New-York tribune., 1902-05-20
Mss BEACX IN HER STUDIO
TIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN TALKS
on WOMEN ARTISTS.

Il was up night, the right" that the
Tribune reporter found her. at the end of a dark
hall The stairs immaculate. The hall
was not above reproach The house inno-
cent of elevator or improvements" There a
hardworkins little tailor the first floor, and up
the third a company of Italian women made
ufcial flowers. 1t in this old Colonial house,
facing Washington Square, that Miss Cecilia
Beaux, newly elected TO the National Academy of
Design. and the only woman among the hun
dred members of that august body. found in
her studio.
Z like the quiet of this old house" said Miss
BeauX- 1T is uncommercial sort OF place Not
thai everybody in the house isn't working for a
living but it is all some sort of handicraft in
a quiet, old World sort of way There isn't any
elevator Miss BeauX seemed to rejoice in the alb
sence of an elevator-'and there isn't any Of the
highly vanished. spick and span APPROPRIATENESS
of a regular studio building. 1t is little eddy a
backwater. I would like take out that rear wall
and my studio back further, but l dont dare"
Don't dare?'
No; I'm afraid to recall myself to the owners
mind I'm afraid he will say: Why. had forgotten
all about that old rookery I'll pull it down."
It was suggested tentatively that perhaps Miss
Beaux liked the place because it reminded her of
Philadelphia.
She smiled tolerantly.
You can't poke any fun Philadelphia
American artist nowadays she said. The Quaker
town holds too honorable a place in the brush
world Sargent. Abbey and Harrison and Maxwell
and Stephen Parish all belong Philadelphia
either by birth heredity. Alice Barbour Stevens
and Miss Harding. among illustrators. and Violet
Oakley who decorated the big church of St Mich
ael and All Angels. were all Philadelphians."
Miss Beaux does not at all correspond TO the
misty popular ideal of the woman artist. A smart
gray street gown smart little black silk jacket.
smart little spring hat-everythng about her
trig and taut. well tailored and well groomed. Miss
BeauX resembled rather type of the modern 'out
of doors woman. who knows how to ride and 10
drive, 10 golf and to
There was another woman Academician once upon
a time-Mtss Anne Hall. who elected 1879
and died in 1853. There have been two
among the associate members in the past-Mrs-
William Bogardis and Mrs. Eliza Greatorex-and
there two AT ut-Nrs. Henry A Loop, OF
Clifton Springs and Miss Fidela Bridges. OF Ca
naan Conn. SO the distinction conferred upon Miss
Beaux Is a real
Miss Beaux began paint portraits when she
was very young. She used paint them on china
plaques before she did real work. Among her
paintings which have attracted attention quite re-
Gently the Mother and Daughter which took
a medal at the Pan-American. It Is a portrait OF
Mrs. Clement A. Griscom and Miss Griscom.
When asked whether the feminine going
70 produce artists in the future. Miss Beaux
That is going into thu philosophy OF the subject
upon. No tell what is going 10 happen OF
course, women are doing a great many things now
public curiosity seems TO be Unsuitable the sub
Ject Of whether they are going 70 be able to do
them as well as the men have done: OF whether
future ''''''' ''0'' - genus III ''e
Thus far there have seemed to be certain things
in which women can excel and certain things In
which they cannot. They have composed any
great music. on the other hand. in the very high
est rank of vocal and dramatic art, have
in way been exceed by
MY own notion Is that women Will never display
any greater creative nower in painting than they
have done in music My reason is that produce
a good painting requires certain power of OBJ
jectivity in their work which is In women. IL
requires a divorce between the artist and his work
d subordination OF his personality the work
OF his hands. II is not lack of power to acquire
a a a
lifetime of strenuous effort. But in that she
herself is the material with which the is
working. Every fresh mastery of difficulty the
part Of the artist adds to the charm and power
of the woman. Artist and woman inseparabe.
tribute to the one is tribute TO the other. Ono
is the other
But in painting, technique be gained by the
mastery OF eXtraneous material. The result is
something outside of herself, a thing apart.
which stands or falls on It's own merits.
There Is an entire divorce between the artist and
the product OF her art. Women in the past have
lived intensely subjective life. Everything that
life held for them depended entirely upon their
qualities that IL could not be otherwise.
They have not had the power of expressing them
selves effectively, like men. But that may not
hold in the future. With the multiplication of
opportunity women getting a training that they
never had before. out of IL all going TO get
different type of woman.
Thousands of women studying art to-day.
Out Of all this of material a great artist
may be produced. That is the only way in which
artists have been evolved among men-by the train
solitary genius discovered