The Washington times., 1901-09-22
STATUETTES In DEMAND.
A Ready Market for Cheap Casts
of Famous Men.
How They Are Made in the Larger
Shops-High Schools All over the
Country Supplied-Wnres of the
Street PeddIers Are Only Copies.

| shops-Hirh Schools All Over the
| Country suppIied-wnres of the
| Street PeddIers Are Only Copies.
While 1t is not difficult to secure good
American workmen for carrying olt
schemes of interior decorations, II is I'M
possible yet to get native-born men
capable of modelling statuettes ana
busts such as are sold on the street cor
ners and in many of the art shops. All
! the workmen employed in factories that
produce these are Italians. chiefly from
Tuscany. This is equally true of those
| who fellow this trade in Germany ana
| France. The Tuscans appear to have
| a natural ability for that sort of work
that has given them the monopoly of 1t.
The great majority of these ousts
and statuettes are copied directly from
the originals wherever they happen to
| be, and then the molds are made from
| that COPY and sent to all parts OF the
world. the statues being cast in the
place where they are to be sold. In the
larger shops, however, a certain amount
| of original work is done in order to
keep pace with the popular demand for
| representations of the hero of the hour.
A great many of our most distinguished
| poets authors, and statesmen, whose
busts are exposed for sale on the street
corners, never sat for these portraits.
Some workman modelled the head alter
photograph, and occasionally has pro-
duced such good work that 1t is almost
a pity the sculptor's name should re-
main unknown.
The chief purchasers of these casts
from the larger makers are the high
schools all over the country. They de-
mand, of course, not only classical sub
jects and copies of ancient bas-reliefs
and architectural Details but also busts
of famous men and women from every
period of the worlds history. Such a
wide range of subjects is covered by
this demand that seven and eight thou
sand titles are included in some of the
catalogues issued. The factories where
these figures are turned out exhibit i'll
their show-roo,ns an assortment and
confusion of time, place, and nature be-
wildering to look at The process of
casting these statuettes is a compare
lively simple one when the mold is
once completed. The material used,
plaster of Paris, is cheap, and a very
excellent quality is produced in this
country. When the statuette comes out
it is pure white and covered with ridges
made by the different sections of the
mold. These ridges are carefully re-
moved. and then the cast is placed in
an oven heated at about $50 degrees.
After it has been baked for a certain
length of time it is plunged into a So
luton of stearic acid and kept there un-
til thoroughly saturated. Then, when
1t has dried, the yellow color is gained
by applying to the surface a solution
of beeswax, turpentine, and coloring
matter. This color will not wash off,
and, of course, any shade can be pro-
duced at will.
The demand for nude statues in the
art schools is growing less every year"
said a maker of casts. That is be-
cause people are realizing more and
more that artists must draw from the
human figure itself if they wish to un-
derstand the human form. We get
more orders now for draped figures in
the art schools. and for busts
in the high schools. Until very recently
the busts of most of the celebrated
Americans which we sell had been made
in Italy from photographs sent over
from this country, and many mistakes
occurred in matters of detail. like the
cut of the coats and collars. We are
trying to do these now in a more mod
ern and characteristic way and occa-
sionally have been furnished with pho
togaphs by their families"
The statuettes which are carried
about the streets wrapped in yellow tis-
sue paper or are displayed on the side
walks or on the steps of unoccupied
houses are made by quite a different
set of manufacturers. The larger deal
ers do not sell to these street peddlers
at all. The peddlers have their own
little workrooms which furnish them
with their stock at much lowsr rate
than the regular dealers charge. No
originals are made in these ateliers,
and most of the molds are gained by
taking them from cast bought from
some other firm. The stearic acid
bath is left out of the process, and,
consequently, the color of these cheap
er works washes off.
The peddiers uf these statuettes stand
in about the same relation to sculptors
and sculpture that the hand organ
players do to music and musicians.
They reflect fairly accurately the popu-
lar taste, and. according to their testi-
mony, 1t is the Tanagra figurines that
in the long run sell the best of all their
stock From time to time there is a
market for the bust of some particular
man, as there was once for that of Ad-
miral Dewey, but Admiral Dewey, he
played out now" said one of these men,
and those sales are always temporary.
Grotesque figures are always in de-
mand, and copies of the various mod
els of Venus with which the public are
familiar Rows Of Cupids and of monks
heads, winged Victories. and busts of
Wagner come and go as popular favor
ties. but the Tanagra fgurines have a
steady sale that insures their presence
in the stock of nearly every street ped
dler.
QUEER SECTIONAL PUZZLES.
states Neither Northern, Southern,