The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-25

10 hppfeci"ee ASt peauea' Ahae ""s
 all"
 Professor whittaker's advanced
 years, attested by patriarchal appear
 ance and gentle, fatherly manner, his
 deep devotion to art, and above all the singular purity of his life and thought, seem to give the weight of unquestion- able authority to his answer to anoth- or question.
 "Yes." said he, Ca great many models who pose in the nude are good, moral men and women. These are generally the best models, too, for they are apt to have higher ideals and are more conscientious in their work I know a brother and sister, two as innocent young people as I ever knew any, 1 where, who pose in the nude either to- gether or separately. and think noth- | ing of it. She Is one of the best fe- male models in Brooklyn today"
 | It is not an uncommon thing, espe- cially in Europe. for a whole family husband and wife. with their grown up sons and daughters-to pose together I fin the nude; nor do they feel that it debases them in the least.
 l Among the most notable female mod els who pose for the best illustrators | in New York are Miss Laura Herrick, Miss Brannon, Miss Bellies and Mime. Reviere. Miss Herrick is an exceed- ingly graceful girl. who possesses im- asination enough to realize the idea I that a good artist Is trying to express. This. far more than beauty of face or | figure is an essential of useful mod ei. Many if not most, very pretty women are impossible as models. ana as for pretty men. experienced illus trators reject them without so much as giving them trial
 In Paris Mile. Juliette and Mile. | Louise are perhaps the best figures to | be found among the Latin Quarter models of today, though Jeanne Dufal, | a dainty little Algerian, Is probably the most chic of all the Parisian models. As a matter of fact, French women are not often the good models they are popularly supposed to be, Even in Paris | some of tho best models are Engtish girls. Artists familiar with the figures Of the best female models In New 1ork and Paris tell me that, while the American girls show much larger de- yelopment of arms and legs (due, IL is thought, to athletic exercised, the French r,rls are much more fully de- veloped about the bust, their arms ana legs being usually so thin as to war rant the expressive word skinny.
 But more interesting than any of the women models in Paris Is Leopold Le- chon, known 'the blind Christ mod- el." He is an absinthe hend ana homeless slave to cigarettes, yet he has nosed for more famous pictures of the Messiah than any other man now iv- l ing. Totally blind. he Is led about by his little dog, "Dick," familiar sight as he goes. puffing his inevitable cigarette, gropinE at the end of his string through the narrow streets Of the Ouartier to Julian's and Collarossfs schools.
 Men. as a rule, make better models than women do. In the first place, 1t is the consensus of opinion among artists that men generally have better figures than women have-that is to say, gen orally speaking. men have better male figures than women have female ngures. Then. as a rule, men seem to be better able than women are to express char acter in their pastures. A man can nose for a female figure much more sue- cessfully than a woman can pose Tor male figure. because, as some artists ex- plain, his bone structure Is more In eVl- dence. Some illustrators even go so far as to prefer male models for female characters, and 1t is a fact that one or the best artists in this country, in max ing the illustrations for one Of the most popular of recent novels. used the same male model for all the characters, both male and female, in the book
 Character Model Former Actor. Frank Wilson, who is regarded as the
 best character model in New York, IS wonderfully versatile. He was formef- ly an actor, but his desire TOT proaoer and freer and more spontaneous express
 sion of character, together with n fond ness for artists, caused him to exchange inc stage for the studio. He thorough
 ly loves his present employment, and entirs with his whole sympathetic soul into whatever phase of character the artist who employs him desires to ex- press. He will have nothing to do with any but the best artists and fllustrators' and even they must produce good re- suits from his posings or he loses ms patience with them. He can anord 10 be Independent, for he is in great de- mand. but even If he were not, he prob ably would be very willing to sacrifice employment for his pride in the matter of posing only for successful results. Another male model, though of very different sort, is "OId Bylo," so called 1 because he invariably goes to sleep as | soon as he sits down before an artist | He is a queer old chap with just enough mystery attached to him to make nm | interesting apart from his face, which | has so great an attraction for artists that his portrait, in one form or an other has been sketched, drawn and painted oftener, perhaps. than that or any other professional model in this country. Although he has been A familiar figure in the stu dios of many American cities | for several years. nobody seems to know his name or anything about him He cannot speak word of English | and he seems to have no desire to learn one. Not long ago. he was arrested as | a vagrant because he was asleep on l parlS1 bench. Wholly undisturbed oy | the fact that he was a prisoner, he sat down fin the police station and went to | sleep. He cannot, it seems, sit doWh anywhere without going to sleep. By i dint of much trying the desk sergeant
 managed at last to get a single word | from him It was the name of we'll | known artist Whom the sergeant call | ed the artist by telephone. describing | the prisoner and saying that he was
 now asleep in d chair, the artist knew It
 must be "Old Bylo" and came down ana | took him away to better quarters.
 l Long Feather is an Indian model well
 known in the art schools of Manhattan
 and Brooklyn. Beside being real. for- 1 truly red man of the forest he has only
 one distinguishing feature so far as ! can learn. and that is that he will stand
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