The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-01-13
HOCUS POCUS IN ART.
HOW SOME PERSONS WHO THINK
THEY KNOW ARE sWlNDLEo.

THEY KNOW ARE SWlNDLEp.
Queer Tricks Practiced by Men Who Make
. Living with Pencil and ~Brush-car-
~toopisss with More Than One Nasne-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 corr
ner from the American Academy Of De.
sign, there are some very pretty exam
Piles of water coloriLg 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 n of 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 popularity 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.
We'll. suppose 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 don't know how much
she pays the artists who paint them, and
| don't care. It's none of my business.
All | know is that the work is very good
and that | can get good prices for it. |
suppose she is building up a reputation
on the strength of these nvase Well,
why shouldn't shes She gives work
to a lot of people who would probably
starve otherwise. You see, scores Of
persons Ear paint pictures and very few
have the knack of getting them sold
Sometimes an artist signs more har
one name to his own work. This hip
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 OF full page picture. He does
not want it known that his staff of art
lists is so small. Not long ago one Of
the cleverest of the illustrators used to
sign his w name to the big two page
picture in the middle of the periodical
and a non 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 fo1
native talent. This particular artist
knew that he could cut corsages as low
and skirts as high as any Frenchmar
that ever lived. He had spent several
vacations and lots OF hard earned mon
ey in seeing the particular side of Pa
risian life that the publishers were howl
ing for at that particular time.
He assumed a very Frenchy name.
wrote in that language altogether and
submitted his sketches, which already
out Frenched the Frenchmen in their
nanghtiness. He made q big hit, HE
mail orders were numerous, and for
many months he enjoyed a lucrative in
come under his title of De Boulange:
or whatever it was, while all the othei
English illustrators were drawing for
the religious weeklies, which canno.
afford to pay half as big prices to their
artists as their more wicked and per.
haps more interesting contemporaries.
In the window of a picture store /.
Harlem there were exposed for sale not
long ago two small with the
magic name of Corot in the corner. The
price Of each was $3.50. Now, a genu.
inc Corot is worth anywhere from o..
900 mp. Was II q mistake or an at
tempt at swindling? The pictures were
In Corot's style, and only an expert
could tell whether they were genuine or
MOI.
The dealer would give no written
guarantee. He said he believed the two
canvases were genuine, and he explain
ed the low price by saying that he
bought the pictures from q man in hard
luck who was ignorant Of their value.
The purchaser took all the risk. II the
pictures were not genuine Corots, their
real value was anywhere from % to
$50. That Is n Of the queer things in
the art busirns~
There are pawnbrokers in this town
who have been known to go into a pic
ture swindling scheine, a. more than
one credulous buyer has learned to his
cost. 1t is not an ~infrequent occur
renee for an amateur in art ITO be APP
preached with a request to buy a pawn
ticket calling for a lot of pictures pledg-
ed for, say, 800. The pictures, the
stranger says, are worth at least $3.50.
He will sell the ticket for $25. If the
amateur buys 1t, he pays not only the
$25 for the ticket, but the 800 and in
*orocf * fha pauvr,hrokar