The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1912-11-25
HOW AN ARTIST
FOUND HER WAY
Genius as Painter Came to Light
by Trick of Chance.
BY FRANCES sHAFFER.

ny fht-NSE4o
1t was fifteen years ago that a famou.
/ French painter, NJ. Jules Flandrin, lef
| his studio for a little stroll, and as he
had not planned TO stay very long he
left the door aiar.
But, as it happened, ne met an artist
friend and they went to a nearby cafe
for a game of billiards, and the min
utes heightened into hours.
While they. were chatting and enjoy
ing the game, a young woman went to
the studio 10 see the artist. and finding
the door open, she slipped in to await
his return. But he was in no haste, and,
finding the long walt rather wearisome,
the girl looked about the room, drifting
from finished pictures to sketches just
Begin. marveling and perhaps wishing
as she passed from easel to easel.
And then her good fairy must have
been standing guard to prompt her mind
and her fingers, for the story runs along
as if there was a magic wand some
where
UnskiIIed in Craft.
She was a poor girl, uneducated and
with hands unskined in any craft but
that OF the needle, but as she looked
at the beautiful work about her she
knew that more than anything else she
wanted to become an artist
She did not know how to 20 about
it. but something whispered to her TO
try. and. acting upon the sudden in
spiratiOn, she began to sketch a bunch
of flowers that nodded at her in a very
friendly and encouraging way from the
bowl where they were clustered
Then she forgot that she was wait
ing. forgot that she was in a strange
studio and knew nothing about art
With unskilled fingers and an unframed
mind she worked away so busily and
so full of interest that she never heard
the creak of the door, never saw
shadow or heard a step. And for some
minutes the artist stood and watched
her.
He saw not a particle of technical skill
and knew that the girls fingers were
simply following the promptings OF Ma
ture, but he saw enough else to be quite
sure that years of training and of work
would make a world of difference. He
encouraged her to drop the needle for
the painters brush, and undertook to
supervise her studies and her work.
Weary Time.
1t was a weary time. for she had no
funds, but she struggled along for years.
studying working. and all the while
getting a little nearer her goal. AS
time went by she sent specimens OF her
work to different exhibitions, and the
quiet charm Of it first won a bit Of
praise. then a bit Of fame.
And this autumn in the Paris salon
there hang two pictures which have a
particular fascination TO visitors, because
they bear the name of the artist. Mime.
Jacqucline MarvaI. whose genius as
lsr-hN ~.
trick Of chance.
One calls it a trick Of chance but there
was something very much human in the
way 1t worked. For NJ. FIandrin did not
leave il all to her and to kindly fate. He
supervised her studies and then, when
there was technical skill back OF the
ready fingers he helped to make her
known in the Paris world of art.
And the humble working woman of yes
terday is the recognized artist Of to-day.
Possibly she never may shine with rare
light. hut her work is accepted and
praised by critics and the thronGs that
pause before her pictures remember the
story OF her first inspiration, and they
are glad and proud for her sake.
World APpIauds.
For the whole world gives its sympa-
thy and a bit of its heart to folks who
by work. pluck. and by genius, with a
little friendly help, are enabled TO step
out from the work environment in which
they are born to a field where they come
into their own.
And the wonder is that men and women
who long to make their money or their
talk do not oftener stop in the
by-ways and help along some of the
young workers whom nature intended for
one thing. but of whom the conditions of
life exact quite another.
For nobody doubts that there Is many
a young woman YEARLY Flooding along in
shop, in factory, or in other tuneless way
who might easily abide on the heights
Of congenial work if somebody would
to set a door ajar.