Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1894-01-16
HoCUS POCUs IN ART.
HOW SOME PERSONS WHO THINK
THEY KNOW Are swlNDLEo.

a living Win Pencil and ~nrush-Car-
toonists WIN More Than one Mansions
who Made Ms Ghost Famous.
Artists who eirn their names to pic
lures that other men paint are quito
plentiful In this town. In a little store
on Fourth avcnuc. just around tho cor
nor from the American Academy Of De-
sign, there arc some very pretty exam
Piles Of water colofing for sale. The
signature In the corner Of each canvas
- that Of a woulfn The dealer was In
a communicative mood tho other day,
and az he was talkius with n reporter
be picked MP one If the paintings and
held Il to tie light ior observation and
discussion.
THAT womnn trines nome very good
work IN hCfe for me io sell. said he.
There IL cue poecNarity ABOUT her,
though. She always wrifs her sigma
turc IN my shop" Tbs dealer paused
as though 10 " guoaliWiff
Why does DC do ttai WIS asked.
"Woll 1 snrpose size daesn't like to
nut II on az tHN studios where the pic
lures are paint
''sho doesn't paint her own pictures,
thong"
mot ailof thea. It's easier TO pick
them MP hero and there and bring them
70 me 10 cell Id1at know how much
she pays the artists who ulint them. and
I don't care. lt'stione Of my business.
All I know isthat To woIk is very good
and that can got u prices for it. !
suppose she is buil9as up a reputation
on the strength Of e%canvases. Well,
why shouldn't shea She gives work
20 a lot Of people VIII would probably
starve otherwise. You see, scores Of
persons can paint pictures and very few
have the lnacy Of getting them sold"
Sometimes an artist signs more than
one nam to his own work. This hap
pens every day on somd Of the illustrat-
cd weeklies published for Broadway
circulation. The pubiishgr doesn't like
TO see n mans name figncd to every
cartoon or full page picture. He does
not want it known that bis staff Of art
lists is so small. Not long ago one Of
the cleverest of the illustrators used to
sign his own namo 20 the big two page
picture in the middle Of the periodical
and a nom dc plume 10 the first page
drawing every week. I'm a little while
he began 10 receive letters addressed to
the assumed name, giving orders for
work aud FUN 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
10 increase the fame and the revenue
Of his ghost.
4 New York artist who draws for the
pictorial weelllies tells a story of his
experience in England at a time when
all the publishers were demanding
French illustrators and had no use for
native talent. This particular artist
knew that no could cut corsages as low
and skirts as 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
Tisian life that the publishers were howl
ing Tor at that particular time.
He assumed a very Frenchy name,
wrote in that language altogether and
submitted his sketches, which already
ut-Frenchod the Frenchmen in their
naughtiness. He made a big hit, his
mail orders were numerous, and for
NAM months he enjoyed a lucrative in
come under his title of De Boulanger
or whatever II was, while all the other
English illustrators were drawing for
the religious weeklies, which cannot
afford to pay half as big prices to their
artists as their more wicked and per-
haps moro interesting contemporaries.
In tho 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 n The
price Of each was $3.50. Now, a genu-
ine Corot is worth anywhere from 81,
900 up. Was it a mistake OF an at
tempt az swindling2 The pictures were
in CorOt's style, and only an expert
could tell whether they were genuine or
not.
The dealer would give no written
guarantee. flo said he believed the two
cauvases were genuine, and he explain
ed the low price by saying that he
bought the pictures from a man in hard
luck who was ignorant of their value.
The purchaser took all the risk. If the
pictures were not genuine Corots, their
real value was anywhere from 50 to
$50. That is one Of the queer things in
the art business.
There are pa~wnbrokers in this town
who have been known to go into a pic
turo swindliug scheme, as more than
one credulous buyer has learned TO his
cost. Il Is not an infrequent occur
renee for an amateur in art to be APP
preached with a request 10 buy a pawn
ticket calling for a lot Of pictures pledg-
ed for, say, 500. The pictures, tho
stranger says, are worth at least $3.50.
lie will sell the ticket for $25. If the
"nateur buys it, he pays not only the
'or tho ticket, but the 500 and in
~nawnbroker.
% and easy meth
-,either the pawn
broKer nor the ticket seller Is likely to
DO caught. The pictures may only be
worth go. Il cannot be proved that
the pawnbroker knew this or that the
other man knew it, for that matter. The
victim has scarcely any mode Of redress.
Swindles like this would not be possible
but for the fact that very many men
believe they know an there is TO be
known about art, when, as a matter OF
fact, they know nothing at all. Or, In
other words, the crop Of suckers never
falls. " 70 quote tho old maxim Of tho
green goods doaier.-New York World.
neg pardon.
Soleun stranger-Al flesh "a grass.
Deaf Man-Heyl
Solemn slranger-Nn grasa-Now