The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1915-05-29
ART DEALERS OF HOLLAND HIT HARD

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, May
10. The wal has hit the artists and
art dealers of Holland 81: severely
that fine paintings are selling as low
as $40. In these days of enforced re-
t%renchment there is littl money
for the purchase of pictures and the
usual inflow of tourists from the
United States, England and Germany,
whose arrival every spring was the
signal for the Dutch art dealers to
put up their prices, has been check
ed by war. Several dealers in the
Hague and Amsterdam have been
forced t. seek a livelihood in other
lines. One of the leading dealers
of the Hague has closed his shop.
while another has gone into the pub
LEGATION of illustrated books, largely
on subjects germane to the war, for
which there is still a market.
To make matters worse, the Dutch
government has withdrawn it's annual
fixed credit at the disposition of the
state museums for the purchase OF
works of art. The poor artists, there
fore, have not even the ecour to
state aid in their need, which would
be open in ordinary times. DR.. Hof-
stede de Groot, late director of the
print room of the royal museum at
Amsterdam, and an art expert wei
known in the United States, regrets
this step taken by the Netherlands
government.
Never in my memory" he told the
Associated Press, has there been
such extraordinary opportunities to
secure valuable paintings at low pric-
es as now. individuals cannot al
ford to do so, perhaps; but the gov
eminent can. An art book or a
painting worth purchasing for one
of this royal museums will probably
be bought sooner or later, anyhow.
The thing is hal most of them can
he bought for less money now than
later"
The artists themselves have under
taken the relief of the more needy
among their fraternity. A number OF
these organizations have exhibition
and sales rooms attached to their
club houses, and have arranged to
have sales exhibitions of paintings of
the members, offered at a fixed max
imum price, generally far below what
the exhibitors might normally expect
to receive for their work. The Pull
chri studio, for example. has had two
such sales, the first with the maxi
mum price set at twenty dollars. at
which $50 pictures wera sold. The
second has just been held; the prices
were fixed between $40 and $40, at
which figures 21O paintings were dis
posed of. The queen of the Neither
lands bought twelve. the Prince Con.
sort eight and the Queen Neither also
eight. All the purchasers were
Dutch. AS the membership of the
Pulchri studio consists of recognized,
established artists, the Dutch found
the occasion thus offered too good to
let slip. The artists associations
are employing also their available re-
lief funds to purchase the pictures
of artists hard pressed to dispose OF
the societies and sold at auction
after the war, when it is hoped that
times will be better. Anything re-
ceived over the price paid by the So
ciety is to go to the artist, when the
final sale is made. The fund en-
ployed for these purchases is con-
stantly being increased by the sale of
paintings by artists of means. who
can afford to and do present their
works to the societies to be sold, the
proceeds going to the relief fund.
Certain of the societies also hold lot