Evening star., 1922-09-13

TINE priceless mantle Of the old
masters of a rare Japanese
art has been won by an
American woman, who Is ac-
| claimed by art critics of both eastern
| and western lands as the originator
of a delightful variation of the IA
| nous old wood-block prints which
reached their greatest previous
height under the skillful hands OF
Japanese artists Of earlier times
Mrs. Bertha Bull Lum, some copies
of whose work are on exhibition Al
the Corcoran Art Gallery, is the laoy
who is the recipient of this grea!! !
honor. She was born in Iowa ano
studied drawing, color and design at
the Art Institute in Chicago. Among
her teachers were Frank Holm anu
later, Anna Weston, the we'll known
woman stained-glass designer.
While in Chicago Mrs. Lum first
became particularly interested In TINS
ancient Japanese art of printmaking.
and believing that, as she herself
| says, ''printmakers were as plentlIui
as paper lanterns or Rmonos In ia
pan" she planned short visit to the
land of the rising sun in 1908: I0
her utter amazement. Mrs. Lum FOUND
that the skilled artisans of this work
were, rare, and she was finally led by
a man of great influence and knowl-
edge to the best printmaker or Japan,
who lived in a tiny back street in a
distant suburb of Toxic.
There are three types Of trained
artisans needed to make the success
full wood-block print: the designer,
the engraver and the printer. I'm
fortunately, the beautiful art of doing
this work well Is becoming, almost a
lost art among the Japanese people
| and Is now used chiefly for advertis-
ing purposes or to make copies OF the
old masters work which is univer--
sally considered uneQualed by that OF
any other people OF the world in this
art of printing in color from wood
blocks.
THE process sounds so simple
when read from a standard book
| on block printing that many skilled
artists even such as Mrs. Lum. are
required To accomplish this work
| successfully. Seeing that there was
much more to this than she had
dreamed, Mrs. Lum went again to
Japan in 1908 and worked for three
months herself in a print shop. The
owner Of the shop sold her, as great
favor. thirteen tools for $50. At the
time she was delighted to get them
even at this price. Later, she bought
fifty highly superior tools for IS.
Mrs. Lum had to overcome many OBJ
stacles and met with many unusual
adventures in her search for a
thorough knowledge of the art Of
print-rfaking. She found the Jap
enese reserve in regard to anything
touching upon their personal or home
life "a wall in which there Is no
opening yet, like a persistent beaver.
she industriously worked her way
into their confidence and obtained
their help.
Again. in 1911. Mrs Lum returned to
Japan and took a house in Toxic, where
she had several printers work with her
and she herself became an expert at the
honey, she has returned again and again
to the cherry blossom land for addi-
tional knowledge and Inspiration.
ConnoiSeurs have stated that Mra
Lum's work shows an easy grasp of the
, best combination of the old Japanese
, ma sters' ideas in landscape and figures
| with the fanciful legends and stories
| Of that land. In addition she gives her
work the indescribable occidental touch
that adds piquancy to the oriental
subjects treated through this most sat
, isfactory oriental medium.
Mrs Lum's work is really collection
of dreamy. whimsical pastels rather
than the fiat. rather souiless prints of
modern Japan. She has secured the
secret OF the depth of tone so noticeable
in the old Japanese masters by the
proper application of her colors. Her
work. as stated by one art critic. is