The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-05-31

days without It's colored cover: harllfv 2 story without an illustration, or . p
 without an effort at decoration. TT 6 department of publishing houan ln &n carefully supervised as the 1itornrp 8S-' partment, and consequently the nnnnH1r1' Of pictorial establishment amone IT. < can publications Is very high. WIiio much or the work is commonplace. muc15' Of 1t is also distinguished. It is undoutf- edly the best in its decorative phaee. IF literal illustration in this country n11,rf to De popular. show the latest sty3oo ff7 women'S clothes; and the 'she and fIf6's joke. where stunning girl of the cltnor type and stalwart young man nIso of the same type are the excuse for TT is one of the unfailing standbyB Of {k6] illustrator. It would be safe to sav TIT hardly an illustrator in this country T1~1 not got his start by selling he ana s6S1 Jokes. The decorative work. howevrr. makes up in large measure for the in- anity of this kind of art. and the r1asr- zines are devoting more and more rnSr. to 1t. Jules Guerin. Elizabeth shiuuar, Green. Howard Pyle. Maxfieid Parrf3h and younger decorative illustrators. haxsl produced kind of illustrative art pe<s,. liarly American and not the outxroyr<IS of any Euopean influence Some cf IF covers on the magazines have the ffnSr qualities of paintings. the limfta11onn oe the color process. however, dullinx fhr1n ]. This process which has been infrodu1e1 only in the last few years, is stfl1 7n IF experimental stage. and 90 far has nof given very good results, the dfd1cuIty in making the machines register and tba crude colors of the various inks uanfnr perfect results almost impossible. HucE of this kind of work fs done howsv6r. and where 1t is mot too ambitious al,d iii. dulges only in tints. the effect is plsa&- ing. This feature plays a particulnr7r important part in book work, espscia31v in the cover designs-a department of iI- iustration much In vogue in the Iast fsu years. and followed to a larHe extent 6x women. One cannot heip but feel fI{s charm of this kind of work on entering q bookstore, and one often wonders hor7 such a assuggestive cover and superb illus trations are forced to keep company with such dull matter.
 Of the lighter and more popular folIows CTS of illustration. Gibson is stiIl popu1ex and easily holds his own. though. strfc<fv speaking. he is more a cartoonist than an illustrator. Christy is also populaf. though his work lacks the knowIsdge oR Gibson's. and is more careful of drapexv and the prevailing modes than of ana}. omy. So also with Hut and others who began by initiating Gibson and who e{fI1 cling to the habit somewhat.
 Of the older men who came up win Abbey and Reinhart, Sterner stiIl draws. and charming work he does, both in co11r and in black and white. Howard px1a is another of this class. and he. more than any other American illustrator. uses fha methods of the painter in his work. Like many others. he confines himself to a speciality. Of the younger men. Parrish is perhaps the most distinguished, th0ueh he has a close second in Walter Appleton Clark. Yohn, Hut, Chrfsty. Chapman. Glackens, all are young men, as are most of the illustrators now before the Amer ican public The field has also been irl- vaded by women. Alice Barber Stephens used to be almost the only woman tilus- trator, but now she has such competitors as Elizabeth Shippen Green (it is only og late years that Miss Green has devoted herself to decorative worlk), ID. Y. Cory. Charlotte Harding, Violet Oakley ana others who devote themselves to book work and designing.
 The effect of so much enthusiasm for illustration upon literature is that no mat ter what form it takes, whether a book, magazine or weekly paper, 1t has at least an artistic setting. Many reasons have been given for the enormous sales of 50 many books seemingly of so little merit. Isn't it probably because the makeup Of the book, it's cover, it's illustrations, ika beautifully designed type. tempt many "a purchaser before he has even seen tho contents?