The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 10, 1897, Page 18

TR SRR A 18 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, DAY, JANUARY 10,.1897. English Portrait-Painters and Their Work as Exhibited at the Grafton At Galleties and Herbert Olivier contribute studies] Alice,” everything else in the portrait is ONDON, Exc., Dec. 28, 1896.—In the pratty little blue and gold cacalogue of the renowned society of English por t-painters there is a list of mem- bers headed by the name of A. Stuart Wortley and concluding with that of James ) eill Whistler. Nothing could be more typical of the representative esti- mates of artin England. James McNeill Whistler needs no introduction to the small art-loving public in America. A. Stuart Wortley, it is possible, has not been s0 remarkabi vertised and certainly has no equal claim either to fame or no- toriety. Mr. Stuart Wortley married a daughter of Sir John Millais. . Stuart Wortley has established herself, in the stress of this modern life, as a dressmaker. Not a plain, ever essmaker, but a very swell person indeed, not to be addressed as | Mrs. Stuart Wortley, but as Mme. Vanite! | Mr. Stuart Wortley has turther claims to | public 1 He has a remarkably | ] bad portrait of the Hon. Mrs. Fuller Mait- nd, who must be a woman entirely de- | void of feminine van | He has anorher port | totter lets, w very fat g it has ap it of a Mrs. Kep- ler a very large | rest on his Howe 3 his principal | laurels for a short time, ic portrait is that of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales. His Royal arently on the point of leaving for some state function; there is no other way of explain- ing his costume. He wears an Inverness | overcoat thrown back so as to show his | and stars and orders; also his | nd silk hose and patent- | Under one arm he has a | d in his hand he | carries a stout care. kground sug- gests the tapestried gorzeousness, with- | out which it would be impossible to repre- prince. Mr. Stuart Wortley- has of rather incongrious elements a 1y d ed and manly portrait. | t expect very good painting and | not fi On the same w essisa s the work of such Liewellyn and oes not make one men as Sir john M ner. The con istler has senf little water- | h entitled “*Rose and Silver.” | s of Wales occupies some six d the littie rose and silver as many inches, but there is all een a diamond and a s your fist he Woman is a black boa, and the e face. She is putting on her | ardly more than utely- firm, ab- e strokes of a brush as ligt | color The Prin: by four, St fee 1ad solutely and stars and orders, but how admirably are these * ated to modeled simply but with fall relief; and | how tearching is the glance of the eyes, | that seem to be pondering all the trouble and weariness of life and weighing it in | the balance. daughters, are not only charming but de- as that of the Japanese artists to whom Mr. Whistler owes so much of his inspira- | tion; but it gives the famished colorist a new lease of life and strength to bear *the slings and arrows’” of outrageous pictures. The chief interest in the exhibition cen- ters around the old family portraits of Sir John Miilais. Some of them are from his best period, notably one not included in the family portraits, that of the Earlof Shaftesbury. Like the Prince of Wales, lightful examples of the finest type of English beauty; large, clear eyes, a nose that is delicately aquiline. the mouth slightly too small, abundant soft hair and a complexion of milk’ and roses. The pictures are a relief after innumerable shadow effects and half-light effects and no-light-at-all effects that give the un- happy model the color of one “seven days dead”—they are painted in full, clear light, without subtle attempts that omly Ihn! two d lightful portraits, one of his wife, one of Mrs. Bowles, both painted in flat tones and both of them representing strong and individual types of women. The portrait of Mrs. Bowlgs is hurt by Ithe suggestion of blossoms in the back- ground. In the insufficient lizht of these dull London days it looks as though the canvas had been out in the rain and had been splashed with mud and water. The *‘Lady Fencer,” by G. P.Jacomb be wears the blue ribbon across his chest | one man in a thousand can render so as | Hood, is a charming figure of a girl in Portrait of a Child—By James Guthrie. littering baubles’’ subordin- the grave and powerful head, | The family portraits, those of his three to make them a joy. Sir John was evi- dently quite content with the difficulties of painting these young, fresh faces with truth and delicacy, without seeking for added difficulties in the way of fantastic arrangements of light and pose. Monat Londau is a name comparatively unknown in America, but he is an excel- lent painter. In England his work is most probably caviar to the public. He The Lady Fencer—By G. P. J. Wood. dark fencing suit, with her foil in her hand, and al! the light concentrated on | her fresh, vivid little face, with a sparkle | | of bright red hair; the hands are beauti- fully painted and the color is rich and dark. A flash of red lines the cap in her hand—otherwise there is no color but that | in the hilt of the foil and in the animated head. Jules Stewart, the American Parisian, that are very French, very well painted, very cold and uninteresting. There are any number of studies, very honest and admirable. The muslin, edged with black, of the scarf around her neck, the model- ing of the delicate transparent draperies, not unsuccessful, of people trying to peer | that are white, in spite of being painted out of the darkness. There is a study by Mr. Will Rothen- stein of a Gentleman, in a rather weak- kneed attitude, looking, with rather an idiotic expression, at a little statueite. in shadow, all these are almost masteriy, The Scotchman, Jemes Guthrie, gives one a sensation of entire pleasure in his picture of a little lad in thick white coat, with a black sash under his arms, a big Mr. Wiil Rothenstein, if he will once | white hat framing his little sandy-haired, cease to be so painfally original, will prob ably develop mto an unusually clever artist. The canvas is full of refined vaiues and really beautiful color. Maurice Greiffenbagen isanother brother to the “Yellow Book.” He has an im- mense portrait of a Woman in White. The head is of the shape of a peanut, and one arm has evidently suffered from arrested development, or it has withered in child- | hood, and **‘curioser and curiouser,’ said Portrait of a Young Girl—By J. W. fresh-colored Scotch face. The whole can- Waterhouse. vas is a masterpiece in black and white, such as Velasauez loved to paint, and in saving that it is of the greatest of all paioters that we are immediately re- minded, there is no invidious distinction intended in regard to the work of Mr. Guthrie and his brave small boy standing in his sturdy little black-stockinged legs and staring boldly into the faces of the crowd with that mixture of defiance and cordiality that is so entirely characteristi- cally Boyish. Anotker immortal small boy is in the remarkably vigorous group that has been sent by the painter Blanche from the salon ol the Champs de Mars. It repre- sents the Norwegian artist Thaulov and his fam:iy and is paintea with so much evident enjoyment, with such a full sweep of the brush, that each vivid head, mod- eled as Rubens loved to ao, in full light, has an almost human brilliancy and rower. The head of the little boy is Painted with more reserve and infinitely more tenderness; the large head, with the narrow little face, soft as a flower, has more than a suggastion of delicacy. As a whole the exhibition 1s an interesting one. J. W. Waterhouse has a portrait of a very young girl that is the very personification of youth; hardiy more than a child, the timidity in the attitude is entirely free from affectation, and the long, w'ite slip of g dress, with the gleam of a satin rib- bon, could not have been more appropri- ately selected or more freshly painted. Herkimer has bis large, coarse, pho- tographic portraits, which grow less and less tolerable s the years pass over the head of that indefatigable, high-priced and populac painter. Alma Tadema has a little portait with marble ornaments with a flat face and a great many clothes, like vipers that were once ideal Christ- Elis Kokerts has his smooth and polished dukes ana duchesses. The Hon. Jobn Collier paints other honorable ladies and gentlemen. There is a portrait of Mme. Sarah Grand that might be bet- ter painted, and so on ad infiniium. The new Engiish Art Club is sternlv modern, nothing that could possibly b construed into a conventional canvas is a cepted. Landscapes never beheld *‘on land or sea,” all black, with one ray of vivid light illuminating nothing, or all white against a sky all whites; people with limbs amputated by the frames; limbs without peonle, nothing could so fill the Philistines with awe and reverence. Now and then, through an error, 3 perfectly comprehensible bit of painting slips in, but it shrinks into proper insignificance before the deep mysticism of the other pictures. The general aspect of the room is that | of & 1aundry, in which the original color of the linen bung up is faded out of all re- cognition or is violently colored with “bluing.” Color is a thing to be used in crude force, or to be attenuated to pale ghosts of ist—Orientsal sunlight or a London fog—no middle path for the new English Art Ciub, Their theory is the old one: Car nous voulons la nuance encore, Pas Ia couleur, rien que la nuance, Lanuance seule fiance La reve au reve et la flute au cor. Vax Dyck Browy. Parisian Tribute to the Winged Wheel . the crowning triumph of the bi cycle. It will be in the form of a e palace, one which every wheelman es it will regard as marking the rtant recognition that the cycle ered by the committee on buildi: Exposition Universal the genius of man of co worked upor for months So brillian are his — HE Paris Exposition is to witness | forms, from the first crude two-wheeled | walking machine to the delicaie mechan- 1sm which will mark the improved wheel | at the close of the present century. OF | course, no onme knows just what that will be, but the past twelve | months show conclusively that three | vears are likely to develop some won- derful improvements in the wheeling | worla. Experts believe that the motor cycle will eventually replace the self-pro- | pelled wheel. The experiments up to | now tried with gasoline and electric cy- cles have not been sufficiently successful | | to insure universal adoption, but there is plans and so daring his conception that both won the admiration of the building committee, which at first was rather doubtful as to the practicability of the idea, All sorts of schemes are submitted t6 these people, some2 of them as impossi- ble as they are daring, and at first M. Le- may’s plan was classed among these. Investigation has shown that there is nothing in the least chimerical about the idea. It will, in fact, when completed, it is believed, rank as one of the most inter- esting features. ‘This'is the first time the idea of M. Lemay has been made public in the United States. The palace itself will be a remarkable stracture. The interior will not be broken up into small apartments ‘o any extent, but instead the vast space, which isshown in the accompanying illustration, will be used for the display of the wheel in allits The Grand Bicycle Palace, e i l evidently reason to believe that the elec- tric ““bike” is the wheel of the future and that before long all the cifficulties met so far in regard to it will be swept away. All of the latest improvements will, of course, be seen in the bicycle palace, and this fact makes the venture esvecially in- teresting to Americans. All the bicycle experts are delighted over the idea, one especially is Count Angelo de Julio, who takes the createst of interest in it. Count de Julio, who boasts a noble ancestry in Rome, has the proud distine- tion of being tue possessor of the most expensive bicycle in the United States. Over the usual steel frame is a thin layer of ebony, which is most exquisitely inlaid with gold and mother of yearl. The Covnt lives at present at 68 West One Hundredth street, New York City. He isa member of the L. A. W., was re- cently captain of the New York Tourist Wheelmen and is also a member of the Excelsior Cycle Club. Incidentally it may be mentioned that he acted as marsbal of the two great cycle parades which recently were conducted in New York by two of the daily newspapers. There is no doubt that the Count will attend the Paris wonder, and it is quite possible that he may do soin an official capacity. The Count consented to be interviewed in connection witis the Paris bicycle pai- ace and expressed himself as being assured of its succesy. ““There is absolutely nothing impossible in the scheme,” he said, “and it will be of the greatest possible benefit to the wheel- ing world. Itseffect will be far-reaching. A great many American riders will not only visit the exposition, but they will enter in the races and exhibitions for prizes and compete in every way with foreign riders and manufacturers, Amer- ican women riders will surely be there in large numbers and will compete with their foreign sisters.” ‘When asked if he would go to Paris in an official capacity, the Count said he had not yet decided, but clearly indicated that he had received an offer. At all events he | will take bis famous bike there. But no matter who the officers may be or who the riders to appear there, the building itself wiil surely be the eighth wonder of the world. Its exact dimen- sions have not yet been decided upon, but the plans outline a structure that wiil ac- ommodate 7000 persons.on the ground oor. Thereis an aim at the Gothic in exterior appearance of the building—that is, as far as the Gothic can be produced with the several parts of a bicycle. The ground surrounding the structure will be circular, with paths like spokes leading to the common center. All the windows are to be circular, with ‘“spoke” frames, and with a small colored circular pane in the center, indicative of the hub. The main entrance wiil be entirely of marble, cut in the form of immense bi- cycle forks, while overhead will rest a huge handle-bar of burnished steel. A number of smaller rooms will lead off from the main floor, separated only by festooned curtains, which will be made entirely of network as the material used in the wina guard on the woman’s bike. At either end of the main floor will be a monster wheelwith a tire made of the celebrated Cook’s tubing, by which arti- ficial daylight is produced. These mon- ster wheels will revoive from the time the exposition opens until the close. Apart from the light produced in this manner, the only illumination will be large bicycle lamps. There will be every conceivable construction, from the old-fashioned | “King of the road’ to the latest in eiectric illuminations. Every seat in the building will be made of parts of a bicycle, though many of | them will be so arranged as to be far more comforiable than the very latest in sad- dles. Curved and straight handle bars will be used for backs and cushioned wheels in some cases for seats, while the chairs will be beld up by different parts of the frame. The rare exhibits will be guarded from the visitors’ curious touch by a series of sprocket chains, and the lecturers, of whom there will be a plentiful supply, will travel about the building on the latest in giraffe wheels. Refreshments will be served by a busy corps of attendants mounted on bicycles, and the manner in which it is promised these gentlemen witl conduct their evolu- tions will be truly remarkable. Each pillar of the buildinz will be decorated with sprockets and surrounded at short distances by tires. Even the floor will represent the wheel. Circular tiles are to be laid with inlaid spokes, and the triangles formed by the meeting of every three circles will be filled by tiles repre- senting a small ¢‘bike” frame. There wili, of course, be a lively tingling of bicycle bells, this being the only form of signaling that will be allowed in the building. Every kind of bell, from the silver-toned tingle to the ambulance-like gong, will be used, All the doors are to be locked at night with bicyele locks and a number of spe- cial gensdarmes will patrol the grounds on wheels. Every seat in the puilding will be pneu- matic and be supplied with a bell. The main floor 1s, of course, to be kept clear for the public performanggs and coniests. There will be only one exhibit in the cen- ter of the room. This will consist of a number of the very latest, inventions of the bicycle world. The whole will be snr- mounted by a monster electric unicycle, the invention of a Parisian electrician. This feature is subject to change in case a more advanced invention is received. The roof of the building will be fes- tooned, the girders being made of steel wilh every conceivable part of a bicycle woven into the designs. The lecturers will be chosen from the greatest bicycle experts in the world and their discourses will enlighten the uniniti- ated and many riders of long experience on the mystery of the bike. Orders bave already been placed in Eng- land for the manufacture of all the pot- tery to be used in the building. Every piece will be made bicycle fashion, cups, saucers, plates, in fact even the forks will represent the wheel, being only two- pronged and made in the manner of a bicyele fork. One of the features of the entertainment will be a bicycle carnival in which 100 ex- pert riders will take part. Rough and tumble riding will be seen, and an exbibi- tion given of how easy it is to be in a com- plex bicycle wreck and not get hurt. To the right of the main building will be a large room with a monster bath in the center. In this every man who has ever invented a water bicycle can make a practical test of his invention, and by an ingenious arrangement the bottom of the bath can be made to heave, creating quite a heavy swell, which will doubtless prove quite a test for the new invention, There is already a great demand for space in the bicycle palace, almost every leading manufacturer in the world being anxious to secure & good ‘showing.” American manufacturers will be largely represented, and it is uaderstood that many of the novelties will be supplied from this side of the water. Perhaps the orincipal feature will be the newest form of water cycle, though it is by no means sure as yet just bow far advanced these “machines’’ are up to now. The formal invitation for American representation will be made to the Department of State, for it is intended to make the bicycle palace of such importance as to be an event in the world’s history, an. whether or not the United States will send official representatives is a matter that cannot be yet decided. An Englishman traveling in Ireland fell into conversation with a native, and took occasion to complain of the state of the partienlar road they were on and of the road: of Ireland generally. “well,”” said Paddy, ““we know they are not the best in the world, so to make up for their condition we give good measure. Anyhow, eleven of our mil re as long as fourteen of yours.”—Spare Moments. ————— The Arabs claim that they are directly descended from Ishmael, the son of Abra- ham and Hagar, born 1810 B. C. The Strangest of All Stamp Collections = QHERE has just come to light in 3 ever heard of. A9 collection of stamps which any one Not 50 much does the odd- ness lie in the stamps themselves, asin | in the method of arrangement.- There are | carried the mail that was not Uncle S | during the days when civil war . waged 862,000 of them, and they completely cover every portion of a bedroom set, con- sisting of bedstead, dresser, commode and chairs. The stamps are secured to the set President who has been ailowed to be made Binghamton, N. Y., the most unique | a sample of the steel engraver's art from Washington down. There are stamps that journeved about the crazy postal conveyances which m's relentlessly. Then there are stamps of the days when the missives from South- ern battlefields to Northérn homes with the aid of glue, and then covered | brought both joy and sorrow, the latter with heavy spar varnish. The stamps| quite as often as the former. can be washed, in their present condition, without injury. This curio of collections is owned by | many fortune-seekers. There are one or two stamps that were used when California was the golden gate to so The Nation's his- Mrs. George Wilson of 191 Vestal avenue, Bingbamton, N. Y. The.beginning of this strange collection dates back many years. The first chalr of the set that was decorated was cwned by a colored family in Virginia in the middle of the last cen- tury. Gradually the chair passed from hand to hand and from cabin to cabin until at last it came into the possession of Mrs. George Yancey, a colored woman, who now lives at Ovid, N. Y., enjoying that which so seldom comes to man or woman, the beginning of her second cen- tury of life. This chair is noticeable in the accom- panying illustration, which was drawn from a photograph, by its general quaint appearance and its particularly straight ba It came from the banks of the James River when Mrs. Yancey had been given her freedom and journeyed North to New York State. She made a present of the chair to Mrs. Wilson, and it was with the idea of beautifying and presery- ing the furniture that Mrs. Wilson began decorating with postage stamps, Since this ancient relic of colonial days has been adorned in the unique manner shown ip the picture, seven other articles of furniture have received similar treat- ment, until now the whole forms one of the most peculiar results of the curio-col- lector's art that is extant. '_l'he collecting of Ppostage-stamps is some- thing in which many persou s are engaged. Strange and unigue are the forms the col- lections take in order that they may be properly vreserved. But Mrs: Wilson’s 1s the queerest of them all, Ipcludud in the tiny specimens of stamps which conceal every vestige of woodwork about the furniture which they adorn are stamps from everywhere that the interna- tional postal system reigns and several places where no exchange of mail matter has yet been agreed upon. All these are arranged in a manner as quaint as the idea itsell. It must not be supposed that Mrs, Wilson’s patriotism is of so light an order that she would permit any other than the stamps of the United States to be in the majority, There are the faces of every A Woman Philatelist’s Freak. tory is plastered all over this furniture, and the story that might be told about it if the truth were known would no doubt make it vie in interest in the evesof the American people with the treasures of Mount Vernon, the sacred relics at Sprine- field, or those remembrances to which all the world bows at Galena. There is no particular method of ax ) rangement of this nearly a million ol stamps. Noble and peasant are side by side, and the commonest bit of postage evidence Is just as likely to have s posi- tion of honor as the big piece of gummed paper with two figures on it. Evidently Mrs. Wilson believes with the poet—that rank is but the guinea stamp. Of the foreizn specimens of postal necessities, there are very many, and as odd as they are numerous. The queer- looking dark-colored affair that comes from the land of the Cossack and of Tolstoi seems strangely out of place, lodged for life on a bit of wood in a town where the very essence of freedom is in the air itself. Properly enough, there nestles close to the rem:nder of the Little Father's country the stutely and benig- nant face of her Gracious Majesty on wliose empire the'sun never se Along- side of these two, is the jolly postal emblem of Roumania, while the Kaiser's youthful face looks out at you from his neighbor that once brought a letier from the land that now is wr nched with the tales of Stambouloff’s assassination. While the fame of Mrs. Wilson’s queer collection has been limited to a certain prescribed circle in general, it has gone abroad a little, sufficiently so that Cornell Unuiversity offered the lady $200 therefor, and has severa! times made efforts to induce her to accept the tender made. ‘When the stamps were received, and they corae along in job lots, Mrs. Wilsorf carefully washed and dried them, and then glued them on after the style of a crazy patchwork quilt. She proposes 1> retain the result ol her labor, and will sell it to no one. Unquestionably she has the most novel collection of foreign and domestic stamps that is in existence.