ART AND ARTISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2242, 18 February 1897, Page 46

ART AND ARTISTS.

« . V Mr Solomon J. Solomon, who was not long ago elected an Associate of the Royal Aoademy. is only 36. He is handsome— bis fresh, healthy complexion being preserved bj a gallop in the Park every day— and very popular. Mr Solomon has bachelor quarters near So. John's Wood, where a coterie of young celebrities in literature and art are accustomed to assemble. * . • Henry Brest, through whom the Venus de Milo came into the hands o£ the French in 1818, recently died, over 100 years old, on the island of Milo, where he had married a Greek woman. He happened to be on the •pot when the peasants first dug up the statue, and, struck by its beauty, induced them to keep the "discovery- seofet, notified the French consul, and arranged for th« delivery of the treasure to "the crew of the man-of-war that soon after came to Milo to carry it away. • . • The charming art of miniature painting, which was so seriously threatened when the wonders of the photographic camera first became evident, and every one rushed to have his or her likeness pictured by the sun, is still alive — as visitors to the last Royal Academy exhibition, where abont 100 examples were shown, are well aware. A more recent exhibition of these tiny pictures on ivory or vellum has been opened in London under the auipices of the Society of Miniature Painters, a body of enthusiastic workers formed in the interests of this branch of art. Tnis is their first exhibition, and bo many excellent works were shown that we may be sure the experiment will be repeated in future years. WILLIAM MOBMS AND GEOBGE DU MAURIER. To the already long list of deaths of men who bear in the world of art quite commanding reputations two serious additions have to be made; By the loss of William Morris and George dv Maurier we are deprivad of a pair of artists who had in totally different ways an extremely active influence amongst us. Of William Morris it is hardly too much to say that he revolutionised the public taste in domestic art. Although by the nature of his work his immediate appeal was necessarily limited to a comparatively small circle of wealthy people, the effects whioh his efforts had throughout the whole range of the applied arts was in the highest degree important, and the example nhich he set ban been followed in ways whioh seemed to promise permanent results of a very valuable kind. A very different type of artist was George dv Maurier. Militant aastheticism and the desire to reform the world were by no means the essential articles of the creed whioh lie professed. His concern was not at all with the future of art, and he credited himself with no mission to lead into the right path the erring aesthetics of bis times. The present was what interested him, and his place in the scheme was that of commentator upon the events of the moment. He was in fact an historian who put into picture form bis observations upon the manners and customs of his contemporaries. His view was doubtless a satirical one, and there was never-failing humour in the records that he made ; but bis satire was never bitter and his humour was too genial and wholesome to offend the most thin-skinned of his subjects. As an artist he was popular because be presented in a pleasant way attractive types and scenes that were prettily arranged. He was rarely commonplace and never in the smallest degree approached vulgarity; therefore he attracted many people who asked for something pretty to look at, and who will not accept the accurate representation of what is unrefined simply because the artist who has chosen it for bis subjeot has the capacity to make it admirable as a work of art. At the same time he drew well enough and with a sufficiently accurate sense of beautiful line to avoid offence to all but the most exacting critics. — From the Art Journal for December.