New Britain herald., 1930-08-04

Southampton, L. l., Aug. 4-You can learn about woman from paint ing them,
 So it would seem. at least. judg- ing from the rich understanding and interesting knowledge of her fellow-sisters possessed by Doro- thy Vedder, society portrait paint CT and sketcher, mistress of Off hand Manor.
 Miss Vedder has done the DOT traits of many of New York's 400, and their children, of actresses, business magnates, professional folks and home bodies here in the East, in California, in Cuba and abroad. In fact she began her portrait career at the tender age of three, by doing a crayon sketch ot her mother, realistically repro ducing her beautifully modelled head and gorgeous Titan red hair.
 The Elusive 10
 The hardest feminine subject in the world to paint is a young girl of 19," Miss Vedder told me. She has not set character yet, nothing definitely crystallized. She is utterly elusive.
 The woman in her early thir- ties, on the other hand, is a chal- lenge. She has the elimination of her life in her face. She is at her best physically, she is beauti- ful and charming.
 Actresses are the easiest per- sens in the world to catch. They can and do dramatize the oharac- ter they want the painter to re- produce Next to an actress, I be- heve a very vain woman presents the least difficulty. sh., like the actress. knows definitely what she wants the world to think she is
 I asked Miss Vedder what quail ity of expression women prefer in their portraits. Is there univer- ga! desire for this thing called reautl? Is it youth they crave in their faces' Is it feminine charm, the Tt" of the movies? Miss Vcdder considered all of these, then answered:
 Ut is smart right now to be in tellectual I believe the majority of women prefer 10 look intelli- gent and interesting.
 Few of them want smiling picture, and few want an extreme ly vivacious one. They all think they want realistic picture. What they really desire is pie ture the family would like to keep and .miling portrait doesn't wear well. Most women want full faced picture and it is the un- usual woman who doesn't want her hands included in the portrait.
 The Madonna mother type ot picture is out. Women have their children done alone and they pose alone, too.'
 Eyes Easily Painted
 Eyes. according to Miss Nedder' are quite the easiest feature to do. Mouths are ten times as lm- pcrtant. For 1t seems that the mouth is tattle-tale and will completely give away the eyes m masked expression. The pure clas- eical mouth is all but obsolete. But it i3 hy the mobility of this important part of ones face that real character, and content. are shown. The eyes expression changes from hour to hour CT min ute to minute. at will. But the month is the old give-away, an actual sum total of what a woman l., and she can't do much about changing it.
 Miss Vedder's youngest suo- feet was a six months old child; her oldest grand old man of S6. Right now she is working on portrait of an important music patron. dead 20 years, and all she has to go by is a portrait of him when he was young man and the description his children ana few remaining personal frlends have given her.
 One hundred portraits in the past year is MiS1 Vedder's record of indefatigable effort. She pre- fers to have her subjects pose in their own natural setting so often she moves in, painting six or sev- en members of one family during her stay, alternating the sittings.
 A Noted Hostess, Too
 Her unbounded energy leaves one amazed In addition to her long list of portraits, which reads like the Social Register and the Who's Who combined. Miss Ved- der has given able instruction to her two young daughters who in- herit their mothers liability. She plays the piano beautifully, ard nobody at Southampton can swing a better beach dinner than her lucky houseguests are treated tc. Unusual salads are her spe- cialty at Offhand Manor, though her zabyoni is declared the most delectable dessert in all of South ampton.
 Miss Veddar's explanation of her works fascination is as inter esting and original as herself. She says:
 You learn to know people bet ter through painting than any other way I can think of. For you want 70 sum them up and they fvant you to. You see them in their real character. After hay ing seen great many women in this light have come to the con- clusion they aren't a bit more ya.n