Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1890-08-02
ARTISTS MODELS.
Not Much Romance About Them or their
Calling.

calling.
The romances which the minds of the
public weave continually about the re-
latlom~ Of the artist and his model exist
SO seldom in real life that they practic-
ally do not exist at all, says one who has
followed that peculiar business 1t is a
profession, that is all, and the mere pos
session of physical charms does not al
ways insure success as model There
must be tact and adaptability as we'll
tact enough to correctly gauge the tenn
per of the artist and adaptability to carry
out readily his idea of pose or a pic
turc, and even sometimes to make a pic
ture for him from the slight hint he will
give you of what he wants to do 1t is
all business and no nonsense. In most
cases frequently cited of artists who
have married their models it will be
found that it was some lady friend pos
ing for a portrait or ideal head who be-
came the artists wife, and not the pro-
fessional model per Sc.
The professional model must be as reg
ular and brlsiness-lille in her habits as a
seamstress or bookkeeper. She carries
her book of engagements filled out often
weeks and even months ahead, and it
must be consulted before new engage
mcnt is made, and if she does not relig-
iously fulfill all these engagements she
is soon in the black books of the artist
She must be wide-awake and strong, and
have nerve enough to stand immovable
i'll the most trying positions, though the
limbs ache and the head seems splitting
with pain. There can be no theater and
midnight supper for the model, or long
deep sleep in the early morning.
She must Jump out of bed at a IN.
to plunge into her bath and prepare for
the first engagement which often begins
at and the last often ends at | p. M,
while lunches and dinner are snatched
hastily at some Bohemian restaurant or
consist of a bit of fruit bought at a street
corner and munched while in the car
riding up to the opposite end of the city.
But though the life of the model be
stripped of romance, it has its compen-
satons. We are well paid and well
treated, and if one has a train of Bohe-
mianism in her disposition life in the
studios is not only eXhilirating and
SlllnulallnS, DuI llDeral eulcdtlOn IN
itself. There are books, magazines, cat
alogues, tapestries, bric-a -brac, curios
in delightful confu ion. Skeletons and
mummieS, casts of celebrated statues,
books on anatomy or architecture,
court the attention in the dim corners
of the studios, and many a fact of anat-
omy, ethnology, or history is caught up
and stored in the memory without APP
parent effort, and many an embryo gem
ius gets the first impetus towards art
literature, or drama while wearing the
classic robe of Parthenia or the queen
lier one of Cleopatra.
The studio. What fascinating sub
icct to the uninitiated A picture is
admired at the exhibition or in somo
popular magazine, but it is the model
only who sees studio and artist en- neg
lige, but seldom does this familiarity
bring contempt, for the artist is broad
minded, liberal and unaffected, and the
studio is carelessly unconscious of the
curious regard of visitor and the care
less Indifference of the model.