The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-06
Bah AND ART.
Some Interesting Facts Regarding
Woman Artists.

MUllldH AItlSlS,
A Pluoky Woman Painter-Ezpert
Girl Workers on Wall Paper Designs.
Dainty Book-Cover Makers-Home
Adjournment Creators-Practical Bus
mess Women Can Succeed, but SEN
timent Not Wanted-Bab Is Enthu-
siastic Over the Artistic Work
Accomplished by Her American
Sisters.
New York. May 5.-When she said art,
1 shrugged my shoulders and listened
with the air Of one being bored. had
suffered agonies of heart and brain from
badly painted pictures from over-orna-
mented ornaments, from banged-Out
brass, from queer things done with
pokers and gueerer ones done with pen
ellis, all brought to me under the name of
art, and because l was woman, and be
cause the creators of these awful things
were also women. I was expected to APP
prove of them. 1 was asked to buy a bad
picture because it was painted by wo-
man who was poor That is usually the
argument Now. if a woman is poor, and
asks for money, it is charity to give it TO
her: but if she makes an effort to sell you
something in the way of a picture, and
claims to be giving you value received.
and that picture is poor, the whole affair
is cheat.
Consequently when art and women
have been mentioned to me there has al
ways arisen a procession of cups and
saucers, of painted ri bbons, and general
ling of poor work. So you can't blame
me, if, when she said art, / looked bored
ana felt so. Bat a minute after | heard
the word practical" and then ! grew
interested. She said, will you go?"
And I said yes. for a few minutes
And ! stayed two hours ana Il half.
- woMAN's INTEREST IN ART WORK.
And now for my story. There is a
gentiewoman here who has done, in
quiet way. something that means much
to women who wish to earn their own
livings honestly and honorably (and by
honOrably / mean giving value for value
received She came here, like so many
good things, from out of the west. She
is more than good to look at, for she is
extremely pretty and has great dark
eyes in which one may discover that
quiet determination that belongs by
rights TO all women who mean to succeed.
She had seen how much Of woman's work
in the art world had been poor. She rec
oguiled that this was because they were
not properly taught in the beginning, and
because their work instead of being put
in the market and getting its real worth
had been overvalued by kind friends,
who, when they grew weary of opening
their purses left the I'm fortunate worker
TO believe either that the work was not
properly appreciated, or to realize, which,
alas they seldom did, that the work had
no worth
Now this gentlewoman saw that there
were women born with a genius for form
and not for color; that there were others
who could combine color and form, and
that there were still others who could
unite imagination with the form and the
color. So she set to work to found q
school that should be self-supporting, and
in which women who needed to earn their
bread and butter should be taught how
to do work that would bear the hall
mark of success in the business world
il would sell Not to the sympathetic
friend, not to the charitable million
aire, but to the dealer who simply de-
manded that the work should be good,
and wasn't interested in knowing
whether it was done by a woman or a
man. Do you know what this work
meant It meant, on the part of the
gently bred woman who did it. the giving
something more than her money, although
she was generous with that; it meant the
giving of her time; not just an hour or
two day, but the hours of the day from
10 in the morning until > in the afternoon.
But she did it, and now she has made a
success of her work, such a success that
women like the Princess of Wales and
Princess Christian have said to her, when
they met her socially, "Come TO us and
teach us now to start school like this
where women can be taught to earn
money in "a way that is purely womanly,
and yet to do work that has no sex be-
cause it is good"
I WILL TELL you WHAT I SAW.
saw girls working on designs for wall,
paper. There was the sample for the
ceiling, for the walls and the frieze,
while on each side of the paper was
shown the colors employed, giving the
exact limit allowed by the manufacturer.
Many of these girls were so expert in
their work, so correct, and withal so ar
tistic, that the best decorator in New
York is given first choice of the designs.
because he has found so many of them
desirable, and, here comes the prac-
tical sside, because he paws good
prices. l saw girls and women who
having grasped the technique of their
work, reveled in color and were making
QtSlku5-lu WHICH inc SudueS OF bIe orient
were most conspicuous. that were to be
developed in rugs, in draperies, and. in
some instances in tiles. Not one of these
women put in a color, or arranged a line
that the manufacturer would find impos-
sible. They knew what the machines
govern, and nothing was on the paper
tnat wasn't possible in warp and wool.
saw dainty book covers, ones that had
been sold, and which had evoked nv ad-
vibrations as l read the pages between
the bindings, although l never dreamed
that the dainty scheme of coloring and
the clever artistic touch as it bore its re-
lation 10 the story, had been done by
women.
MOST MARVELLOUS OF ALL
that afternoon, l saw the work of women.
TO whom color was as nothing, but to
whom straight lines, and the after deve-
opment meant much mean the work of
the architect. And, as l looked at it, [
thought, ''Why shouldn't women make
good architects! They live much more
than men do in houses. They know when
a staircase is badly placed, when a room
might have had another window in it,
when the nursery should have been
placed in the sunshine, and all the
kitchen arrangements made most conven-
lent. They know what the bad disposi-
tion of pipes means, and why shouidn't
they learn how to draw the designs that