The Savannah morning news., 1902-08-10
A MUCH-HONORED GIRL.

A Brooklyn Girl Has Been Decorated
by the S6IOH-She Is Only III Years
Old-How She Made Her Picture
Perfect by Caring for Minute De-
tails.
New York, Aug. $50 the novelty
of American girls receiving medals
from the French salon it seems that
we are hardly as accustomed as we
are to winning favor at foreign courts
OF the former however, Miss Mary /.
Green of Brooklyn, New York has re-
Gently furnished US a notable and
pleasing example by receiving from the
Salon the second medal of honor in
painting shown at the late exhibition.
There are but five other American
artists who have won this honor since
the Salon has been opened, and none
of them at the time have been so
young as Miss Green, for she has bare
ly touched her twenty-fourth year.
Madam Bouguereau, another daugh-
ter of the Stars and Stripes of whom
her country has just cause to be proud.
is the only American woman to be SO
honored; but it was perhaps not un-
important factor that her husband, the
great Bouguereau, was president of the
Salon Even in the world of art we
find the friend at court a most power
full ally.
Miss Green, however, has been her
own best friend, and this because of
the indomitable will and courage with
which she has steadfastly pursued her
aim to become a great painter. Now
that she is standing on a pinnacle, it
is interesting to know that her first
attempt at creation was made when
a child in Brooklyn, and that she then
gave expression to her love for the
beautiful by executing a bunch of pink
roses against an intensely blue sky.
The work was done on a slate, such
decoration being then in fashion, and
the wooden edge was most brilliantly
gilded.
Later with her mother, she made
her way to the Latin quarter of Paris,
where for five years she studied dill
gently under one of the greatest mas
tiers, Raphael Colin. Even during the
lazy summertime she took N vaca-
ton from her work, but followed her
master out to Fontenay -aux-rosos.
Here during this season he instructs
class altogether unique in modern art.
flowers and shut in by a high wall,
Monsieur Colin teaches his pupils to
paint the nude; for it is his theory
that the opalescent tints of the flesh
can only be fully appreciated under
the searching rays of the sun. In
this class Miss Green proved herself
to be his most promising pupil.
Three years ago she returned to this
country; but not for a stay of long
~ ~
all its dinginess still appealed to her
as the true atmosphere for study and
hard work. 1t had moreover tTound
itself about her heart strings. On her
return there she and her mother set
tied themselves at No. 10 Rue lie Yer
rir, lin a charming apartment with one
of the most spacious and attractive
ateliers of the quarter. An accom-
panying photograph shows her here
painting away in one corner on the
bewitching Louis XIV scene which has
so recently won for her decoration.
1t is the exception when Miss Green
works less than eight hours a day,
and when it is remembered that her
canvases are usually large and that
the most of the time she is standing,
some idea of her physical endurance
can be gained. OF course there come
dull, rainy days when the light is poor
its ruination. Even then she is no
idler. In variety of social&nd ar
tistic ways she holds strong. inteIs
est. Then, too. she is by far tokclever
to trust to the taste of a model or a
models dressmaker, if such a being
exists, for the raiment she wishes to
paint. With her own nimble fingers
she made the many tinted, gauzy
gown worn by the model swho posed
for her now famous picture; she even
fashioned the corsets to the girls fig
ure, that the exact curves and lines
she desired might be had Then the
little table, the glass holding the rose
and the few scattered ornaments had
all to be sought for and most carefully
chosen from among the hodge-podge of
things offered in the Paris ANTIQUE
shops. The successful artist s@s we
know must find time to study the his
tory of time. and of things
The Coquette, an earlier painting
and one for which the salon awarded
medal, although not one as high
standing as the recent decoration, was
also a large canvas, and, like this
years exposition, possessed an indie
scribable charm in the subtle dainti-
ness Of color. 1t found a ready sale,
and an appreciative home in Philadel-
phia.
In personality Miss Green is very
gracious and charmingly vivacious:
clear, intensely blue eyes and an unus-
ually bright color imparting brillian-
cy to her countenance. Altogether she
may be said to well illustrate the best
type of the complex, talented and
magnetic woman which has been
evolved by America, to the admiration
OF more conservative nations.