New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1907-12-25
ART WORLD ROMANCE
Pictures by Whistler, Long Hid
den, Hung at West Point.

iVNSss W " ssibSssSts 1OtlS iuu
den, Hung at West Point.
FIVE ORIGINAL DRAWINGS.
Sketches Of Academy Life Made When
Great Artist Was a Cadet Found In
ty-year-oid Scrapbook Stored In
Attic Camp Life Witty Pictured.
By the discovery in a half forgotten
box of a ffty-year-old scrapbook cor
tanning five original drawings BY
James Abbott MacNeill Whistler the
library of the United States Military
academy at West Point has been en-
riched and new light is thrown on the
early work of the great artist says
the New York Herald. The other day
the five pictures were hung on the
walls at the academy, to which they
were presented upon their discovery Il
few weeks ago The story of their dis
coyery is one of the romances of the
world of art
E'ifty-six years ago, in the summer OF
1851, Whistler, then boy OF sixteen.
entered the Military academy. At
that early age in life he had already
begun to show marked talent for
drawing, and the records of the acad-
envy show he was at the head of his
class in that department One of the
West Point instructors was First Lieu
tenant AbsalOm Baird who afterWard
gained distinction in the civil war and
died with the rank OF brigadier gen
eral. Lieutenant Baird encouraged the
and as a mark of his appreciation
Whistler gave his instructor some Of
the sketches of scenes about the acad-
envy he had made in his leisure time
Little dreaming that the author of
the sketches would ever become one of
the most famous American artists,
Lieutenant Baird put them in a scrap
book in which he had filed many me-
nentoes of West Point. preserving
them undoubtedly because of the hui
morous recollections Of cadet life
which they called forth After the
civil war the scrapbook, with other
volumes, was packed in a box and
stored away in the attic of the home
! of General Baird's widow The gen
erals son in turn became an army off,
Ger and is now on the army list as
| Captain William Baird, retired
A few weeks ago while rummaging
| among rubbish in the attic Of his old
| home Captain Baird came upon the box
of books and the scrapbook with the
Whistler pictures knowing the Mill
tary academy was eager to get any
mementoes of Whistler's life there, he
sent the five drawings to Colonel
Charles w. Larned, professor OF
drawing and dean of the academic
board Colonel Larned has had them
framed, and four pen sketches repre-
senting n tired cadet on guard duty
have been hung in the library, while a
wash drawing occupies a place on the
wall of the classroom Of the depart
ment of drawing
There are other works of Whistler
at the Military academy, but they are
simply the prescribed work of the
classes i'll drawing in his time. copies
of other pictures, still life sketches
and typographical work. The five that
were hung recently are original in idea
as we'll as execution. and probably
there are no earlier examples of Whis-
tiers original work in existence. Only
! one of them. the wash drawing of
camp life, is signed. That bears the
initials u A.. W. Whistler did not
| insert the "MacNeill.' his mothers
maiden name, until after he had left
| the academy From memoranda in
the scrapbook, however, the other four
/ pictures are known to be also Whis-
/ tiers work. There is no way of plac-
ing the exact date Of the pictures, ex-
cept that they must have been made
between 1851 and January, 1854, when
Whistler left West Point to become an
! engineers craftsman.
-Four of the pictures are a series OF
pen drawings. humoronsly illustrating
the experience of a sleepy cadet on
/ guard duty. In the first he Is shown
proudly shouldering his rife and pac.
ing his post. in the second his head
droops and his feet lag, in the third he
is sitting on the ground, and in the
fourth he is stretched prone, fast
asleep They are inscribed First Half
Hour Second Half Hour etc, and
each is headed ION Guard In Camp"
Each of these drawings is about by
10 inches in size. The wash drawing
in monochrome, showing a cadet seat
ed on the ground with the white tents
of the cadet camp in the distance, is
slightly larger.