Evening star., 1936-03-14

ME COllCCIIOll Va u4uoIA dtANC
work by Alice Barber Stephens,
now on exhibition in the Lii
II brary of Congress, is not only
pleasantly reminiscent of the day when
illustration fiourished in this country
and was engaged in by some of our
foremost artists, but reconfirms be-
lief in the merit, Importance and dis
tinguished attainment of our school of
American illustration between 1880
and 1910.
During this period New York was
the mecca for the illustrator The
Century Co., Harper Brothers, the
Scribners. with their illustrated mag
ezineS, to say nothing of their book
publications, provided constant en-
ployment for many illustrators, as well
as engravers, and were very discrim-
mating in their patronage. In fact,
these three publishers did much toward
the development of American art in
this particular field, through employ
ment and inSistence upon high stand
ards. Of course. there were others
Lippincott in Philadelphia and equally
well-known firms in Boston. But to
great extent it was Philadelphia
which trained and supplied the illus
traitors. Abbey. Howard Pyle, Pennell.
we're all Philadelphians; so, also,
through early training and later oc-
cupation, was Alice Barber Stephens,
the first of a group of women of
Pennsylvania who attained to not only
prominence but distinction through IL
Illustrative work-such as Jessie Will
cox Smith, Elizabeth Shipper Green
and Violet Oakley, the well-known
mural painter.
Alice Barber (Mrs. Charles Ste
phens) was born near Salem. N. j.,
July /, 1853; studied first at the Penn
6ylvania Academy Of Fine Arts under
Thomas Eakins, then in the Philadel-
phia School of Design for Women, and
later in the Julien and Colarossi Acad-
emies in Paris.
When she began her professional
career in Philadelphia wood engraving
was in vogue. Through this medium
the Illustrators drawing was repro
duoed and printed Miss Barber
learned to engrave, and included in
the collection now on view in the Lii
brary Of Congress are a number of
prints from blocks which she herself
cut, with very surprising competence
and feeling. No doubt her knowledge
of this reproductive process assisted
her in her original work, for which
there was sufficient demand shortly to
require all her attention.
Some of her engraving we're made
for the Century Co., for which she
later made many drawings in line
and in tint. She also worked for
Harper and Scribner as well as for
Mcclure and others. Her work done in
the '80S seems to have been mostly
in pen and ink, but later it was in
wash, charcoal often with a touch of
color, in water color an in oil. And
how charming it is! Excellent in COM
position, well drawn, and above all
vital and significant. Here are pic
lures which present the drama of life
with understanding and sympathy.
And how we'll the artist knew how to
present a tense or tragic moment, or
one fraught with gentleness and depth
Of feeling, without ever going to ex-
cess or inclining toward sentimentality.
In the first case in the exhibition
hall, as approached by the visitor, are
seen a thoroughly representative
group. Here is an illustration in char
coal and colored crayon, entitled His
Education Begins"-a picture of a
young mother, with her little daughter
beside her, standing on a doorstep
watching her small son start manfully
for school. claSping his fathers hand
an epitome of life. Likewise appeal
ing is a drawing of another mother,
standing in the doorway Of a hovel,
one child in her arms and three beside
her-a note of anxiety, almost tragic,
in her face. Farther on are more
elaborate subjects, such as Buying
Christmas Presents" done for Harpers
IN 1895, which includes in its compo-
sition many figures, and very ad-
mirably sets forth the fashions of
the day. There is tenseness as well
as character in an illustration for
'Thedmore, by Mary Sutton Briscoe,
entitled, "Thedmore Are You Mad?"
While in an illustration for Hearts
Country" by Mary Heaton Worse. there
Is a lyric note as well as reminder
of other ways and days.
But Alice Barber Stephens did not
merely work for magazines. In the
S0s and COS books also were illustrated
and often profusely. Included In this
exhibition are several of Mrs. Ste
phens' Illustrations for Hawthorne's
MARBLE Faun" and George Eliot's
''N1iddlemarch." which are all that
should be, sympatheti-
cally interpreting the text and setting
before us the characters Of the tales,
with great vividness, as real entities.
To achieve this end was no slight
Of -hand trick. The illustrator had to
be able to draw, to compose, to carry
out an idea 10 completion This was
not q matter Of Self-abnegation, the
tranSlating the thought Of
the author, and the closer the better. |
In short to be good illustrator one |
must need illuminate the text, must |
and enrich another's crea-
lion. And this, precisely, Alice Barber |
Stephens did, and with a strength of |
feeling, grace and charm, and com