The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1894-03-02

q Living With Pencil and Brush-Csr-
toopists 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
ri 5 of water coloring for sale. The
signature in the corner of each canva
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 of the paintings and
held it to the light for observation and
discussion.
That m 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, | suppose she doesn't like to
put il on at the studios where the pic
lures are painted.
..She dossn' t paint her own pictures,
them"
Not all of them. 1t easier to pick
them up here AMI there and bring them
to me to sell : don't know how much
she pays the artists who paint them, and
1 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 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
nave the knack of getting them sold.
Sometimes an artist signs more than
one name TO his own work. This hap
pens every day on some of the illustrat-
ed weeklies published for Broadway
circulation. The publisher doesn like
to see one mans name signed to every
cartoon or full page picture. He does
not want il known that his staff Of art
lists is so small. Not long ago one of
the cleverest Of the illustrators used 10
sign his own name To the i- two page
picture in the middle of the periodical
and "A uomd de plume t. i.s FIRST PAGE
drawing every week I'm a a't'r while
he began to receive J. - a,t!I sd To
the assumed name .I-#lg orders Tor
work and full of compliments. b." md
Quilt up "A reputation for thn mythical
artist which he could rot get tor HIM
self. His pride was hurt, lut be- swat
lowed the humiliation ana proceeded
TO Increase the fame and the revenue
of his ghost.
A New York artist who draws for the
pictorial weeklies tells Il story # his
experience IN England at d time when
all the publishers were demanding
French illustrators and had no use for
native talent. This particular artist
knew thar he could cut cOrsages as low
and skirts a. high as any Frenchman
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 hovi-
ing tor AZ hat particular time.
He assumed "A very Frenchy name,
wrote in that language altogether and
submitted his sketches. which already
out Frenched the Frenchfnen in their
naughtiness. He made a big hit, his
mail orders were numerous, and for
many months he enjoyed a lucrative in
come under his title of De Boulanger
or whatever it was. While all the other
English illustrators were drawing for
the religious weeklies, which cannot
afford to pay halt as big prices to their
artists as their more wicked and per,
maps more interesting contemporaries.
In the window of a picture store in
Harlem there were exposed for sale not
long ago two small canvases 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 81,
900 up. Was it a mistake or an at
tempt at swindling? The pictures Were
in Corot's style, and only an expert
could tell whether they were genuine OF
not.
The dealer would give no writer
guarantee. He said he believed the two
capvases were genuine, and he explain
ed the low price by saying that III
bought the pictures from a man in hare
luck who was ignorant of their value
The purchaser took all the risk. If tn
picturps were not genuine Corots, theil
real value was anywhere from 70 4
$50. That is one of the queer things il
the art business.
There are pawnbrokers in this tow
Who have been known to go into a PIC
ture swindling scheme, as more tina
o6e credulous buyer has learned to hi
ooss. It is not an infrequent occur
q for an amateur in art to be ap
woached with a request to buy a paw
ticket calling for a lot of pictures piede
ID for, say, 800. The pictures. tn
Granger says. are worth at least e25o
BE will sell the ticket for s25. tn
amateur buys it, he pays not only tn
> for the ticket, but the 800 and in
tprest 10 the pawpbroker.
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