The record-union., 1899-06-18

One must needs be a japanese, or
a very close student of Japanese life
and paintings, to appreciate to the full
the art of the Flowery Land. Win
their strange ideas in the matters OF
light, shade and perspective, the nigh
est art of japanese painters appeals 10
the untutored eye as grotesque, exag-
gerated, unreal The fact of the mat
ter is that life, landscape and archl-
lecture in Japan differ in so many re-
spects from what is seen elsewhere,
that it is impossible for one who does
not know the country to realize the
subtleties of it's art. No doubt, to jap
aneee eyes, the work of the greatest
European masters appears every wnit
as groteEque as does their own work
to the eyes of foreign critics. Again
Japanese art has suffered in Europe
and America through becoming, IN
way, over er-popularized. 1t was intro
duced, in the first pace. some twenty
years ago, as a commercial novelty; II
became a fashionable craze. All avail
able specimenS-aIld these were chlefy
indifferent and bad-were accepted and
initiated on every hand, and it was
only the more, thoughtful collectors OF
the best specimens who recognized the
hidden genius of the Oriental paintings
Among the many characteristics that
make Japanese pictures and color
printing so distinct from Western
specimens of art, this convention stands
out more prominently than all others
in Japanese pictures shadow is entirely
omitted. The artist, therefore, is Inn
tied to beautiful form and beautifui
| color. and thus it requires a special
! education to understand the beauty.
| originality and suggestiveness OF the
work The methods of japanese artlsts
are curious in many respects. Easels,
I for instance, in the Flowery Land, are
| almost unknown. The artist either
paints with his work on the floor, or at
| a small table, seating himself ON a
| stool or squatting on the ground
| Sometimes an artist will employ one
assistant to prepare his brushes ana
| coiors and another to hold his can
vas before him as he works. Beside
him. ON the floor, is the inevitable tea
| tray No use seems to be made OF
| the paint-box and palette, indispensable
| to the Western painter; the color are
contained in little bowls, and the artist
| tries his tints ON a piece Of paper be-
| fore placing them on his picture.-Pear-
sons Magazine.
! 1t is now close on to fifty years that
Jones and I, for he was not Burne
! then. used to sit side by side on the
same form of we'll polished oak, pol
! ished to a high degree by the trousers
Of it's occupants through several gener-
ations, in that hall of learning known
as King Edwards School, Birmingham.
Jones. it must be confessed, was not
over brilliant or diligent in his lessons,
and used to be glad of my help, which,
| though nearly three years his junior,
was occasionally able to afford, prob
ably from having better preparation
than he had Jones was always an
artist remember how one morning
he brought into school box of colored
crayons, which he had bought some-
where, and under the shadow of the
half-open desk executed the most Won
derfully striking landscapes with them.
! Orange sunsets forming background
| to dark green groves of hrs were,
recollect, a favorite subject of his. A
maiden in a violet coat, with an aspect
of lemon sky, was almost a common pic
| ture These were done with the OBJ
| ject of conveying to us, who, I fear,
cared very little about the matter, the
first rudimentary ideas of contrast. But
none of us believed in Jones. Very like
ly because, at that time, he hardly be-
lieved in himself His home life was
antagonistic to his artistic predilec-
I ;,,<a Ia1 70 hao
Exeter College, Oxford, which he en-
tered in 1858, a clergyman of the Es-
tablished Church I do not suppose for
one moment that our respected head
master, the Rev. E. H. Clifford, D. D.,
who, 1 am glad to state. is still living,
after having been the Archdeacon OF
London for many years, ever suspecteo
that in Jones he beheld the future art
ist of the Laus Veneris, the "Briar
Rose sequence, the Golden Star and
the literally hundred other pictures that
have made his name famous.
| Then Burne Jones went away to OK
ford, and l saw him no more till 1861. (.
had returned to England and was in
London on leave after three years
commission in the Mediterranean, and
| had been to see an old schoolfellOw, a
gallant Admiral's son, who was prac-
| tising as solicitor in the neighbor-
hood of the British Museum, when, in
| the course of conversation, he hap
pened to mention Jones' name, and told
me that he was near neighbor of his
and gave me his address. 1 found him
in his studio, hard at work, with
charming little wife, whem he had mar
ried year before, in attendance. She
was the sister of another old school
fellows of ours, young Macdonald by
name, who was one Of the cleverest
and brightest boys in the school. Had
there been a plebiscite to decide which
boy would become famous and win a
baronetcy by his talents, he would un-
doubtedly have been chosen. Yet how
little school life occasionally tells US.
Macdonald did not go to the Univer.
sity. 1 do not remember why, but l
fancy lack of means stood in his way,
| for his father was Nonconformist
minister; at any rate, he emigrated to
! the United States, went into business,
and died there at a comparatively early
age. Jones' studio was like most others.
A large bare room full of sketches and
models, while on the easel. with Jones
| laboring away at it, stood a part of the
oil painting that first made him famous,
! the triptych of THE Annunciation and
/ Nativity" for st. Paul's Church
Brighton. I stayed and talked with
|. him for more than an hour and. when
! left, promised that our renascent ac-
I quaintance should not be allowed to
Drop Words, idle words!
1t was not till the middle Of July,