The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-18


 women. ,-,-
 While it is this special field in which she is best known, her work mas en- riched books that called for dlherent talent George Eliot's Middle March
 John Halifax, Gentlemen by MISS Muloek and Louisia M. Alcotts 'Little Women,n as well as Bart Hartes poems were illustrated by Miss 5tephehs'
 Julius Maritzen in Q recent article In the Twentieth Century Home calls at
 tentlon to some of the moro striking characteristics of the artists work, ana in referring to her career he writes lh- terestingly of her early training
 Up five flights of stairs on the top of narrow building on Chestnut street. Philadelphia, Alice Barber Stephens one of Americas foremost women illustra- tors, has her studio. There Is no eleVa- tor to accelerate your progress skyward; to reach the artists presence you are compelled to walk.
 The location of Mrs Stephens work room typihes, to a great extent, her mode of life and methods. Linked with her
 genius as sketcher, hard work and per
 sistenee whispered their encouragement
 as she climbed the arduous ladder that
 spells success Even as she has reached the topmost rung of her profession, there is the same painstaldng, the same appli- cation, the same attention to the slightest detail, which made the Alice Barber of twenty five years ago the leader Of her
 class
 Simplicity of character-such as few
 women artists have had 1t in their power
 to express pictorialy-applies in no less
 degree to Mrs. Stephens personality Dis
 missing the fantastic, the aphemeral, as
 something not for her. she is content to l follow the dictates of her own artistic l conscience. Temptation thers has been in , plenty to lure her from her chosen field of soulful interpretation. Yet, while no less ambitious today than when she first began to wield the pencil and the brush, she has remained faithful to the tradi- tion that brought her prominence when
 technique was the thing. In her case no ] further reward of fame and fortune could compensate her for surrendering that ideal which has played on her heart strings for quarter of a century. Care and mplation-complete sympathy
 with every character she depicts-are as essential to her performance as Is the physical pleasure Mrs. Stephens derives from that daily, self-imposed smbulation up those tortuous stairs leading to her studio.
 The Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts and the School of Design for Women are both time -honored institutions the in- fluence of which has marked the artistic career of Mrs. Stephens throughout it's entire course. Whatever knowledge she brought to bear in her capacity as an international critic, to a considerable ex- tent must have been due to that early training when wood engrav- Ing was no less science than an art. A consideration of Mrs Stephens in her relation to her own handieraft, and as she has inspired tine younger artists, must perforce take it's T., her undisputed talent brought her the opportunity to attend the School of De- sign for Women. To gain this privilege, without detriment to her standing in her class in the public school, it was agreed by the board that one day week Alice Barber would be free to attend the Fil- bert street institution. From the hour of her entrance to the School of Design dates the classical education of N.hich she has ever remained fond and faith ful votary
 Not until she began her studies at the Academy of the Fine Arts, did she find herself. It should be borne in mind that, as far back as runs her earliest recollection, the pad and pencil kept her equal company with her dolls. Free hand drawing was to her natural out let, the source of which must have been spontaneity Only an artist born an artist could penetrate as she does the mysterious undercurrent of the child mind. No amount of technique could of itself produce this fidelity of theme, which makes the text stand out boldly makes the picture self-explanatory. Here is to be found the source from which springs the perennial freshness of Mrs. Stephens drawings.
 Twenty-eight years have passed since the eventful day when Mrs. Stephens en- tered the Academy as a pupil. It was hA OP hA fafan al av1af tfNra which was to prove the awakening of American art in all its branches. Her seven years of detached study at the School of Design had left the young girl with mind and eye untrammeled; as another Alice, in another wonderland, the picture-galleries in Fairmount park strongly possessed her ina agination.
 It Is not to be wondered at that when the art editor of the old "Scribner's Magazine" selected Alice Barber for the purpose of reproducing the Tanagra fig urines, the art wiseacres of the day awaited the result with some misgivings. That the young student had evinced marked ability as draftsman and an etcher, none would gainsay. That she could produce such remarkable effects In black-and- white as the Tanagra fgurines revealed on paper, not even her closest admirers had expected. It was her knowledge of color-value that here made her reproduction of the Greek master pieces work of art. also
 Very early in her career Mrs. Stephens became identified with the Harpers, and the several publications issued by this firm are replete with her illustrations. It should be no tax on the memory to recall how the pages of Harpers' Young People teemed with pictures by Alice Barber, during It's existence. Since then, most of the leading publishing houses have sought her service.