Evening star., 1922-12-28
The North Window
BY LEILA MECHLIN.

| recently painting on a roadside in Penn
sylvania. His PICTURES included not
only broad sweep Of fields, some trees
ana winter sky, but also, to the left
In the composition, was a barn. Just
as his picture was nearing completion
| the owner Of the barn sauntered by and
barn look like that to you?" he asked
the painter. "Yes, 1t does" was the
reply: how does it look to you?" We'll.
| not like that" he said. "but wished it
did: That's the way I'd like it to look"
sa1o Aho o., .hen, after a pause. Picture FOR
saie! Being answered in the affirnia-
i've, and giving the matter a little
thought, he made an offer: Il don't know
now much you get for your pictures,
put ! tell you what I'll do. I'll give you
three tons Of hay for that one"
NOW regardless of what hay may be
selling FOR at the present time. that
was pretty generous offer 1t was
one mans work for the others The
painter appreciated the offer. as he
might not have much larger one from
some one else: explaining that he hoped
| to get $4,000 for that particular picture
and the chances are that he will-he
told the farmer that If he would be sat
| isned with possibly a smaller canvas
ne would come back three weeks from
then and do another picture of his barn
Ior MIN, and he did. So the farmer is
now the proud possessor of Redfeld,
Dought at his own price, and Mr. Red
neld has the satisfaction of knowing
| that that particular picture was greatly
coveted and will always be genuine;y
admired.
This is the sort of sale that gives. an
artist real inspiration, for art is not.
! aiter all, a game that a man can play
aione. A painter paints a picture be-
| cause ne wants to show some one else
something which seems to him beauti-
! ful. A poet writes a poem for some
wnat the same reason. Inevitably. they
! nave the other person in mind. If all
ears were deaf and all eyes blind there.
| would probably be no more poems and
no more pictures.
friend said recently: II make a
sketch because it gives me extreme
pleasure. If it becomes work I know
there will be just that much less
genuine freedom of emotion-that
much less art in IT. BY that do not
work in art, but that it should not
show, and that the really fine things
come quite freely and easily. like
Rembrandts sketch of his father; it
couldn't have taken him more than
fifteen minutes. And such sketches
are so simple that many people be-
lieve they could do SO themselves. it
doesn't look difficult. and TO the artist
1t was not difficult; it was his most
natural form of expression. Some
where in Shelley's letters he tells OF
coming upon a spring bubbling up
from its source in the rocks. freely
and joyously, as he had always imag
| ined poem should spring from the
heart of poet Well. 1t is so l like
to see pictures-and so l try to do
them"
X X
Nd jic
way, as a rule they are good pictures
and they afford untold pleasure to
! those who could not produce them
| themselves. but to whom they carry
| a message. Price connected with
works of art is. after all. only meas
ure of appreciation. That which is
| really desired If for sale is bought.
! and the more who desire it and the
| rarer the object. the greater the price.
| One cannot say that the Blue Boy"
! was not worth the price Mr.. Hunt
| ington paid for him, something like
| three-quarters of a million of dollars.
because there is only one Blue Boy
| and there can never be another. In
| the same way it is not just to declare
| that cotemporary artist should not
ask five or six thousand dollars for
his paintings. IT is not what he asks.
but what he gets, and if his pictures
are worth five or six thousand dollars
to some people their price is thus
fixed.
There is only one person in many
thousands who has the ability to
create a great work of art. perhaps
only one or two in several genera
tions. Such talent is precious as
| well as rare. And yet there are those
who feel that art should always be
given away. and that the minute an
artist puts price on his work he be-
comes commercial. Requesting per-
mission to make an etching in semi
! public building in Washington re-
| Gently. a distinguished etcher was
asked whether it was his intention to
put the etching to a commercial pur-
pose. His prompt response was Yes.
| the etching will be for sale" And for
this reason there was hesitation in
granting the permission.
sold their works. obtaining for them
! sums only too pitifully little. During
| the war, when bank securities were
very low. rich people abroad put their
| money in paintings and etchings, be-
| lieving them the safest possible in
vestments But the people who traf-
! fic in works of art are not those who
create them. and if an artist lives by
| his products land some do) he does
well.
| Brander Matthews. in an address
| made before the American Academy
| of Arts and Letters some time ago.
spoke of 1.-The arts which adorn life
and so they are. Life would be A
dreary place without them. The art
! lists are the great givers and at this
of all times of the year they should
| be most gratefully remembered. Com
! paratively few monuments have been
erected in America to artists. There
! is a saying that artists build their
! own monuments. Surely Sir ChriSto-
| pher Wren could have no monument
| equal to st. Pauls Cathedral. in Lon
don. which he designed: the Lincoln
Memorial. in Washington. will keep
! in memory for all time the name of
Henry Bacon, its architect. But yet
| it is a gracious thing. as some of the
i foreign countries have done. to rear
| monuments in appreciation of the art
lists of greatest ability-those who
! beauty which the people of genera
| tions have united in admiring
| This recalls a little incident that
! occurred at The Hague some years
ago. The social season was at its
| height: the opera house was crowded
! a few minutes the performance was to
| begin: all was expectancy. An old
| man entered the auditorium and made
his way to one of the boxes. AS his
presence became known the entire
audience rose and remained standing
until he was seated, Was he a royal
personage?-a great noble? Not at
all. He was Josef Israels. the Dutch
genre painter. born a Jew of humble
! parents, whose pictures of Dutch
| peasant life had brought distinction
not only to himself, but all Holland
simple, modest old man, but a great
| artist in honoring whom the Holland
1 n