The Globe-republican., 1896-06-04

W dk are . few of them
Don't think ten
EtNS poor pictures are
~ worth more than
three or four good
ones.
Don't believe cheap cOlored print
Ia more artistic than an etching or
something good in black and white.
Don't hang heavy Dutch pictures be-
side light Frenchy subjects.
Don't hang family portraits in the
parlors.
Don't think because people eat fish
and game in dining-roo they always
want to see pictures of dead sea fruit"
animals and birds hanging around
them.
Don't insist on having blue plush
mats around heads of the old masters
or historical pictures.
Don't put Marie Antoinette styles Of
pictures and frames in old English
drawing-rooms.
Don't select more than a dozen styles
OF frames for single room.
Don't hang your pictures all in row
because You happened to see them so
arranged at an exhibition.
Don't hang them. either. in fixed
seometric groups or set designs.
I'm fact" said a dealer to a Chicago
Tribune reporter the other day. there
is string of don'ts too long to enumer-
ate. Above all. it is in the selection
and hanging of pictures that the true
soul. the individuality, comes out"
He went on to intimate that il every
soul was properly attuned to the har-
monies in art and nature there would
be no such thing as professional PIC
ture hangers.
Each individual should select and ar
range the embellishments of his own
dOmicile. This would be the happy
result If this were an artistic instead of
a commercial age. But the man who
makes the money has not always the
leisure to develop sense for the beau
tifu3.
The next best thing to do is to en-
plOy the services of a person who makes
|
In this even the picture hanger or art
connoisseur himself will admit there
are drawbacks. as the work is bound to
lack the vital touch which dominates
the intangible boundary between art
and material things.
There is no lack at the present of
variety of pictures to select from.
Chicago boasts a number of art
studios, where work from the brushes
of the most famous artists of the world
are constantly on exhibition, says the
Tribune. They have also, for those
whose cannot afford or do not care to
pay money for the sake of name, ex-
cellent pictures from the brush of Chi
cagO artists. These are being bought
more and more bv men and women
who have learned that pictures to be
good need not come from abroad.
Besides these original works there
are many excellent copies Of the great
works of art in steel engravings. etch-
ings and photographs, in c0lors, in
browns, and in neutral tints.
And it takes no fine discrimination
% prefer good copy Of a fine painting
to an original in poor production.
1t is somewhat difncult to attempt
any information on the purchase and
hanging Of pictures. Art defines all
laws and rules in the concrete and at
the same time adheres with ironclad
tenacity to certain tenets in the alb
stract.
Some general hints given by an ar.
connoisseur may be Of interest to those
intending to purchase pictures.
In halls and reception rooms pictures
Of an architectural character are gener-
ally chosen; a fine landscape with an
old cathedral in the background, or
copies Of statuary. These pictures
are often of either the landscape shape
or in panels.
A landscape picture, which is popular
just now, and one dear to the heart of
every Chicagoan, is a view Of the
Wooded Island. with the Worlds Fair
buildings in the background. These
are done in colors, and are decidedly
attractive
Another form of panel and landscape
shape-which latter is a long frame
placed transverse across the wall-are
some views from the mural decorations
of the Boston Public Library.
Sargent's "Frieze of the Prophets"
and THE Muses. Welcoming the Genius
of Enlightenment" by Puvis de Cha
vannes, are popular just now in the two
styles mentioned. They are to be had
in autotypes in a rich brown hue.
They are lovely In tone and accurate In
production. The prices range from S.
to $40.