The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-03-29
NATIVE GENIUS CAN
NOT Be O0WNED
This Is Illustrated in the Life
Of Nathan Edwards of
Economy.
HE FIGHTS ADVER SITY.
TODAY THE MAN STANDS AS A
UNIQUE FIGURE IN THE WORLD
OF ART AS HE HAS FORCED HIS
OWN SUCCESS IN LIFE.

oWN SoSSCoo IiN IiF
That adverse circumstances cannot
keep down native genius, is the story
told by the life of Nathan Edwards, an
Indiana artist whose work is now at
tracing wide attention. Born in log
house near Economy, dreaming from
childhood of the time when he would
become a great artist, he began to
work at the carpenter trade, to get
money to pay his expenses for a
course in the art studio Of Paris. In
less than year an accident made him
cripple for life and left him stranded
In a little country settlement, never to
be able to take that training in art that
he so often dreamed of. With grim de-
termination he set to work: conquered
every difficulty and today he is a cele-
brated artist and the friend of the
worlds most famous painters and
icraftsmen. He is rich too, where he
once was poor. and his own art gallery
contains some of the most uniq ;
pieces of art to be seen any where. He
is proud of his success and we'll he may
be, for his career in the art world. is as
unique and impressive as the careers
of Lincoln and Garfield among states
men.
Today tourists from all over America
and Europe land at the little station of
: Economy. walk or drive over the mile
or so of undulating hills that separate
his home from the town and present
themselves like good Mohammedans at
this Mecca of artists. Every year there
are at least two thousand who go to
.see his quaint rare works and to listen
ito the jolly good stories that he tells.
For despite his misfortune. he is an
Optimist of the most pronounced type
and takes life AS cheerfully as though
1t had always been sunshine to him. He
shows his visitors through his gallery
which contains works in marble. wood
carvings. bronze, pictures in colOrs and
pen-and-ink sketches, and sends them
away with some souvenir representa-
tive of his skill and achievements The
visitor when he leaves hardly knows
whether he is more impressed by the
man he has seen or the works of art
which have greeted his eyes.
An Artist Born.
Nathan Hayward Edwards is an art
list born. 1t comes from both sides of
the house. Though his parents were
poor his mother was a designer and
maker Of net lace and his father was a
cabinet maker. Among his mother
relatives there have been three fam
Gus artists, George Gray Barnard the
sculptor, who did the work on the
Pennsylvania state house at Harris
burg, and two Barnard brothers who
have a studio in New York. On his
fathers side the artistic trait has
lowered conspicuously in the persons
OF George Edwards. who has a studio
I'm Paris and John Edwards, the art
critic of the London Times. These
men have made brilliant succC IS,
but it is doubtful if their work is as
rich in ideas or as unique in charac-
ter, showing as unspoiled or as free a
genius as that of their more unfOrtu-
nate relative who has never known
master or browsed in the art fields of
Europe.
: A visitor will most often find Mr..
Edwards seated at his desk. his tele-
phone at his elbow, very much like a
business man. He has an extensive
correspondence and much of his time
is taken in answering letters. He
takes this method of finding out what
is going on in the world. for his in
juries are such that he cannot travel.
Features Impressive.
Mr.. Edwards features are impress
I've. They write themselves upon the
mind and cannot be erased. He has
large brown eyes which at times flash
with an inspiration. and again are
dreamy and faraway when he is lost
in thought. over his forehead fall a
few stray locks of hair He is gener-
ally dressed in his artists jacket After
short conversation he is proud to
lead the way to his art treasures. And
we'll he may be. for perhaps nowhere
else is to be found such a combination
of carvings, sculptured pieces and
paintings. His gallery consists of two
rooms the walls OF which he has fres-