, the exhibition of one of his
earlier works in the Gillespie gallery will awak-
| en- interest among those who carefully follow
the fortunes of our representative artists. The
| picture represents sad-faced young girl, shah
| billy dressed and with an old and broken basket
| asking aims by the wayside. The style of the
work is very similar TO those which he has since
| produced though it shows, perhaps, trifie
more labor in the finish of detail, quality
which may be observed by contrasting the
earlier and later works of many OF the most
successful painters.
Mrs. S. NJ. CARTON has large landscape on
view at Young's The subject is a scene in the
Yosemite Valley. extending over a considera-
BILE stretch of territory and walled in by back
ground of rugged cliffs. The composition is
an excellent one, but in drawing and coloring
there is still room for Improvement. The de-
sire to execute works of this class is very
laudable ambition, but to do justice to them is
beyond the ability of most of our professional
artists and amateurs would be more likely to
attain a gratifying degree of success by select
ing simpler subjects. In this picture the color
shows a want of balance; 1t IS fat and lacks
variety of tone, and is in some places crude.
The same amount of labor expended on l0xl2
canvas would undoubtedly have resulted in a
work of greater value.
ONE of the most important features of home
decoration upon which the average house
holder is called to exercise taste and good
Judgment is the paper other covering for
the walls. There is nothing else that is quite
SO difficult to select as wall paper, and nothing
which is SO liable to prove unsatisfactory even
after it has been the subject of most careful
consideration. One serious difficulty arises
from the fact that papers appear very
different when on the walls of a room
to what they do when only yard or
so of them is shown, and this is true both
OF the color and pattern. Unless paper
is SO toned as to harmOnIze with the furniture
and other features of a room a disagreeable
appearance of unsuitableness will result, and q
pattern that is pleasing in the piece will often
produce tiresome repetitions Of itself when on
the walls of room. Pictures and drapery
which show to advantage against one kind of
paper look poor and mean against another and
the same is true of furniture and the finished
woodwork of dwelling. Dark papers make a
room seem small; large patterns and bright
borders emphasize the unpleasant effect of a
low ceiling, while papered ceiling has 8 most
depressing effect unless 1t is in a very large,
airy room. Realistic looking flowers, BIRDS
ETC., are tiring to the eye, and pronounced pat
terms of geometrical figures are scarcely less
so. Delicate conventiOnalized designs of soft
and unobtruSive colors are much the best for
general use and show the other objects in the
room to the best advantage, and the very best
effects may be produced by using the plain
grey cartridge papers that are becoming SO
popular of late years.
THE Schaus collection of paintings, which
has been exhibited at the Gillespie gallery
during the week contains some very interesting
pictures, including works of several famous
artists prominent among them being Rosa
Bonheur and ]. g. Vibert. The most notable
picture in point of size is one by Madame
Henriette Ronner, representing a cat with
quite a large family of kittens that are ap-
parently both alarmed and displeased at the in
trusion of parrot, which is perched above
them with outstretched wings, exhibit
ing what pussy regards as dangerous
degree of curiosity. During The Relay" by
Vibert, is picture in which that artist has in
dulged his well-known love for strong color in
the bright red hue of the garments of the
figure standing by the fireplace in an old-fash-
ioned country inn. wonderfully well-exe-
cuted bit of realism is the still-life of Max
School. This little picture is masterpiece in
the way of representation of form and feature,
aud is worthy of more prominent position
than the place in a corner of the gallery that
has been assigned it A child playing with
jumping;jack is the subject OF q clever paint
ple of H. Levoiles peculiar style OF handling.
There is a fine landscape by Mesgrigny, very
much after the style of Daubigny, and we'll
painted study Of roses by Robie THE Horse
handled work, showing minute detail. Rosa
Bonheur's Deer at Rest'' is not Que of her
most important pictures, but it has strength of
tion. "Reconnoitering." by P. Grolleron, is a
strong picture, in fact it is one of the best OF
his works that have yet been shown in this
city.