Evening star., 1925-10-08
THE NORTH WINDOW
BY Leila Mechiin.

At the annual convention Of the
American Federation of Arts In CleVe-
land last May Robert W. de Forest,
president of the great Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York, the
greatest museum of art in this coun-
try and fast becoming one OF the
greatest in the world, put himself on
record as advocating the acquisition
by small museums Of fine reproduc-
tions, testifying to the variety and the
value of such obtainable today. To
many this may come as surprise.
Comparatively few persons are aware
| TO what extent the art of reproduction
! has been carried and therefore what
!; possibilities are within the means Of
| those with comparatively limited IN
comes.
+. This subject was brought freshly to
| the writer's mind by CHANGING to see
| in shop window here in Washington
| a few days ago what at glance ap'
! Deared to be St. Memin portrait OF
John Marshall, our first Chief Justice.
| Viewed from the sidewalk it had every
appearance of an original lacking
only those softening marks of age
which the finger Of time lays on. The
pink paper upon which the drawing
was made was too pink; the black
crayon and the white chalk were
little too black and too white, but yet
it was very convincing. Inquiry
| brought forth the fact that 1t was a
mechanical reproduction, purchasaple
at few dollars-an exceedingly
clever piece of work.
To be sure, st. Memin was not
great artist but he was an extremely
| clever one. and his portraits done, as
| this one appears to have been done,
I in, nd ri lly nj
after a hundred and more years still
preserve their quaint charm and as
likenesses carry conviction. In short,
they possess that prerogatfve or
the successful portrait-personalit lity,
spiritual quality.
who was st. Memin"" some may
! ask. a F'renchman who came TO this
| country in 1888 "A young pobleman n
trained in the kings guard before
| the Revolution. who fed to this COun-
| try for refuge and turned TO art to
save himself from starvation. He
| had been taught to draw as part of
his military training. He had seen
| in France the portraits Of Giles Louis
| Chretien done through the medium
! of the physionotrace. He acquired
in New York a technical knowledge
Of engraving and with this equipment
each sitter he gave a life-size portrait
drawing. usually in profile; copper
plate engraving of the same portra 1t
in miniature and 10 prints. for the
sum of s33-less. il will be seen tha
one could obtain the Sam me number OF
| good photographs for today: but. as
Gilbert Stuart then was only charg
ing 500 for a painted portrait, this
was deemed a fair reward. and his
tory tells us that st. Memin, through
the use of certain mecha nical means
some OF which were his own inven
tons. was able to produce one OF
these crayon portraits and engraved
/ medallions in approximately three
! DAYS.
He was not only industrious but
popular. producing in all more thar
500 known portraits. Fortunately
ne always kept two or three Of HI
first prints. These collections he took
back with him to France in 1914
After his death one was purcha SEE
by London collector. and from hin
Mr.. Corcoran later acquired it. il
is now in the Corcoran Gallery %
Art. This comprises slS portrai
media lionS. ) silhouettes, Q small view:
and a print of The Siege of Sa
vannah.''
1t is an interesting query what ma!
have become of the SIS copper plate:
and whittier have gone the same mum
lber of larRe-size dra wings. Very Few
iof these seem now to exist. and
despite their original multiplicity
;they are now quite rare. 1t was {
print maker to thus closely reproduce
the st. Memin portrait Of Chief Justice
Marshall.
/ AS rule etchings have lent them
selves least we'll to mocha nical repro
duction, partly, perhaps. because pho
Biography almost unavoidably blur
the line and it is primarily the linz
which signifies in etching. But evel
this difficulty seems in some way 4
have been overcome in a series of re
productions of the works of great CO
temporary etChers which is in course
Of issua nee at the present time by th'
Studio London. For the past year
from time to time, these publisher
. have got out monographs illustra tee
by 10 or IL full-size facsimile etch
ings of the works of such master
as Brangwyn, James McBey. Ander
Zorn, J. l.. Forain and Frank Short
In each instance the etchings. which
are on a lightweight paper and Tipped
in. have every appearance of th'
original. without making any attempt
however. at deception. Now comes {
volume. No. 6. devoted to the work
of Frank W. Benson, our well known
American etcher. Here we have th'
best possible opportunity for compari
son with the originals. and the re
productions admirably stand the test
BY even the trained amateur they arr
found delightful. A Benson etching
today Is worth anywhere from 81
n
these facsimiles are issued in bool
form, IL can be had for 3 shillings
What marvellous opportunity fo
those who love really fine things ant
have shallow purse.
X x x
These are but two instances of fin
reproductions which are found sa It's
| flying. There are many others. 1t wa
only yesterday that an advertisement
in one Of the leading magazines de
voted to the subject of collecting
brought to attention the fact that on
of the most distinguished collectors II
this country had gone into partner
ship with one of the principal manu-
facturers and retailers Of furniture t.
stablish a factory for the reproduC
ton Of fine designs in American furni
ture at prices which those Of modes
, means could afford to pay. There i
much art in the design of the chair
more than many may suppose. and 1
/ is with the purpose of multiple produc
. ton Of really good artistic household
belongings that this connoisseur an,
collector has been tempted to ente
the business world.
x \
. This only touches the fringe of tn
, subject There are. as is more gen
, orally known, beautiful reproduction
: IN color to be had today OF the paint