The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-03-24
WICHITA ARIA NEW PICTURE.

| Wichita is pre-eminently an art center;
the home of the artist whether he be liter
| airy, a painter. musician or a devotee of
the myriad other Offices by which nature
in her various forms is communed with,
| pictured or exalted. There is nothing like
| it in the west. Occasionally Kansas City
| has little squirt over the texture and tone
of MISSIONER or Rembrandt or Bon Heur,
or turns strained ear to the rendition of
beethoven's sonatas or Chopin's etudes
and drones over technique and touch in a
dllatory, dizzy unsatisfactory fashion, or
again buries it's erudite nose into the latest
thing from Rudyard Kipling or Henrik
lbsen. This is what Kansas City and
some of the Kaw river towns do and this
the heighth and breadth of their artistic
endeavor. 1t is not so with Wichita. 1t
has gone further than that. Our devotees
are not content with mere indulgence
| into the sweets of others mental output,
bat must needs produce themselves They
have ceased in an affirmative sense,
to be entirely receptive But have,
| on the contrary, reached the foremost
limit artistic genius-that is the creature.
True, we have developed no Beethovens,
Ibsens, and no Rem brants, but art CEN
tiers are the growth of centuries and
Wichita is young yet.
There is no fiction. What other town in
the west has such a multitude of literary
societies? There are a half dozen art
schools in progress in face Of the hard
times and some of our artists, in landscape
| and portrait, have realized richly from the
productions of their brush. There is
quite large contingent here, too who are
| engaged in ceramics and decorative China
| work. There are others who WELD the
| BURN. AS for music there is no where,
| outside of large cities so sincere an enthus
iasm as can be found right here among
the local followers of Calliope. We have
our recitals and our concerts, our piano
clubs and our string bands, and while
there have been times when innuendos
| have been SHE'D at the ability of our or
chestra and brass band talent, still the
| refutation has always been understood to
be tacit
But there is one piece of art now on ex-
hlbltlon here in Wichita which has at
| tracted good deal of attention. It is in
| the window of Martins art store on North
Market street. 1t is a painting from still
| life by Miss Clarisse Laurent. 1t is one Of
the best pieces of work ever seen in the
city and has already attracted attention
| among the local connoisseurs The work
is one of still life and 81 bows violin
| tilted up on pile of music; before it a
sheet of music upright and open; at its
| side are three books, one on top the other.
The bow lies under the violin and on the
paper is piece of rosin. This little piece
| of rosin is the key to the value of the
whole picture. This little piece is trans
lucent and shows that peculiar dizziness of
| the outer edge OF chunk of rosin. This
| alone is work of art. But it is most i'm
portant as it leads the eye to closer
study of the details in the picture. The
violin is of perfect shape and the color of
the grained stain of the varnish and the
| rosin whitened belly of theinstrument and
the light bridge, over which are the
clear strings drawn taunt, are skill
fully brought out. The little stack of
books, spoken of, is another item, not to
be overlooked. One of the books is
| a dictionary of musical terms, the other
an old Thorough Bass" The top book is
a paper back one with the outer leaves
| turned up and the leaves thumb-fumbled
and dog cared. 1t is as interesting as the
piece of rosin. Probably the best thing in
the whole picture is the upright sheet of
music, which stands before the violin. 1t
presents that peculiar condition of a piece
of music set up on end that nobody but
musician could recognize and none but an
artist imagine. One corner flaps this way;
another that, giving testimony of how
often it has been turned in tedious but as
siduous study. Over on this corner it
bends over almost to a crease, and down
the edge it is frayed and finger marked.
Nobody but an artist with the true idea
could accomplish the fine shading that pic
lures the condition of worn sheet of
music so perfectly. The whole work is
marked by the touch of unusual talent.
Miss Clarissa Laurent is resident of
this city. She has studied in Paris, and
as the painting will demonstrate, not in
vain. This picture is sold to resident of
Topeka. 1t is worth seeing.