ART AND ARTISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2913, 12 January 1910, Page 85

ART AND ARTISTS.

WHAT AMERICAN CARTOONISTS EARN. —Some Well-paid Artists.-r-

America is, without doukV the' happy hunting-ground of the ,cartoonist,v;fq:r there: almost every daily paper baa* its. political, artist just as it has its leader-writer and society editor. In. England veryffeAv newspapers possess their own cartoonists, with the result that this particular branch of art is becoming rarer every day. At the. present time there air© no ihore ' than a dozen prominent cartoonists in England 1 , while in America they may be counted by hundred*. Every leading American daily endeavours to get the best: cartoonist in the country, with the result ,■ that these artists ma highly paid, and occupy a position second only in importance to that of the editor himself. —Homer Davenport's Cartoons. —

Payment to political, cartoonists in the States varies very often according', to the value which th© artist himself puts upon his work. The writer knows one man who is a cartoonist, to his finger-tips, but —he doesn't know it; consequently he- is getting about £8 a week when he should, really be getting £2O or £25. Andi he ' will get it soon, for when his present contract comes to an end a dozen papers will be fighting to possess him. ■ ■■;'■' ■■• The American cartoonist is in his element, of course, during a,Presidential election. ''lt : is then that his talent is. put to' tha real test, for he i$ up against the combined efforts of all, his (rivals. A clever cartoon has considerable influence on. an election, and it is said that Homer Davenport's elec- , tion cartoon of Roosevelt a lew years ago did much tor swell his tremendous majority. For weeks fsio* to the conclusion of a Presidential caasgaign D&Tenporfc actives

lOOOdol a wee!i for his ?e*v-iees—services which consist <:f tunning out o::e cartoon a day. Mr - fine work, and his art is a. natural gift' Which lias had no train in--';, and which i.-. thm-efora all the more wonderful. Originally. Air, D.iviiij-rt earned a precarious livelihood; by fulfilling the duties r.-t clown in a ciijtt*.?*?:-'' Probably fcho leading eaitoonist of tho day in tho States is Mr C. 11. Macauk=y whoso work appears daily eji tho editorial page of tho Ivew York World. Hs is the only American artist whoseietyle resembles that of Sir John Tenniel, who is, perhaps, the greatest cartoonist of . f,h>' ago. Mr Macauiey is one of the niesifcrspid workers in the art world to-day, turning out a complete ca.rtoon finely finished- in. less tlian two hours. " Cartoonist " Mafcauley is paid a very big' sum for hits work, and might make considerably more if he would ficll the originals of his work, for which there, is always a demand. But Mr Macauley does not do this, preferring- to allow the subjects of the cartoons to have the pictures whenever they express that desire. —Created' the " Happy Hooligan."—

F. Opper is a cartoonist as well as a " comic artist." He was the originator of the trusts' "fat man" —a figure that is now always associated with the various "trusts." M:r Opper also originated "Happy Hooligan," " Alphonse and C4aston," and many other celebrated American characters. This artist also works vary quickly, and could, if he desired to do so, earn anything from £IOO to £3OO a week. There- is not much refinement about his work, but it is good newspaper art andi generally achieves the object for which it was prepared. Jamer Montgomery Flagg is a " society " cartoonist —somewhat on the lines of the late George dm Maurier. His work is now regarded as on a higher plane than that of Gibson, Christy, Fisher, or any of the artists who have gained fame by delineating ihe charms of the " Amen'icaro Girl." Mr Flagg receives £SO for a singk drawing, and he* could, if he desired, work 24 hours a day at a unifoi-m rate of £25 an hour, so numerous are his commissions. However, he contents himself with turning out about half a dozen illustrations a week, which give him an income which enables him to enjoy life to the utmost and at the eame time " put money in the bank." He is a very close friend of Mr Sargent, the ■celebrated portrait painter. —A Salary of £IO,OOO a Year.—

M'Cutcheon, of the Chicago Tribune, receives a princely salary, for the Tribune is the. finest and richest paper in the. East, and M'Cutcheon is regarded as not only the greatest cartoonist in Chicago, but the greatest in America-. It bar bsen, eaid that Mr M'Cutcheon receives a salary of 50,000d0l a year, and that he has a, contract which will not run out until 1920. For this the artist will have to supply about 365 drawings a year, which works out! at something like £27 a drawing. This is considerably less than Dana Gbsoa's £2OO each for 100 drawings.

The average payment for a cartoonist who has no particular distinction, but who possesses sufficient talent to pictorially ~ecord the political news of the day, ranges from £lO to £25 a week. Many of these artists combine the illustrating of books with their newspaper work, and consequently make very handsome incomes. The American cartoonist and comic artist has a style- all his own, and which is understood! and appreciated by the American people.. For this reasons foreign srtists find it difficult to obtain a footing on American papers, at least until they have 'learned t< adapt their work to the taste of th(. public.

Fromentin, the French painter and author, who wrote with such insight on art, and whose final analysis of Rembrandt was that he was a pure spiritualist, believed! that the essential Rembrandt was to be found in his etchings. Tho mechanism of oil painting troubled Rembrandt's spiritual vision, impeded it, but in the direct methods of etching and drawing he found* himself, eased) the burden of bis overcharged heart.—C. L. Hind. The Whistler Memorial Committee, having raised sufficient funds for the erection of a monument in London, as well as a replica in Lowell, Massachusetts, the birthplace of the artist, arc now awaiting delivery from M. Rodin's studio in Paris of the fine work on which he has been so long engaged. There is a third part of the scheme (the London correspondent of the Seotsmaji says) in respect of which an appeal for further subscription's is still before the public. This is to erect in a. public place in Paris a replica of the London monument. The selected site of the latter is in the garden of the Chelsea Embankment, not far from Sir Edgar Boehm's statue of Carl vie. For this: purpose an extra £IOOO, in addition to the £4OOO already, subscribed, is required. Mr Joseph Pen* nell is the hon. secretary df-the committee., —•A new . Renaissance was sweeping through Europe- in .the early years of last century. There was young genius and l young blood. There "-.was an outworn society and decrepit idssals. Young genius grew melancholy, -and wore tho raiment of young cynicism. Young genius had its sorrows; it draped them beautifully, it allowed the lip to curl, the,.eye to cloud; itself; it cultivated pilgrimage; it put vin-j leaves in the hair, drinking the cup an<£ apostrophising the dregs; it posed befort the mirror of Time with a coxcombry that was too transparent to be very hatefttL, Moreover, it had that perennial excuse for all sounding and beautiful 1 folly—it waa young. It needed the excuse'badly enough. It had no respect. Byron respected neither Michael nor St. Peter. It had l no regard for tho truth, but lied in pure fulness of heart, almost as if it wanted to be found out. Did not Chateaubriand see flamingoes on _ the banks of the Mississippi ? As for religion, it either loved it for aesthetic reasons or openly blasphemed. It was faithless and cruel in its loves,, unaccountable in its conduct, incorrigible in its weak sins, swift to apprehend evil, and swifter still to run into it. It fed 1 a curiosity that was insatiable and appetites that were boundless. It called its curiosity by the name of spiritual htcsger, a.nd ; the satisfaction 'of its appetites by the-name of self-dis.covery. —Saturday Review.- •-■ . • '- ;