Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1899-01-13
CHILD i, ER


CHILD REIl INTER
RAncE'seREATEsT ART,sT Of CHILD
LIFE coMiht6; zItER Il
4nseseA so.tet ae nolhvel i. SFa,nt
3 Its 81 Chill dfea m chia.4e.
s. NJ u. !. Explanatton 8 His Intense.
eye - For 8 oh ,lIr,.s.'.... se
Sd 6ontet de Aonvel is to come to the
United States. He has engagements il
Chicago to paint portraits Of children. :
they are not to be cherubim or infantas.,
He has learned from Murillo and Ve]as-
.aaez not to initiate them, which is q
rare lesson, Isl. :. & st i Ut. g.
81 # was after seeing a portfolio Of his
sketches that Puvis de Chavannes said;
. !. At is state Of mind" The phrase
was horribly elliptical, but it was ad-
dressed TO artists who can decipher any
thing, and they understood his mean
ing perfectly. Puvis de Chavannes
meant that beautiful pictures are works
OF beautiful minds. A hypocrite may
sell good sugar or wheat, but an artist
must be sincere to ba admirable If his
thoughts be not exalted, his works shall
be counterfeits. They are emanations,
as perfumes are. A rose may exhale
only fragrance, b noble mind only no.
bility. -. 80. -.
sBoutet de Monvel has simplicity in
the Latin sense-kindness, enthusiasm,
absolute faith. We're there ever chill.
dren who posed az naturally as those
who posed for him? They are not timid
nor vain, they are not affected nor ex-
aggerated, when they sit for him. They
have their habitual expressions of eyes,
mouth, hands, attitude, while he paints
them. Even if he sketched as rapidly
as lngres, whose instruction to his pu-
pills was, "a man falls from the third
story window of building; sketch him
before he touches the ground" Boutet
de- Monvel'S achievement is amazing
The secret o. it is not in his pencil, nor
in his hand, nor in his eyes. It is in his
mind, but how has he prepared his
mind:
He is not skillful at telling that. He
is not a psychologist He has said, 1.-THE
charm children is not less beautiful
because it is involuntary" and "What
one loves in goodness is not the price
that it costs, but the good that it does. "
One infers from these expressions that
he has not prepared his mind for his
;s,Fo 10 L.,o
posed his models, that they did not sit
for him, that he has caught them un-
aware at the end of his brush. Every
good workman knows how impossible
that is. Boutet de Monvel talks not at
all about himself, but he was asked one
evening at Stephane Mallarme's how
he had explained to himself hio intense
love of children, and he said, in reply,
things that are an illumination of bis
work. He said.
E"When I was a child, I was happy
was very happy. l regarded my ia
ther, my mother and my maid az tender
giants, witnesses of the beginning of
created things, immutable, eternal,
unique. I was certain that they knew
how to preserve me from evil. When l
was near them, my sense of security
was complete The confidence that my
mother inspired in me was infinite. j.
When think Of that, like the lit
tie fellow that was then. was glad
to see and to hear things. One Of the
miracles was the great quantity of fig
ures that one could make with q pencil
or pen. drew soldiers. made an
oval head and placed shake shove it.
It was only after innumerab]e observa-
tione that I succeeded in making the
head 60 into the shake as far as the
! eyebrows.
my fathers system of education wal
to give great deal Of happiness to lit.
tie children, because one never knows
If they will be happy later in life.
think that he was right. Those who
were tenderly treated at dawn of life
endure adversity easily. On the con
trary, those who were tormented are
! never consoled. Even in the happiness
Of old age they are martyrized BY thu
memory of wounds that were healed
long ago." - .*-'s
T. It is the philosophy in oil this that
explains Boutet de Monvel's success
with children. In illustrating books tc
please them he has thrown. joys. under
our feet like carpets of flowers. For hii
work was done to please them. "Chan.
sons de France" which made him ia
mons among the experts, is collection
Of the nursery songs, the rhymes that ARE
ohanted in round dances, the folklore
music Of children of France. It charmed
the naive as we'll as the learned, it had
the merit of all great works. Robin,
son .Crusoe" in literature came from
the opposite direction. It was written
for the grave tradesmen Of London, and
it became a child's book. Anatole
France wrote Of children for their pa--
ents, and his book, illustrated by
3outet de Monvel, became . Christmas
gift book for children. There is in that
the touch of genius: .ssss,{ 2 .["'
There is a charming, odd legend of
Brittany A fsherwoman carrying q
child in her arms saw st. Malo stretch
ed on. the beach. His hands were crossed
on his breast. She was not terrified.