interested in his work. He forgot his age, and when his model questioned one day: "Mr. Whistler, where were you born?" he answered: "My child, I never was born; I came from on high." But nothing daunted came the reply from one who knew his moods: "How we mortals flatter ourselves. I should have imagined that you came from below." His friends were invited to his Sunday breakfasts, where such dishes as harmonized with his color schemes were served to them-in due time. His rooms were beautiful to look at, and if they lacked chairs and means of comfort, that did not in the slightest degree disturb the tranquillity of the designer. Beyond question his striving for effect and his egotism made him blind to the comfort of others, but his friends understood him and a wondering public found him all the more interesting because of his peculiarities. Notes, Harmonies and Nocturnes he announced on exhibition, when his drawing and paintings were ready to be viewed. The Falling Rocket, called a Nocturne in black and gold, was the picture that precipitated Ruskin's wrath and led to the libel suit which Whistler brought against him wherein he received a verdict of damages to the amount of one farthing. This Whistler wore the remainder of his life on his watch chain. A Symphony in Gray and Green-the Ocean; Harmony in Green and Rose; The Music Room-titles of this kind attracted attention; at first criticism was harsh indeed, but gradually it was seen that there was something in these pictures more than had at first been recognized and finally an enthusiastic coterie was ready for the artist's creations. Whistler wrote as well as painted, and the following extract indicates his poetical conceptions: "When the evening mist clothes the river-side with poetry as with a veil, and the poor buildings lose themselves in the dim sky and the tall chimneys become campanile, and the warehouses are palaces in the night, and the whole city hangs in the heavens, and the fairy land is before us-then the wayfarer hastens home, the workman and the cultured one, the wise and the one of pleasures ceased to understand as they have ceased to see, and Nature, who for once has sung in tune, sings her exquisite song to the artist alone, her son and her master; her son in that he loves her, and her master in that he knows her." Of all his paintings, the Portrait of His Mother, in Luxembourg, is the one that the world at large has accepted. In it each finds the idea of mother, in a wholly different but quite as true a sense as it is found in Rembrandt's Mother. When once the mental attitude of the protesting painter is understood and the key to his art thus given, his pictures are less bewildering, less baffling. Of his work it may be truly felt that time alone can give the final verdict. John Singer Sargent is included with American painters merely because his parents were Americans. He was born in Italy in 1856, was educated in Florence, studied painting in Paris and has for years maintained his studio in London. He has spent very little time in America; yet when Queen Victoria graciously offered him the privileges of citizenship, he delicately declined them. His mother was skillful in water colors and there was no lack of sympathy with Sargent when his talent for drawing was indicated. Neither has he been obliged to struggle against poverty. He has been favored by fortune and his work was accepted from the start. Quite as systematically as Winslow Homer evaded publicity, so has Sargent held himself aloof, watching humanity, studying them en masse, but not mingling with them. He is widely known as the greatest living portrait painter and when he visited New York in 1884 many flocked to him for portraits. Perhaps there is noticeable a lack of the kindly sympathy that Reynolds held for his subject, instantly putting one at his best. Sargent paints what he sees and views his subject as objectively and dispassionately as a scientist examining a speci-. men. His mural work in the Boston Public Library has made him well known in this country, his frieze of the Prophets being found in households from coast to coast. The exhibition of his paintings at the Exposition in Chicago was representative and gave him fame. Perhaps his rendering of Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth is known best among his portraits. Edwin Austin Abbey (1852-1911) might be called the story-teller among modern artists. As a boy his ambitious father was irritated by his lack of enthusiasm over his studies, since he wished him to follow one of the professions. Set to learn the printer's trade, he proved ill adapted for it and George W. Childs helped him to become an illustrator for Harper's Weekly. In 1883 he went abroad to study and after 1883 made his home in England. He was commissioned to decorate the delivery room of the Boston Public Library and is known today best by his pictures which tell the story of the Quest for the Holy Grail. After his successful work in this library he was appointed to paint the Coronation scene of Edward VII. While as has been pointed out, the distance is considerable between the experiences of the boy set to learn typesetting to the man honored at home and the favorite of England's king, Abbey was the second among aspiring American youths to compass it. After his European study he abandoned his earlier illustrating to work in oils and his productions were favorably received among critics in foreign lands. In contrast to those Americans who have found their interest in art centers of Europe, William Merritt Chase may be mentioned. No other modern painter has won such gratitude from American art students. He was born in 1849 and his father wished him to become a business man, like himself. However, when it developed that Chase had real ability, no opposition was put in his way and he was sent to Munich to study. He returned to America in 1879 and has since maintained his studio in New York, although his vacations have been spent largely abroad. It is gratifying to note that his students provided a fund with which to have his portrait painted by Sargent. This excellent expression of appreciation hangs in the Metropolitan Museum. He is known best as a portrait painter and among his best portraits are those of Whistler, Choate, Seth Low, and Rutherford Hayes. He paints landscapes occasionally and does both still-life and figure pieces. |