Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-01-10
NICE REFINED
GIRLS LIVE AS
ARTIST MODELS
Art Workers Club Founded by
Helen Sargent, Proving
Great Benefit.
MANY TYPES OF POsERs
BY FREDERIC j. HAsKIN


headquarters in an old-fashioned house
on West Fifty Eighth street here. Pass
this house at any hour during the day,
and, II you are lucky, you are apt to
see its ancient door creak open and the
original of your favorite magazine cover
girl trip sedately down the steps. For
the house is usually full Of them. It has
about $50 such enchanting damsels on
Its membership list.
But they are to be taken seriously.
Don't forget that
The other day, a Broadway Don Juan,
bewitched at the sight of his favorite
bathing girl picture actually walking
down Seventh avenue-not in 4 bathing
suit, you understand, but recognizable
evertheless-proceeded to accompany her
at discreet distance as she turned down
Fifty Eighth street. When she left the
pavement and ran up a pair Of steps,
he stopped In his tracks and stared in
deep preOccupation at the door where
she had vanished.
Suddenly, the door opened a second
time, and gray-haired, sweet-faced
matrOn came out
Young man, what do you mean by fol-
lowing one Of our girls Z" demanded the
lady quietly but firmly. Now suppose
you run along back to Broadway, where
you belong. The girls in this club are
nice, quiet, refined girls, and they don't
want to be annoyed, and. furthermore,
we are not going TO have a lot of idle,
gaping men standing out here in front
OF our house"
Thus did the secretary of the club, as
she later explained to the reporter, nip
In the bud movement on the part Of the
male population Of New York to give
the cIUh eUfhre9r s%io
THE attitude Of the public, especially
the masculine public, toward the artists
model" said the secretary sadly sis
much the same as it is toward the chorus
gtrl-entirely frivolous. It is also in
curahly romantic. People seem to have
an idea that an artists model is 8 gay
young thing, who earns an easy, if not
luxurious, living by posing for fascinat-
ing artists with long hair. or Oriental
fezes, if they have bald heads. Now, as
a matter Of fact, posing is hard work.
end until recently the average artists
model has been poorly paid and has been
given about as much consideration as a
table or chair
CLUB SECURES JOBS
FOR MODELS.
Here the telephone on the secretary's
desk burst nOisily into her condolences.
| and she grabbed a notebook and pencil.
J Excuse me just a minute" she said,
Etaking up the instrument. Yes, Think
we have just the girl you need-AIiss B.
You know her? Too thin? I don't be-
IeTe we have anybody plumper. We
consider her one Of the plumpest girls
we have. About $50 pounds, I should
say, but tall and well-prOportioned. Yes,
think you might be able to use her
face, too. She's a good Spanish type.
Well, she lives, right up in your neigh
borhoOd-suppOse l have her come in and
see you anyway. If she doesn't suit,
perhaps we can get you some one else.
Miss NJ, whom you had before, will be
back from Havana Friday"
The secretary then explained that the
club runs an employment bureau for its
members, who are all registered and
classified By types. Posing is somewhat
like private nursing; q girl never knows
how long her job is going to last or how
much money it Is going 10 pay her. Some
artists take a long time to complete
their work, and others work very fast.
Some can afford to pay a high rate for
a model, and others can scarcely afford
to employ one at all. But conditions in
this respect are better for posers than
they have ever been before, thanks to
the persistent Tnercenary efforts Of the
club. A good model can now demand
and collect a dollar an hour for her
work, at which rate some OF them make
as much as IS day.
Besides its employment bureau, the Art
Workers Club, as it is called, operates
& restaurant on the first floor Of the
house, which serves excellent meals at
cost, while o'clock tea IS served every
afternoon absolutely free. To this art
lists as well as models are invited, since,
as the secretary explained, "the chief
object Of the club is to bring the two
factions together for the promotion Of a
better understanding"
Thus, on a rainy afternoon, the big
elubroom is filed with models draped
about the furniture in graceful attitudes,
while they chat and drink tea with So
icably-inclined artists. The room, with
its artistic draperies and comfortable
touches and easy chairs, looks more like
a drawing room than a clubroom, and
the casual stranger would never guess
from the frivolous repartee and engaging
manner OF its guests that serious bust
ness was being transacted. Yet it is az
these teas that many New York artists
find their various types Of models
COSTUMES OF EVERY
PERIOD FURNISHED BY CLUB.
On the third floor Of its large, old
fashioned home, the club maintains a
costume department. which contains cos
tunes OF every period and nationality
These are aften rented at a nominal fee
with the model For instance, while the
reporter was visiting the club the other
day a wealthy artist who lives in a
suburb OF Mex York. came IN and told
the secretary he was in search of Dutch
type and a Dutch costome Of the kind
worn by certain group Of peasants liv-
ing on an island in tie ZUyder Tee The
artist was told to go up to the club
room and make himself at home while
the secretary found him a model In a
remarkably short time a faxen-haired
girl, with broad cheek bones and a ro-
bust figure came in the front door in
answer to the secretary's telephone sum-
mons, and was rushed up to the third
floor to be fitted for the said peasant
costume. The same afternoon she was
out at the artists suburbanNstudio. ready
to take her pose
Once every February, the club has
a models review which is considered one
Of the most important events In artistic
circles. To this review all Of the known
artists In the city are invited. The club
room is turned into a small auditorium.
with rows OF chairs to Rccanmodate a
iargs-sized audience. while in thu center
" the room is an ele7ated platform for
the exhibition Of the models. The girls
s;ppesr In the NEST beautiful costumes
shat the costume department is capable
OF turning out-costumes representing
everything from the early Greek and the
Italian Renaissance ,periods 10 tina latast