The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-07-05
WITH THE OLD
 LYME ART COLONY The Best Known Institu- tion of Its Kind in
 America. TONALsCHooL SUPREME Pupils Come Into Intimate Contact With Their
 Teachers.
TONALSCHOOL SUPREMl

Lillian Baynes Griffin writes in an in- teresting manner to the Hartford Cour- ant of America's famous art colony at Old Lyme
 The most talked about art colony in America to-day is at Old Lyme, Con- necticut, and in art circles. 1t is gen. erally supposed by those who are watching its rapid revolutions with a dsinterested sense of humor, that this summer will decide its fate. The ques- ton is, will Lyme be able to hold its own, and continue as a place where the best American painters congregate to produce their work, or will it be swamped by the dilettantes and art student?
 The village Is now crowded to over flowing with young devotees of the pal lette and brush. For the past two years they have been steadily growing thick CT, and they have at least invaded the "holy house. place heretofore kept sacred for the accommodation of the masters" Students now sit elbow to elbow with their instructors, join them In their after dinner cigars, and discuss impressionism versus realism with the conviction and confidence only found in the young.
 The art colony has steadily grown since the first few painters chose 1t as sketching ground, but never before has there been such sudden demand for every inch of available space as there Is this year. In spite of the many additions that have been built on to the hotel and boarding houses there are not enough accommodations to sup ply the demands of the students. Many of the private houses have offered up their north rooms for irnpromptu atel- iers, fishermen's houses have been con- fiscated, and used to dry sketches in Nothing and nobody seems to have es- caped. Lyme cows are so busy posing for the art classes that they have hard ly time to be milked, and the livery business has been paralyzed by the equestrian painters. Faithful dogs who have always enjoyed the undisputed right-of-way on Main street now find themselves anchored to stakes during the busy hours, and on rainy days all live stock are compelled to divide their barns with such young men and women as have been unable to secure more suitable studio space in which to work. At this unexpected influx of students many of the arrived" men literally took to the woods. Louis Paul Dessar, Frank Vincent DuMond, Jules Turcas, and one or two others have fled to Grassy Hill, five miles from the village of Lyme, and according to their own description, "up hill both ways.p All B. | Talcott, who was one of the charter members of the colony, has sought refuge in an old farmhouse on the banks of the Connecticut, and is only seen in town on market day, and stud ents must ford river and do much climbing before his placed is reached. l One explanation of the remarkable jump Lyme has taken is that Willard Metcalf sold in three days $S,O0C worth of Lyme landscapes in the St Botolph Club last winter. This made | l4y Hle l1llSSdpSS SOullN 4ihO Obhhudl U oil, and with no less enthusiasm than the gold hunters of '49, the picture makers have chosen Lyme as 8 place in which to swarm,
 If I am not mistaken, it was Robert IBrandegee of Pennington who in
 formed the Friday Morning Club that the income of the average artist is
 $17.S0 a year, and it was William Ged. ney Bunce who claimed to have hat lmore experience with painters, who
 took exception to what he termed
 "Brandegee's inaccurate remark" ant
 said that as nearly as he could figure
 after forty-f1ve years of the closes
 association with brush wielders, thet
 income was eight dollars per annun
 and irregular. So 1t is not surprising
 that MT, Metcalf's phenomenal success has aroused enthusiasm in the plac
 where he painted his pictures.
 It is ten years since a small band o
 painters armed with little but theil
 sketching materials left the Grant Central Station in search of a quie
 and paintable country, where they might live and work without being op pressed by New York rents and othe obligations so tormenting to the artis tic temperament. There were five il
 all, and William Henry Ranger Wa !. the leader. According to tradition they were headed for no special desti