Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-10
The Business Side of ART
By Frederic j. HaSkin

rope many art dealers look upon the
average American millionaire as sim
plV n man with more money tnan
brains, and do not hesitate to sell MN
any daub that he may be foolish
enough to buy. Many artists whose
talents are worthy a better cause are
constantly employed in retouching ana
restoring old canvases and making
them appear to be genuine works of
art.
In hundreds of instances art for
peries have deceived even the best ex-
perts. Many objects that have been
venerated for scores of years have been
found afterwards to be hagrant 1or-
geries. Not less than fifty pieces,
some OF which had been acquired at
great cost, were removed from the
British Museum galleries at Kensing-
ton because they proved to be worth
less In 1904 a portrait of Arlosto was
acquired by the British government
for $150,OO0. There are many experts
who say that not only Is 1t not the
work of Titan, but that it is not even
portrait OF Ariosto'
A war is now waging between Eng
land and Germany The casus pelii 10
a certain bust bought in England py
DR.. Bode, the Berlin art expert ana
museum director, who is Regarded as
the MOTluS IOTbillpSL JuNbS
subjects. He paid $4,000 for the bust.
No sooner was 1t bought than evidence
was produced that 1t was an carry
Victorian work by Lucas, second rate
English sculptor, copied after a punt
ing by Leonardo. Documentary eVL-
dence of the production was secureo'
also proof that 1t had stood long neg
lected in a garden, and nnally IL was
shown that the wax was the same as
that used by Lucas. An examination
of the core showed the presence or
small niece of old-fashioned British
bed coVer. But DR.. Bode ana ms Ger
man compatrlots stand pat ana declare
the work to be genuine. The cohtro-
yersv has made it the most popular
piece in any Berlin museum '@ouas' @
crowds focl<ing around IL all the time
In 1905 the Rokeby Venus, painted by
Velasuuez, now hanging in the ma
tional gallery at London, was Doughe
for S225 OOO 1t is now claimed by no
less an authority than Sir w. b. Ricn-
mond that there are two pigments III
the picture which were not used IN lhe
days of Valasquez. The friends OF the
canvas answer that even this does not
show lack of genuineness, since some
restorer might have added these pig
ments. They point out that many OF
the known -to-b be old masters have oeen
restored i'm the same way.
When DIR. Cook presented the pic
lures in his illustrated lecture, at least
the artists discovered fraud. AFTER
he lectured in Baltimore the artists
there got together and discussed tnelr
impressions. They agreed that the
picture cs DR.. Cook at the pole was a
slide made from a picture faxed by
some artist, but the climax was
reached when he showed n picture of
himself and his two Eskimo attendants
in a boat. There was no other person
present with them, so. asked the art
lists, who could have SNAPPED the
camera?
In the museum of Algiers there is
one object which is unique in the
worlds list of curiosties. 1t is
plaster cast of the martyr Geronimo
In the agony of death. The Algerians
nut him alive into a soft mass OF
concrete which was presently hard
ened into a block and used in the
construction of a fort. This was in
1863, and about forty years later
Spanish writer described the event and
told how that particular block could be
located. After 800 years the fort was
torn down, the block opened and the
cast made which now adorns the Al
gerian exhibit.
In bowling down to the smiling little
god Billiken, millions of people have ac-
kIlDWleuBNu lit CItdllNt VI MISS
Florence PretZ, q Kansas City girl.
Before her creation of Billiken she was
failure as an artist, at least from
q bread winning standpoint. But
Billiken caught the public fancy from
the time he invaded Chicago, and II
was not long before orders were COM
ing in from everywhere. With the
funds thus accumulated, Miss Pretz
has a studio of her own in Chicago
and is afforded an opportunity for
study under the best teachers of that
center of art.
While there are many instances
where quick appreciation and good
financial reward have come to the
struggling artist they are the excep-
ton and not the rule. Literary men
are often dead long years in advance
of true appraisement of their
labors. A Poe may peddle his Raven
for a song, and Riley get fired from
a newspaper because his poems are
not worth his salary. The works of
Rembrandt, Michael Angelo. Rubens
and others are valued at millions, but
they received only a small share of
the fruits of their labors.