MISS M. D. SALE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2545, 24 December 1902, Page 20 (Supplement)

MISS M. D. SALE.

This young lady is a Dunedin girl, and the daughter of one of the professors of the Otago University, under whose roof she has enjoyed all the advantages of modern culture, and escaped most of those difficulties which so generally beset the path of the aspirant for literary or artistic honours. Here, too, was laid the foundation of the specialised study which led to Miss Sale's departure for London some four years ago in order that she might be nearer the centre of the art world and obtain the best modern advantages. In London she studied for a year and a-half under A. S. Cope, R.A., " who was a delightful master, but. his studio was so full that it was difficult to get a good view of the model." Miss Sale afterwards joined the art classes of Mr Borough Johnson, " who teaches more in the French style," and remained with him for another year and a-half, when she returned to her home in the November of 1901. During these three important years our Dunedin girl studied very hard, working during winter in the life classes, and in summer devoting herself to out-door work and that close analysis of Nature, without which no artist can hope to do great things. But in these days specialism is the fashion, as much in art as in medicine, and perhaps no life is long enough to permit of excellence in more than one direction. This, no doubt, was Miss Sale's opinion, and as the bent of her mind led her rather to the study of the " human form divine " than to landscape or flowers; and of the human form, the face which bears upon it the impress of the soul within seemed the most attractive, she devoted her attention to portraiture and concentrated her efforts not only on the truthful delineation of flesh tints, but on the far more difficult, play of expression, the light and shade of emotion, the subtle essence

of the real man or woman, which is so often lost for us in the mechanical process of photography, but which the ti-ue portrait painter manages to grasp and transfer to the canvas in a happy blend of technique and intuition. The art of the portrait painter is one that can not be wholly learned. It is a natural gift, largely compounded of close observation, keen insight, and shrewd commonsense ; this gift of " catching a likeness," being independent of that knowledge of form and technique which is of course necessary to transform the rough sketch into a finished picture. Here the sister arts of intuition and realisation wait upon each other. A portrait which is not a likeness is valueless, and there is a sense in which a likeness is not a portrait, but only a caricature. Probably the reason why portrait-paint-ing is but little esteemed by the general public is because they do not understand and appreciate these difficulties, and also because the pictures thus presented to them are of little-known individuals. A good portrait is naturally most prized by those who know the sitter well, and can appreciate a truthful and all-round presentment.