permanent by means of a rare
and graceful art some of those fragments which have given him his
private and personal clue to the wonders of the moment, creating a
personal art by being himself a rare and lovely person. He remains for
us one of the finest of artists, who has reverted those whisperings
from the great world of visual melody in which he lived. It was with
these exquisite fragments that he adorned the states of his own soul
in order that he might present them as artist in tangible art form. We
are grateful for his lyricism and for his exquisite goldsmithery.
After viewing his delicately beautiful pictures, objects take on a new
poetic wonder.

THE VIRTUES OF AMATEUR PAINTING

WITH SPECIAL PRAISES FOR JENNIE VANVLEET COWDERY

Some of the finest instances of pure painting will be found, not as
might be imagined by the layman, among the professional artists, but
among those amateurs whose chief occupation is amusing themselves first
of all. If you who read will make close reference to those rich examples
of the mid-Victorian period, when it was more or less distinguished to
take up painting along with the other accomplishments, you will find
that the much tabooed antimacassar period produced a species of painting
that was as indicative of personal style and research as it was fresh in
its elemental approach. The perfect instance in modern art of this sort
of original painting raised to the highest excellence is that of Henri
Rousseau, the true primitive of our so eclectic modern period. No one
can have seen a picture of this most talented douanier without being
convinced that technique for purely private personal needs has been
beautified to an extraordinary degree.

Rousseau stands among the very best tonalists as well as among the
best designers of modern time, and his pictures hold a quality so
related to the experience contained in their subjects, as to seem
like the essence of the thing itself. You feel that unquestionably
Rousseau's Paris is Paris, and you are made to feel likewise that his
jungle scenes are at very least his own experiences of his earlier
life in Mexico. Rousseau convinces by his unquestionable sensitivity
and integrity of approach. He was not fabricating an art, he was
endeavoring to create a real picture for his own private satisfaction,
and his numerous successes are both convincing and admirable.

As I have said, if you have access to a variety of amateur pictures
create