The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-03-13

"That reminds me of question that an
other of your countrymen, newspaper
man, too, asked me once. He wanted to
know how it was that knew all about the
| changes in women's fashions in dress. l
said to him: Young man, when you have
wife and three daughters like those girls
of mine, you will know more about fashion
| than you want to know"
| And then the genial artist chuckled
quietly at his own joke. He pointed to
magnificent portrait of the late astr onimer
royal Sir John Herschel.
''That," he said, lis by Julia Cameron,
and to my mind there is no work of any old
master that can beat the beauty Of that
picture. There are some drawings by E. A.
Abbey, whose work for Harper's reflects
such high credit on art in America"
| Then we passed through a narrow gallery
and were within the artists studio or
''den," as be prefers to call it. And very
comfortable den it is. All about the walls
are sketches and portraits and the like.
some of them from the pencil of Du Maurier
| himself and some from those of his numer-
Gus friends, and in
THIS PRIVATE COLLECTION
the American Abbey again figures, for Du
! Maurier and Abbey hold high opinion of
each others ability.
Near one of the windows was spread an
immense dog skin. Every one who has
noticed the sketches of Du Maurier will re-
member the great ST. Bernard that he has
SO often introduced in his scenes in the
home of Sir Georgius Midas.
THAT is Chang" said Du Maurier, "or
at least, that is his skin. His skeleton is in
the Westminster Abbey of fine animals,
the College of Surgeons. That skin meas
ures seven feet from tip to tip. Chang
was wonderfully fine animal concluded
the artist with sigh.
The afternoon sOn was inst giving q
crimson tinge to the artists work room, and
standing in it the artist look d much
younger than you would expect the father
of great tall grown-up daughters to look.
These daughters you have of course seen
If you have noticed any Of Du Maurier' 5
: work. They are the handsome, divinely
tall young ladies that he never tires of
drawing.
Du Maurier is a modest, unassuming
: man, of an age that appears to be wholly
uncertain. He might be forty and he might
be sixty. He wears a mustache and chin
whiskers but they are not of the heavy
, type famillsr to all Of US through the pic
! lures of Charles Dickens. his beard barely
covers his chin and there is no trace of
+ gray in it, The man does not appear tc
, value his reputation highly for the mere
sake of reputation. He seems to consider
, himself simply an artist who has his work
to do and who does it as well as he can,
! tige that 1t brings to him. Neither he nor
= his wife have kept any of the many pub
: lished accounts of his life.
! "Henry James once wrote very kindly
sketch of me-" the artist said leaning back
in his chair, 'but do you know he made
a one mistake that all other writers have
since made. He stated that 1 was born il
London. Now as matter of fact 1 wa:
:, born in Paris and was educated there.
n ny GU know was not educated an artist
;, | was intended to be a scientific chemist
> The first work 1 did in England was il
. charge of an alleged gold mine down il
. Devonshire. The only trouble with tina
;, mine was that there was no gold in it
4 After that ! gave up my profession ant
. went back to Paris. There [ attached my
self to the Gieyre studio, which Whistles
:. had just quilted. Then went to Antwerp
= where l met with an accident that nearl.
- destroyed my eyesight. Indeed for tifteel
- years l was allowed to work for only tw
- hours each day. / came to London in 1S6
and began to work for the English maya
zines. | worked a good deal for Once
Week and did an occasional sketch for Punch
Then Leech died, some twenty-seven year
ago or more, and | took his place at tn
Wednesday meetings. at which the plan
for the next issue of Punch are laid. Sine
that time l have attended the meetings reg
ularly."
"Then you may be considered as Leech'
successor" | suggested.
"Well, no, ] scarcely think So" said tn
artist, II trust that
OUR STYLES ARE DIFFERENT.
You know get my cue from Mark Lemon
who was editor of Punch when l Joined i
He said to me:
Don't do funny things. Do the grase
full side of life; be the French tenor in til
opera bouffe'
\ 81 don't affect broad caricature 1t
not in my line"
You draw great deal from real lif
Mr. Du Maurier2' l said when the arti
had thus laid down his own idea as to b
limitations.
Eyes, l do' was the reply. Here
one of my subjects now"
AS he spoke the door opened and BIO
accompanied by disreputable-lookir
Scotch terrier, doomed UP on the scene
= was the artists son, Godfrey, who is risiI
or seven years of age and has figured in
n hundred of his fathers sketches. Yc
would recognize him at once. Followii
st in the wake of the Scotch terrier was
l comical little dachshound which has al
lid been held up in it's masters sketches to
IN sorts of ridicule.
AS for his daughters, he admits that
!" puts them in many of his sketches /
he says, too, that he knows Sir Georgi
al Midas personally, and that Maudle al
he Postlethwaite have real existence.
zee Then we chatted of the jokes that accor
ne pany the Punch pictures, and l was inpe
tinent enough to ask Du Mauier if he wrc
til his own jokes.
Yes" came the quick reply, "every OF