Evening star., 1922-12-21
The North Window
BY LEILA MEcHLrN. !,

Said q summer sojourner to . Glou'
cester native: 'Ts that Tom Smith tho
bsnksr's cottage over thsre7" point.
ing across the moors. NO" was ths
reply: that's one o them artistses
houses; don't yer see tho big north
winder?" Sure enough. there II was
the tall. many-paned window on the
north side Of the attractive summer
cottage. which instantly 10 the In
itiated gives evidence of studio
within. Queer Kind Of windows
those-not meant to look out 3ofu and
certainly not meant to look into.
sishpiy to admit light and. plenty Of II,
and a particular kind, Of even
strength and not too great intensity.
Hawthorne says in his Marble
Faun" that religion is like q stained
glass window. beautiful to those from
within. but quite uninteresting and
incomprehensible to those from with
out. And so IT il with art, To the
outsider the north window means
nothing more than an ugly patch In
the wall, but behind these Windows
goes on continually the creation BY
more beauty to the world. To many
persons studio Is synonymous with
Bohemia. but the fact is that more
sense than nonsense would be heard
through these north windows II one
were provided with apparatus for
hemia that the great works OF art
have come. AS Mr. E. c. Messer once
said. the real artist Is one who sees
not through 9 crooked lens but q
little more clearly. q little more
acutely, than the majority Of his
fellow men.
There is a north window in a hous
in Philadelphia, 4 house in the old
residential section. In the Eight OF
which well known illustrator works
IA man whose work 10 found In some
Of our leading publications. He has
Travelled much and has brought home
from time to time records OF his
journeyings. pictures Of strange land.
and peoples. and these pictures have
gone out, to thousands whose travels
have not exceeded the confines of
their own towns, He has not been
content to merely do clever work,
nor work which paid; he has always
been trying 70 do work which was
worth while a. art, and his drawings
have grown stronger and better. He
has an ideal and he 10 ever stretch
Ing up to II.
This st.illustrator teaches in enc
OF the great schools Of Philadelphia;
he is an officer Of one Of the profes.
siSnai artists associations; he knows
what Is going ON in the world Of art
and in the world Of affairs: ne IL in
touch with the world Of modern Hit
erature: he is always to be found at
the symphony orchestra concerts. and
& ne - himself 4 musician Of some skill.
Quite recently he has made q series
OF illustrations for a book that his
wife has written, descriptive OF q sec
ton OF Europe IN which they spent a
summer two years ago-a place not
yet much frequented by tourists, but
where life Is still simple. 1t. is the
best work that he has yet done. and
he has had great Joy in the doing
1T was like going back and living
those splendid summer days all over
again" he said: 1T 10 so beautiful
wonder he has visualixed, and IL I a m
has been uppermost in his mind ali
the while has been that his drawings
might be worthy OF the teaching OF
his master. the late Howard Pyle.
students in Howard Pyle's school and
holds his masters teaching In rev
erent remembrance. On the shelves
In bis studio are hrst editions OF
almost every book that Howard Pyle
ever Illustrated. besides portfolios in
GNA NA A.
date of publication. Illustrations by
this great American artist and
teacher cut from the magazines. Mr..
Oakley never tires Of recalling the
student days and M. Pyle's Wise say
ings-infnrmal talks given the stu
in Wilmington. It was quite easy
to pass. in Imagination. with the aid
Of the artists sketchbook. or used
illustrations. from China to Japan
India. Spain and Portugal. and when
the portfolios were closed the winter
sky had darkened. and through the
great north window one could see the
Quaker city. with it's, twinkling Win
dow lights beneath the great dome
Of heaven, for. all the world like a
Whistler nocturne painted by the
hand Of another master. %.
X &N* +
There are comparatively few north
windows in Washington. because
most Of the studios are improvised.
but this does not mean that the same
life. the same visions, the same fel-
iowship are not to be found here as
elsewhere in the little world Of art.
And, speaking Of art, how many
persons realized that two-thiris. il
not more. of the charm, the beauty
and the delightfulness Of 1.-THE Mer-
chant Of Venice" as presented here
last week by David 'warfeld. under
the management of David Belasco
was derived through the instrumen-
tality of artists-living, piotures Gre
ated by consummate skill with the
aid Of the great master painters. On
. page. read by but few. of the pro-
gram of this grcGt performance the
fact was recorded that the costumes
in this play were designed by Percy
McQuoid. that the scenes were paint
cd by Ernest Gros. with the assist
ance of R. w. Bergman and H. Rob.
ert Laws studios. And who are
they? They do not exhibit in the
great exhibitions: their names do not
appear in the catalogues of the mu-
seums; but for this reason are they
the less artistso Some would say
mo. not less. but more. so" And
what a debt they acknowledge, these
painters of scenes and makers or cos
tunes. to the great master painters
of the past! How to them they have
gone, not merely for their settings
but for the very patterns Of the
fabrics that they used! In this re.
spect the master paintings Of the
past, preserved in the art museums
Of Europe and America. are the labo-
facturers of today.
In Europe this past summer was