The San Francisco call., 1895-12-01

ouently expect that he will get lntG To sne
| thew don't know much about the Salon
! IT have known of some good people "no
| thought it an open BARI, but at the sans
time they know it is considered necessary
in the advancement of art. Ii he does eAil
hibit the first year of his study mere, IL WI.
be because he has wonderful genius OF "a
wonderful cultivation OF great taienI' A'
does not often happen.
Parents and friends have an 1ll-dlsgulseu
contempt for any work which does not
come up to their ideals-ideals, perhaps
which prefer daub of potato-patches anu
broken crockery to grand original con-
ception impartially revealed. They Know
nothing about the schemes OF color to DO
worked out To them red is red, yellow IS
yellow and red and yellow make orange.
What more would you have?
They can't see the wings of their chill:
dren, SO they refuse to believe in the power
of their children to soar. One gives his
son three months in which to conquer
fame; another two years. The latter is
only a beginning. Men and women are
not 1acehorses.' 1t takes time to prove
that one has genius or talent.
Then. too. there is vast difference be-
tween a painter and an acknowledged
painter. Good luck does not always stand
at the door knocking. 1t must often be
made, and the process is long and painful.
The irony of non-appreclatlon by ones
nearest and dearest is OIten an artlSt s
grea test fame.
You remember Meissonier's experience.
His granddaughter, upon her nIteentn OF
sixteenth birthday, had received peautl,
full fan. The sticks were exqulsltely carved
in ivory, but the fan itself, OF black gauze,
was absolutely plain. Evidently the donor
intended that the art of the grandfather
chOn16 hap fbo valup of the present..
He was about to do so, when she stopped
him: 'Voila! quill va me CATER mon
evental avec ses mannequlns! the IL
going to spoil my fan with his dummies! y
Xxx X X X
To return to our unfortunate Johnl His
genius or talent may not develop so
quickly as that of his neighbor and play
mate, Henry. He may paint tolerably
well. He may draw the figure accu-
rately and sketch with cleverness churches
and restaurants. Even then, when he has
reached this stage, he should be happy if he
cad an uneventful life for the next five or
s tx years, toiling steadily, as if he were
plying an ordinary trade. There is some
thi ng more to be sought than praise
worthy industry on small things. He
m ust follow with all his might after origi-
n ality in the solution of his favorite prob
EN-. No artist can fit himself into an
others form or shape. He m ust find his
own fitness.
He must do something more than aim
for perfection of form and effectiveness OF
coloring-the modern craze.
Before he begins life and death strug-
gle for originality in feeling and sentiment
he will probably pass through the numer-
Gus crazes of medievalism, romanticsm
and all the other isms in which young
painters in all ages indulge.
Sitting chaff from wheat takes time.
And it takes courage, too, for an artist OF
to-day to reverence ideas above mechan-
ism. He will have all manner OF evil
spoken against him by his brother artists.
But there are people who do not look foY
exquisite beauty OF form and color alone
in picture.
1t would be impossible and unjust to
ctiticize the work of contemporary
students. But the most of them possess
one excellent quality IN common-their
determination to be original in all
lines = first of all in imagination
(which is a lost art to-day; in the
choice of new subjects which shall
be distinctively American; in the manner Of
treatment of old subjects-in short,
in the power to combine great
sentiment with great artistic effect
all Americans, both students and artists.
possess two acknowledged faults-the high
lights in their studies are not toned
enough and they do not pay sufficient at
tention to drawing.
FLORENCE BLANCHARD
25 Avenue Wagram, Paris, Oct. 25, 1895.