Many stories are told of the models he chose from the streets. Often some dirty, ragged little child would find itself taken kindly by the hand and led home to ask its mother whether it might pose for the great artist. After some difficulty the mother would be persuaded to let the child go just as it was, dirt and all. As soon as Whistler began to paint, he usually forgot everything else and so at last the child would cry out from sheer weariness. Then with a start of surprise Whistler would say to his servant, “Pshaw! what’s it all about? Can’t you give it something? Can’t you buy it something?” Needless to say, the child always went home happy with toys and candy.
Whistler saw color everywhere, and he was especially quick to feel the beauty of color combinations. The names of his paintings suggest that this love of color was of first importance in his work, even before the object or person studied. So we have “A Symphony in White,” “Rose and Gold,” “Gray and Silver,” “A Note in Blue and Opal,” and “Green and Gold.”
Questions about the artist. Of what nationality was the artist? What was his father’s profession? What important positions did he hold? How did the family observe Sunday? What was the great event of the day for James McNeill Whistler? To what country did the family move? What happened after the father’s death? Where was James sent to school? Why did he fail? Why did he change his name? Tell about the position in the government office and what happened there. How did praise and admiration affect him? Name some of his best paintings.
MURAL DECORATIONS AND FRESCO
The term “mural decoration” applies to the decoration of walls and ceilings. These decorations may be done in fresco, oils, sculpture in low relief, mosaics, carved and paneled woodwork, or tapestries. In fresco painting a damp plaster ground is prepared on the wall, upon which the moist colors are painted. These colors become fixed as they dry, and appear to be a part of the wall. The work must be done while the plaster is damp, so the painter prepares only that part of the wall which he expects to cover that day. As it cannot be used after it is dry, he must scrape away all that is left and prepare a new background the next day. If the artist wishes to change any part of his picture, he must scrape off the ground and repaint the entire picture. It is often easy to see where the new plaster has been added, and hence how much the artist did in one day.
The damp atmosphere in northern countries soon destroys fresco paints, while the warm, sunny climate of such countries as Italy and Spain preserves them. Most of the fresco paintings of such old masters as Fra Angelico, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo are still to be seen in much of their original beauty.
In America, fresco is seldom used, as artists find that oil paints on canvas, which may be fastened to the wall with white lead, are much more lasting and satisfactory.
Some of the best-known mural paintings in the United States are found in the Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts: “The Holy Grail,” by Edwin Abbey (American); “The Frieze of the Prophets,” by John Sargent (American); and “The Muses Welcoming the Genius of Enlightenment,” by Chavannes (French). In the Congressional Library, Washington, D.C., the artists represented are: Elihu Vedder (American), J. W. Alexander (American), H. O. Walker (American), Charles Sprague Pearce (American), Edward Simmons (American), G. W. Maynard (American), and Frederick Dielman (American by adoption). In the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City, E. H. Blashfield (American) and Edward Simmons are represented. At the Carnegie Institute the work of John W. Alexander is represented, and at the Walker Art Building, Bowdoin College, Maine, we find works by Cox, Thayer, Vedder, and La Farge.