The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 2, 1897, Page 19

THE SAN FRANCI1SCO CALL, SUNDAY, 2 “y MAY 1897. 19 THE SPRING EXHIBIT]OH the spring exhibitlon at the | be-ju MONTEREY dged? Looked a PINES,” by R. D. Yelland. tin its the conclusions reached dest extremes. tit is k sere le the exhibition is excep- h more so than he | e, is cons t exhibition we the sma to its le: eing mu a “casual ce it must be remembered that of . pict of hin the past ures is tue t rancisco on San “It is the | e | the angel with the flamingsword comes to ' is & statement many members n have made, half apolo- | lest is a fact “the | e room for | e hird g in in mind tk for W of mer alls. es hung. ors , and black | be criticize aslways been ‘‘go: out Nor is Ama: Misy Withr lways exhibi reasons sed b at con and 0d” this year dee | ow. ted work 1s cer- for their ere, sti- ition is at the bottom gard to Thomas Hill. gh the different galleries, of the exhibi ion is ures, with few exceptions, ¢ the ng and arger proportion of | harmonious and | | quired amount of brilliancy is-as hard a \ task as an artist can set himself. But Mr. Mathews has done it and deserves to | be congratulated on his work. | " R. . Yelland shows several pictures in 1 his usual well-known style. All are accu- rate in drawing and good in color. They are characteristic of the country thoy rep- resent and as such are entitled to consid- eration. “Beech and Maple Trees in | Autum Arkville, New York,” is the title of a smail picture that will be a sur- | prise to Californians who have never seen t the glories of an autumn in the Kast. To | most of us the picture looks unreal and ‘ exaggerated, but it is really true to nature. The brilliant yellows and golden | browns are just as they really are at the | time and place the picture depicts. In fact Mr. Yelland’s picture is an exception- ally zood one of a difficult subject. *“Mon- terey Pines” is the title of another pic- | ture by Mr. Yelland that is exceptionally “From the Berkeley Hills—Springtime" and “A Warm Morning” are the titles of two pictures exhibited by William Keith, Both are, of course, good, for the subj ‘cts they represent, but Mr. Keith has painted better pictures—very much better, in fact; pictures better in color, execution and composition. John A. Stanton exhibits a small pic- turs entitlea “Evening, Brittany,” that is & charming bit of work. Itrepresents a woman standing at eventide by the shore of a tempest-tossed sea. There is little to the picture but sentiment and color. But how much there is of these! The woman has her back to you, and 18 gazing out over the waters. The soft tones of twilight pervade the picture. A limpid pool in the foreground lends a color note that subdues ail the rest to the proper tone. Stanton also sends a fine portrait of General Houston. It is good in color and a life-like picture. AT THE STFREUTE QF ART caroos playing by the wayside. Bat when one gets used to them they look just as natural as deer. Forest fires must be frequent in. Ause tralia judging by the number of pictures of them -in this collection. There are all kinds of fires in ali kinds of forests, and: some of them are really tragic in effect. The paintings of waterfalis are beantiful and in nature must bz some of the finest in the world. Some of these pictures are curiosities in landscape. They show places where rivers disappear into the earth and trees with their leaves turned sidewise. ~Flat places high in mountain ranges ara also shown. Some of the pictures showing | the homes of settlers and miners are par- | ticularly interesting. But the landscapes are all unusudl, and well worth an hour’s inspecti, WiLL SPARKS. good. indicates, *Forbidden Fruits” represents the biblical story of the downfall of mankind. The scene isin the Garden of Eden at the moment when As the name drive out Adam and Eve. The Bible story relates that they hid | themse ‘among the treesof the gar- den.”” Itis this pol hich Mr. Mathews has brought out in bhis picture. Beneath a tangle of trees and underbrush Adam and Eve are crot £, 8s if trying to con- ce nakedness. Both are stricken with grief, which is well indicated by the poses of the fi Behind them stands | the angel with the flaming sword pointing | the way oat of Pa The Bible s cool of the da res. | the time was ‘“‘the | other portions of the term is used to in- dicate the early evening or twilight. Con- ly “Forbidden Fruits” is flooded th the rich colors of dying day. The | little of the evening sky that'showsis of a | | warm tone and the same color scheme is | carried through the rest of tive picture, | The conception of this work can hardly | far as such a picture can | Anything which might en left out of the picture. | In execution *‘Forbidden Fruits” is Mr, | Mathews' best work. The drawing of | the figures is accurate and refined and the atmospheric effect is beyond that usually p.inted. The foreground of the picture is | low in tone and the sky furnishes the | plane of half-tone. The color-note or | high-light is a portion of the rising moon showing behind the head of the angel and the nilt of the sword. A more difficult subject to handle woula | be hard to find. To keep everything in its place and at the same time hold the re- ed book this sam e as well as artistic skill in | on'is Thert r before and th In fact'it ga subjecis 2 Th ve t it t subjects. the large number of por- | The featur are more of tu e standard of w e isof the ve rd to origin more p! ie landse e of hese ork len- ape and ma- to the usual standard. chosen are mare | rbidden‘F is a great deal to b ace iv is a subject of 1 and worthy of great living mas- that comes All culty of handlin seen “Forbid: is the most ambiti n he has done, e y he has ever-present the git. den ighest | these facts | ous | vainted i San Francisco. Be he artist ceriainly deserves | ven | left “EVENING, BRITTANY,” by John A. Stanton. L. P. Latimer sends a couple of pic- “GATEWAY TO ALHAMBRA,” by Matilda Lotz. tures in his usual style. They are charm ing little bits. The one entitled “‘Solitude” is a true bit of nature. It is a spot where | you long to lie and dream and let the old world, a long way off, it may, Fred Yates, who at present has his re dence in London, shows several portraits of a bigh order of merit. Mr. Yates is a | former San Franciscan and was here re- cently on a visit, at which time he painted the pictures exhibited. The pictures are those of Charles R. Bishop, General W. H. L. Barnes and Irving M. Scott. Mr. Y in painting is fail of vigor. He handles color as if it were fun to bim. There is nothing labored ubout his work and all of his pictures are gocd likenesses and need no label to those who know the subjeets. Harry Stewart Fonda sends several pictures of a uniform degree of excellenge. | They are all landscape and marine sub-, jects, painted low in key and subdued in color. The best of these is a moonlight | picture entitled “Low Tide.” I: shows a | fishing-boat hauled high and dry in the foreground and a number of others 1n the | distance. The effect of the moon is ob- | scapes painted in the style he has lately wiig along as best “LOW TIDE, MOONLIGHT,” by Harry Stewart Fondas tained in the simplest manner, but very effectively. Matilda Lotz exhibits two pictures of a high order of excellence. Ore, a picture | of a dog, entitled “Repose,” is a good piece of work. Itis weil drawn and strong in color. ‘“Gates of Alhambra” is the | title of a picture that would attract atten- | tion no matter where exhibited. It shows a roadway leading to the famous old | palace bathed in the warm, rich licht of | Spain. 1t is the embodiment of art and | poetry, well and accurately painted, and | becomes more and more charming the longer it is looked at. H “Village of Lasselle, France,” and “Fish Alley, Chinatown,” are the titles of two highly creditable pictures by Jules Pages. | Both are painted with a “snap” that1s | charming. Loose in execution and bril- | liant in color. | Alice B. Chittenden exhibits several | flower pieces that are bits of fragrant color. | H. R. Bloomer shows several littie land- scapes well composed and studied. Two of them are foreign subjects and one is a view of Tamalpais. J. M. Gamble sends several landscapes. “Witd Mustard” is the title of one that is | greauly out of the ordinary. It is well | painted and full of character. Elizabeth Curtis O'Sullivan has sevéral portraits well drawn and painted. Several small pastels are exhibited by Lucia K. Mathews. All of them are crea- itavle pieces of work. Helen Hyde sends several small figure pieces that are worthy of consideration. G. Cadenasso has several small land- taken up. 1 J. W. Cartis of Australia. of a very clever piece of work by J. F. Martinez. It shows an Aztec maiden mak- ing an offering of flowers to the war god of | ber race. In addition to the exhibition of paint- ings by local artists, there is also a loan exhibition of a collection of paintings by These pictures were ordered painted by J. Stanford, a | brother of the late Senator Stanford, to be presented (o Stanford University. They arrivel in this country a few weeks ago, and Mrs. Stanford concluded to send them to the Art Association for a while be- fore banging them in the gallery at the university. ‘While not high-class works of art, these pictures are, nevertheless, highly interest- ing. All are of Australian subjects, and it | was the donor's idea that they should be topographically correct, as well as artistic. He intended them to be useful in giving an idea of the country where he lives. Strange as il may seem few pictures painted in Australia ever reach any other part of the worid, and as a consequence | little is really known about th t of that country. In the collection of pictures by Mr. Curtis there are several things that are confusing to a person not acquainted with the subjects. A noontide picture has the shadows falling toward the south in= stead of the north, as the case would be in this part of the world. The sunrises are more gorgeous than the sunsets, and to | | the eyes of Californians produce jost the | opposite to the effect intended. Morning | | looks like evening, and yice versa. In many of Mr. Curtls’ pictures he has | introduced animals unfamiliar to usand the effect is somewbat startling. In one “Flowers to Huitzilopochtli’’ is the title ““ AUSTRALIAN HOMESTEAD,” by J. W. of his pictures there are a number of kan- Curtis. | beyond Ancient-and Modern Athens. Ancient Athens spread round the Acro- polis, especially on the ‘hills facing the south, which are now uninhabited. The new town lies to the north of the antique citadel—an extension of the cluster of houses already existing at the foot of the rock when the war was enaed. The main intersecting streets were laid out—/Eolus street, starting from below the Acropolis and runniog northwarG, and Hermes street, leading from the roval palace to- ward the Pireus. The capital was thus | designed to lie in the valley between the Acropolis on one side and Mount Lyca- | bettus on the other. No ambition |of future development is traceable 2 ike original plan, -writes D, Bickelos in the January Century, The ground chosen and the width of the main | streets tend to show that the founders of the new city little dreamed of its rapid extension. Squeezing herself out of her narrow confines the city has graaually scaled the foot of Lycabettusand spread tbe valley on both sides, principally in a southwesterly direction. If the extension had been in a straight line toward the sca Athens would now be nearing a junction with the Pirmus; but both towns, as if avoiding each otker, ex- tend in parallel lines, and one must look to a probably distant future for the day | when they shall be connected by rows of houses instead of the long walls of ancient days. The fashionable quarters of the capital are to be found in the new additions te the primitive plan—the Neapolis, as it is called. Large thoroughfares have there been opened, tine buildings erected, both public and private, and Athens, already tne finest city in the east of Europe, bids fair to become, if no stop be putto her progress, one of the handsomest cities on | the Mediterranean. Under King Otto’s reign progress was comparatively slow. At the accession of King George, 1n the year 1363, the popula- tion did not exceed 45,000. The advance | bas been more rapid sicce then, especially during the last tkenty years of material prosperity, which has lately been inter- rupted, let us hope temporarily, by the financial entanglements of the Greek Gov- ernment, In 1879 the census, showed a population of nearly 46,000; in 1889, 114,000, and to-day, judging by the vital and building statis | tics, the number of inhabitants, 1f it does not exceed, cannot fall short of 140,000. The progress of the newly created town of P is not less remarkable. From 5000 to 6000 souts, who had already gath- ered there some thirty years ago, its pop- ulation had grown to 34,000 in 1889, and is now estimated at more than 40,000. To- gether the two towns number as many in- habitants as they probably possessed in the fourth century B. C. The sources of information s to the population of ancient Athens are indeed | vague; but from o passage of Xenophen giving the number of families as 10,000, and from a passage of Atheneus indicat- ing the proportion of slaves to frecmen at the time of Demetrins Phalereus, it may be calculated that at that epoch the pop- | nlation of Athens, including that of the | Pireus, was about 180,000. The area in- | cluded within the walls of both towns seems rather to confirm this estimate. 1 | I went to a ten-cent restaurant. ‘ | Thatis, the placards about the door stated that meals were served there for 10 cents, and placards ought to tell the tiuth. I found out iater on that these placards did. I saw the van: 1 was hunery and I had 15 cents jn my \ purse. Therefore, I decided to go in. My beart misgave me as I turned the knob of the door. The | door swung open. I went in. { And then my pectoral muscle braced up and didn’t misgive J | me anv more. i CI TR T e S T It was a large room full of small tables, hurryine servitors, | and the clattering and clashing complaints of thick crockery thrown about by unte nder hands. It was also full of atmosphere; not the atmosphere that fllls the canvases of our artists with glory and glow amid the | soulful tnrob of this, that and the other, but the ordinary, W TRY OUR SANDOW STEAKS THEY ARE TUICY ‘“He had attacked a sturdy and courageous beefsteak.” everyday atmosphere of Europs, Asia and Africa, North and South America, Australia and New Jersey. This particulur portion of atmosphere was very nearly solid with the mingled odors of boiled vegetables —golden carrots, plump sd fair-faced tornips; brown:jacketed potatoes, curdy cauliflower, plebeian cabbage, beany green and dry, the tear- { compelling, breath-desiroying onion, fish boiled and fried, the | cooxed flesh of beasts and the perspiring flesh of none too clean humanity. Several large blow flies, with gauzy wings full of the sheen | and shimmer of rainbow hues—violet, indigo biue, green, yel- | tow, orange and red—and badies of mectaliic luster and peacock blue shade, buzzed socially in‘the window. But let me whisper to you a secret! longer fashionable, from very deadness. But this is not Paris, the beantiful and gay; nor yet Lon- don, the massive and-the smoky. It 1s the Pacific Coast, the Gold en State, the county of San Francisco, the city of ditto, etc. Peacock blue1s no As a color to be desired it smells to heaven The female cashier paused in her inspection of a suspicious- looking two-bit piece and glanced at me sidewise as 1 entered. I need pen, ink and paper io write about her. I want a stub pen, b quantities of fluid and soreading it about freely. I want ink of glossy blackness, easy flowing and free from l-gs, wings, heads | and bodies of suicided flies, islands ot fuzzy and glutinous mold; and paper, snow-white, clean, crisp and smooth. She wore a front awful as that ot Jove himeelf, but different. Hers was as shaggy as that of a buffalo, bristling with hairpins falsely called “invisible,” and of a dull and rusty black. Her eyes also were black, and held within their shallow depths a glitter and glint which told of a watchful and suspicious nature. Her complexion, however, was white, deadly, ghastly, flatly white—the white of a whitewashed fence—the white of a plaster cast—the white of a crockery saucer. It was red, though, upon the cheekbones and lips, with a deep and rich and burning red- ness which mortal skin never wears of its own free will and accord—with the heartless, soulless, changeless red which is found in small boxes and vials. Having looked at me with the cursory glance of one accus- tomed to seeing folks, sue proceeded tocontemplate the dubious two-bit piece again. She did not seem to be impressed by my appearance, and my soul rebelled. After all, the rurchase of Easter hats is a superfluity when one’s duties or necessities carry one among people of aull and narrow minds, and cold and careless eyes. Beat a little less indignantly, you proud heart of mine! There is something to be lhnughl about here. L Ry . 1 smiled as Isat down at.a table. A bald-headed walter with a mournful coumenmce, asoiled and wilted collar, and a sniff, approached me. He gave me soup, first leaving his thumb in it, I sipped it, and then— * * ad and generous of poiut, capable of dipping up laree | free also from half-submerged | “] want some pate de foie gras,” I said. He stood in his tracks for a period of time and cogitated. He likewise sniffed. I guess that ain’t in the layout,” he said, *try some:hing Verily 10-cent restaurants are not capable ot satisfactorily filling all the requirements of stomachs accustomed to the best the market affords and the conglomerations of Gallic chefs. “You have terrapin ?’’ I asked, *‘or grenouilles frittes?” He looked at me. Again he did not understand. It was not in him. Itis notin any waiter of his caliber. It is the customer who must suffer. And he/sniffed. 1 gazed at him and I wondered. Would he see me perish there of hunger before his eves? I looked at the faces about me. They were eager, earnest, intent, and the jaws of all were moving. One man’s ears and scalp were also moving, and the per- “A pale girl with shazgy front contemplating a two-bit piece.” spiration stood in beads upon bis streaked and clouded brow. ‘‘ He sa; He had attacked a sturdy and courageous veteran beefsteak &nd was getting worsted in the encounter. I pitied him, but be did not care. He was sufficient unto himself. Most men are, as far as Iam concerned, I find. 1 gazed at the waiter again. g He stood motionless, like one fascinated. Did he imagine that his presence was sufficient for my nee ds? Perhaps not Perhaps he only did not understand. 1 looked info his eves. They were the color of a sodden cabbage, but they met mine bravely. “Iry again, Miss,” he said. 1 would have been more mashed on this waiter had he sniffed less and talked more. Chronic coryza is not pleasing, especially in a waiter. But he meant well. He would have used his hanky had he possessed one. But Fate had been unkind. “Corned beefand vegetables, and be quick about it,” I said, and be smiled. But it seemed to me that it was not a smile of joy. e brought the viands and placed them before me. Healso brought coffee and a piece of cake, some stewed prunes and my | chect. Then he left me to cat and meditate, and wonder, and gaze, | as T would. | When Irose to go the waiter sought me again, still sniffing, | “I hope you done well, Miss,”” he said. I thought a moment. I had missed something in my meal, but I would not chide him. He had done his best. “You have no finger-bowls,” I said, “and I had to use the same fork for everything. There are restaurants which do dif- | ferently.” His face gloomed. He frowned heavily and said : *“They charze higher, too.” I had not thought of this, but he was right. nickel and walked out. He followed me to the door and tapped his forehead and I gave him a w that | was a special writer and admired me.” ier as I departed. I had misjudged him. He was not such a clod as I'bad thought. He perceived that I had a Brain. He suspected that 1 was a Special Writer, and hs ndmired me. And he had a right to admire me. Why not? RN e T e S e e * I walked along the pavement and I met people—Iots of them. And I saw a waiter at the door of a two-bit creamerie. . He | wore a clean shirt and a cambric tie. Also a coat, a pair ot trousers and a vest. Likewise a California aiamond and a care- free smile. It seemed to me that he was happy. Happiness, perhaps, is a mere matter of environment, témperament, and so forth, and so on. And I thought of the waiter whom I had just left. And I sighed. After all, why may he not look sad and sniff if he wants to? RURIEL AIX. smiled at the ¢ ik