Alaska sentinel., 1907-02-07
QUEER ACTS OF VANDALISM.
Noted Artists Have Been Moved te
 Destroy Their own Works.

Noted Artists Have Been Moved te
 Destroy Their own Works.
 It Is perhaps but natural that men and women of genius should desire that the best of their works only should live after them and for this reason many a celebrated artist has de- stroyed his own pictures. When Ho- garth was almost at the height of his fame he painted an interior which, was somewhat severely criticised by a friend The artist acknowledged the | justness of the criticism and when his frank friend had left the studio he took a sharp knife, deliberately cut the canvas in two and then threw the pieces into the coal scuttle. There they were found the following day by one of the maids, who took the pieces home.
 Some time afterward the story of the ruined picture reached the ears of a relative of Hogarth's, who there upon went to the maid and asked her to sell him the pieces. She agreed to do so, but when she went to look for
 
 was made and inquiries instituted, but with no result and the relatives had to be content with half of the picture, which Is now In the possession of Ho- garth's descendants In Aberdeen. | Hogarth was but one of many artists who have, In fit of discontent, de stroyed their own works. Jules Flam- meron, in an interesting article on the life of the late sculptor, Gerome, tells how the great artist had been work {, ing for many weeks on an Ideal group symbolizlng the birth of spring, when he suddenly became convinced that his | treatment of the subject was wrong and with one blow of his clinched hand he reduced the graceful group to mere mass of inert clay" Chartran, the famous French DOT trait painter, once destroyed a picture for which he was to receive fl,000 The portrait was that of an American lady famous for her beauty. When the picture was nearing completion the husband of the lady called at Mir. Chartran's studio in Paris and re- quested to be shown the portrait. After looking at 1t for few moments he de- clared that It was a very beautiful painting and that the coloring was su- perb, but that 1t no more resembled his wife than 1t did the empress of China.
 Chartran merely bowed. laid down h; toly knife, deliberately slashed the picture into ribbons before the eyes of his as- tonlshed visitor and showed him the door. The sequel to the story came out later, when It became known that the millionaire husband had visited the studio for the express purpose of get ting the artist to make reduction In his price.
 But perhaps the most dramatic case of an artist destroying hls own work occurred In New York when Gutzon Borghum, the well-known sculptor, rose early on the morning of Oct. 9 and made his way to the Belmont chapel of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, on Mornlngslde Heights, and broke to pieces hls two statues. colossal in their proportions, repre- senting the Angel of the Annunciation and the Angel of Resurrection.
 The cause of this remarkable act was due to the sculptor having been severely criticised for conceiving and executing these statues as beautiful women. When seen afterward by the excited reporters he said that he felt like a murderer, but that it was the only thing he could do under the cir cumstances. MT. Borglum took away with him the heads of the two angels and one foot, which he intends to keep