The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1894-01-25
HOCUS POCUS IN ART.
HOW SOME PERSONS WHO THINK
THEY KNOW ARE SWINDLED.
Queer Tricks Practiced by Men Who Make
a Living With Pencil and Brush-Car-
~toonists With More Than One Name-One
Who Made His Ghost Famous.

%toonists With More Than One Name-One
Who Made His Ghost Famous
Artists who sign their names to pic
lures that other men paint are quite
plentiful in this town. In a little store
on Fourth avenue, just around the cor
ner from the American Academy Of De-
sign, there are some very pretty exam
piles Of water colOring for sale. The
signature in the corner Of each canvas
is that of a woman. The dealer was in
a communicative mood the other day,
and as he was talking with a reporter
he picked up one IF the paintings and
held it to the light for observation and
discussion.
That woman brings some very good
work in here for me to SELL" said he.
There is one peculiarly about her,
though. She always writes her sigma
ture in my shop" The dealer paused
as though to be questioned.
why does she do that" was asked.
"Well, l suppos she doesn't like to
put it on at the studios where the pic
lures are painted"
"She doesn't paint her own pictures,
them"
mot all of them. It's easier to pick
them up here and there and bring them
to me to sell l don't know how much
she pays the artists who paint them, and
| don't care. It's none of my business.
All I know is that the work is very good
and that I can get good prices for 1t. L
| suppose she is building up a reputation
| on the strength of these canvases. Well,
why shouldn't she? She gives work
to a lot of people who would probably
| starve otherwise. You see, scores Of
persons can paint pictures and very few
have the knack Of getting them sold"
Sometimes an artist signs more than
one name to his w work. This hap
pens every day on some of the illustrat-
ed weeklies published for Broadway
circulation. The publisher doesn't like
to see one mans name signed to every
cartoon or full page picture. He does
not want it known that his staff of art
lists is SO small. Not long ago n Of
the cleverest of the illustrators used to
sign his own name to the big two page
picture in the middle Of the periodical
and a nom de plume to the first page
drawing every week. In a little while
he began to receive letters addressed to
the assumed name, giving orders for
work and full of compliments. He had
built up a reputation for the mythical
artist which he could not get for him
self. His pride was hurt, but he swal-
lowed the humiliation and proceeded
to increase the fame and the revenue
of his ghost.
A New York artist who draws for the
pictorial weeklies tells a story of his
experience in England at a time when
all the publishers were demanding
French illustrators and had no use fOl
native talent. This particular artlst
knew that he could cut corsages as low
and skirts as high as any Frenchma1
that ever lived. He had spent severa
vacations and lots of hard earned mon
ey in seeing the particular side Of Ia
risian life that the publishers We're howl
ing for at that particular time.
He assumed a very Frenchy name
wrote in that language altogether ant
submitted his sketches, which alre2d.
out-Frenched the Frenchmen in theI
naughtiness. He made a big hit, h
mail orders were numerous, and TO
many months he enjoyed a lucrative IN
come under his title Of De Boulange
or whatever it was, while all the t
English illustrators were drawing &c
the religious weeklies, which cannO
afford to pay half as big prices to thel
artists as their more wicked and per
haps more interesting contemporaries.
, In the window Of a picture store /
Harlem there were exposed for sale nc
long ago two small canvases with tn
= magic name of CorOt in the corner. Ih
: price of each was $3.50. Now, q genu
Inc Corot is worth anywhere from 81
600 up. Was it a mistake or an a
n tempt at s~windling? The pictures WEI
In Corot's style, and only an expe1
c; could tell whether they were genuine
not.
The dealer would give no write
guarantee. He said he believed the tw
~canvases were genuine, and he explain
i. ed the low price by saying that L
- bought the pictures from a man IN bar
n luck who was ignorant Of their valu'
The purchaser took all the risk. II II
pictures were not genuine Corots, the
real value was anywhere from 50
~ $50. That is one Of the queer things
81 the art business.
There are pa~wnbrokers in this tow
. who have been known to go into a pl
ture swindling scheme, as more tha
one credulous buyer has learned to II
cost. 1t is not an i~nfreQuent occu
renee for an amateur in art TO be a
81 preached with a request to buy a paw
81 ticket calling for a lot Of pictures pied
" ed for, say, 500. The pictures, t
= stranger says, are worth at least go
He will sell the ticket for So. If t
amateur buys it, he pays not only t
$25 for the ticket, but the 500 n
terest to the pawnbroker.
Id 1t is a perfectly safe and easy met
81 I'd of swindling. Neither the paw
broker nor Ike ticket seller Is likely
be caught. The pictures may only
worth $40. 1t cannot be proved tn
the pawnbroker knew this or that
- 49, no ~-ar II