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malice, when really we have kindly and loyal feelings toward them, and are guilty of nothing worse than of looking at them, for the moment, as mere human beings, and biurting out what we thought we saw. They look us over, oftentimes, in the same inquiring, dispassionate way, and estimate our qualities and say their say about us; but that seems not to make them any more tolerant of our indiscretions of speech when they have caught us in them.

If there is anything in the good old doctrine of sure eventual retribution for sinners,

people who repeat what was not meant for repetition will have a surprisingly bad time after they die; but meanwhile the damage they do on earth would be greatly lessened if people in general could recognize that their friends talk about them pretty freely, and usually say what they happen to think at the moment; and that what they think to-day may be different from what they will think to-morrow; and that, even when their thought is, in some particular, unflattering, the expression of it does not necessarily imply a lapse of affection or fidelity.

THE FIELD OF ART

ART PRIZES AND AWARds—rené

C

REINICKE

OMPETITIVE exhibitors being but children of a larger growth, it has long been the custom to tempt them to put forth their best efforts by the promise of various medals, awards, documentary commendations called Honorable Mentions, etc., and Art-being a difficile profession, in every sense of the word-has been especially prolific of these glittering baits. In this country the list of these prizes offered in the various picture exhibitions is already very long, and, gradually lengthens, sometimes by very important additions—as in 1896, by the opening of the first annual exhibition of oil paintings in the Pittsburg Carnegie Art Galleries. Various methods of solving the very important question as to the supreme authority who is to award these awards have been tried, with various results. In the New York Academy of Design, for example, the republican plan of leaving this selection to the votes of the exhibitors themselves, was practised for several years in succession, but with such indifferent success that for three consecutive years one of these prizes was not distributed at all, owing to the neglect of a "quorum"

of the voters to attend. At present, the consent of the various parties controlling these prizes having been obtained, they are awarded by the jury of selection that admits the works to the exhibitions. The three prizes of the New York Academy, founded at different periods by the gentlemen whose names they bear, are the Thomas B. Clarke prize of $300 for the best American figure composition painted in the United States by an American citizen, without limitation of age; the Julius Hallgarten prizes of $300, $200, and $100 respectively, for the three best pictures in oil colors painted in the United States by American citizens under thirty-five years of age; and the Norman W. Dodge prize of $300 for the best picture painted in the United States by a woman, without limitation of age. The qualification, common to all, of stipulating that the work must be executed in this country, is for the purpose of shutting out students or artists enjoying the superior advantages of European residence. The Academicians themselves do not compete for any of these prizes; and no competitor may take two prizes or a prize of the same class a second time. The Clarke and Hallgarten prizes have been awarded every year since 1883, with the exception of

1890, 1891, and 1892, when there was no award of the latter; the Dodge prize since 1886. The exhibitors at the Academy have also benefited for the last two years by the expenditure of a fund of $1,000 subscribed annually by members of the Lotos Club for the purchase of one or more of the paintings at these annual exhibitions.

At those of the Society of American Artists two prizes are awarded by the jury --the first, the Webb prize of $300, for the best landscape in the exhibition, painted by an American artist under forty years of age, and the second, the Shaw Fund Prize of $1,500 (originally $1,000) for the purchase of a figure composition painted in oil by an American artist. The first was instituted in 1887 by Dr. W. Seward Webb of this city, and is to be given every year during the lifetime of the founder. An artist having once received this prize, is not eligible a second time. The picture chosen by the jury for the second, becomes the property of Sam uel T. Shaw, the donor of the fund. This has been awarded for the last five years-to Messrs. Theodore Robinson, Edmund C. Tarbell, Henry P. Walker, William M. Chase, and George W. Maynard.

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, which has recently closed its sixty-sixth annual exhibition, of more than usual importance, is still more liberally endowed. The Temple Trust Fund, created by the late Joseph E. Temple, yields an annual income of $1,800 for the purchase of works of art at the discretion of the directors of the Academy, and for the issue of medals to artists. This competition is open to all American artists. Two gold medals may be awarded by the painter's Jury of Selection for the best two pictures painted in oil, without regard to subject; but the jury has power to withhold one or both medals if the pictures offered in competition are not considered of sufficient merit. At this last exhibition, these medals were awarded to George De Forest Brush for his Mother and Child" and to John W. Alexander for his group of eleven works. The Walter Lippincott Prize of $300, was awarded for the fourth time to Albert Herter's "Le Soir." This carries with it an option on the part of the founder to purchase the picture chosen, for one week after the announcement of the award, at the price named by the artist in the memorandum of entry. The conditions governing the award are, that the work se

lected "shall be, all its qualities considered, the best figure painting in oil by an American citizen" (last year, "the best landscape or marine in oil"); the jury is to be designated by the Academy, but has the right to withhold the award, if in its judgment the pictures offered are not of sufficient merit. The Mary Smith Prize of $100, founded by Russell Smith, was awarded for the nineteenth time by the Exhibition Committee, to Miss E. F. Bonsall's "Hot Milk.” This, according to the present modified terms, is to be given "to the painter of the best painting (not excluding portraits) in oil or water colors exhibited at the Academy, painted by a resident woman artist for qualities ranking as follows: 1st. Originality of Subject; 2d. Beauty of Design or Drawing; 3d. Color and Effect; and, lastly, Execution." The Academy has no claim on the painting thus selected, and the same artist may not receive the prize twice in succession, nor more than twice in all. There is also a gold medal of the Academy, which was founded in 1893 by John H. Converse, and is awarded “at the discretion of the Board of Directors, in recognition of high achievement in their profession, to American painters and sculptors who may be exhibitors at the Academy or represented in the permanent collection, or who for eminent services in the cause of Art as to this Academy, may have merited this distinction." This medal has been given four times: to Ridgway Knight and Alexander Harrison in 1893, to William M. Chase in 1894, and to Winslow Homer in 1895.

At the sixty-fifth annual exhibition of the Academy, which opened in December, 1895, an additional prize of $5,000 was offered by Mr. Wm. L. Elkins, of Philadelphia, for the best work by an American painter to be exhibited at the Academy, specifically entered by the artist for the prize and not to have been exhibited previous to that year, the founder of the prize to have for twenty days after the award the right of purchasing any picture or pictures submitted, at the price named upon the memorandum of entry. The jury of award, to be named by the Academy and to consist of seven persons, four of them to be artists, might award the sum either in one lump to the picture of the highest merit, or in two sums of $3,000 and $2,000 to the two of highest merit, and under these terms they gave the first prize of $3,000 to Abbott H. Thayer for his “ Caritas," and the

second to Edmund C. Tarbell for his "Girl those exhibited, the gold medal, to John Lavwith the White Azaleas."

In Boston, the Museum of the Fine Arts holds conditional legacy from the late J. William Paige of $30,000 under the conditions that the Museum shall, within five years after his death, add $10,000 more, the income from the gross amount to be devoted to a two years' scholarship in Europe for a pupil of the institution who shall have been most proficient in painting. This additional sum has not yet been raised. The Museum ceased to give annual exhibitions many years ago, that function being now filled by the Art Club in Newberry Street, and the only award dispensed by the Museum is a scholarship prize of three years residence in Europe under the auspices of the School of Design and Painting connected with the institution. This, in connection with other prizes of a similar educational character, will be noticed later.

The recent first annual exhibition of the Carnegie Art Galleries, in Pittsburg, marked the inauguration of a Department of Fine Arts in that city, which, in the language of the Director, “has as one of its chief objects the founding of a collection which will represent American Art." So many important canvases, both domestic and imported, were attracted by the liberal sum of $40,000 for purchases placed at the disposal of the Art Committee and the prizes and medals offered, that it was found impossible to hang at first all the accepted ones. The first prize of $5,000 was offered for the best painting in oil produced in the year 1896 by an American artist, wherever resident, which was to be first shown in this exhibition, the successful work to become the property of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Fine Arts and Museum Collection Fund, and to be hung permanently on the walls of the Carnegie Art Galleries. This offer was made on condition that the work shall be adjudged worthy and of sufficient artistic worth to properly represent the best American Art of the year," and under these conditions it was given to Mr. Winslow Homer's coast scene, "The Wreck." The second prize, of $3,000, for the painting in oil adjudged to be next in artistic value, under the same conditions, was given to Mr. Gari Melcher's "Shipbuilder." The Board of Trustees also awarded three medals of honor to the three artists, without regard to nationality, whose works were adjudged of the highest artistic value among

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ery, Glasgow, Scotland, for a painting entitled "Lady in Brown; the silver medal, to J. F. Raffaelli, of Paris, for a Notre Dame," the bronze, to Miss Cecilia Beaux, of Philadelphia, for "Ernesta." The exhibition circular announced also that the Board of Trustees, as provided in the Deed of Trust, will each year purchase not less than two works by American artists, for the Chronological Collection intended to represent the progress of American Art beginning with the year 1896, and that two medals of honor will be awarded to the two American artists whose works are placed in this collection. All these awards are guarded by the stipulation that an artist having once received a prize or medal shall not be considered eligible for the same a second time.

For the second annual exhibition in these galleries, opening November 4, 1897, provision has been made for a jury of eleven persons, one of whom shall be the Chairman of the Fine Arts Committee of the Board of Trustees, who shall act as President and have a deciding vote. Of the ten other members, two shall be artists residing in Europe, and all shall be elected by the votes of the invited contributors to the exhibition, only those votes received by the committee in Pittsburg on or before September 15, 1897, to be counted. The members of the jury will be the guests of the Board of Trustees of the Art Fund; they may exhibit works but shall not compete for medals or prizes. To the three medals of honor has been added an Honorable Mention, all to be awarded without regard to nationality, but only to works still in the possession of the artist, and which have been completed within three years of the date of opening of the exhibition. The gold medal carries with it an award of $1,500; the silver, of $1,000, and the bronze, of $500. The monetary value of the two prizes offered to American artists has, however, been reduced from $5,000 and $3,000 to $1,000 and $500 respectively, the artist accepting the prize agreeing that the Trustees shall have an option for sixty days from November 4, 1897, on his picture, at the price at which it was entered in the exhibition.

At the annual exhibitions of the Chicago Art Institute several years ago, prizes of $200 or $300 each were awarded. No medals are now given. The recent International and Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta, Ga.,

used only one general medal in making the awards in all departments of exhibits. At the Thirteenth Annual Exhibition of the St. Louis Exposition and Music Hall Association, which immediately preceded that at the Carnegie Galleries in Pittsburg, and which was also an important display of carefully selected paintings, European and American, no prizes or medals were offered, we believe, this exhibition relying upon its heavy sales to attract the artist's envois. These, it is claimed, "have exceeded in number and amount the sales at any similar expositions in the United States." Consequently, and also because of the systematic efforts to present the most interesting schools of contemporary Art, this claims to hold the position of "the leading Art exhibition of the year in the United States." The most valuable collections of paintings and sculpture in the year 1896 certainly seem to have been gathered west of the Alleghanies, and not on the Atlantic seaboard, if we except the autumn exhibition of the Philadelphia Academy, to which many of the Pittsburg pictures were transferred.

Not many of these official awards are offered by the more important Western Art institutions, several of which, indeed, do not hold any regular exhibitions. The Layton Art Gallery has no system of medals or awards, nor has any other artistic society in the city, so far as is known. It is recorded that Mr. Frederick Layton one year offered the Milwaukee Art Association a prize. The only medals connected with the history of the Detroit Museum of Art are two bronze ones presented by the trustees to Messrs. Frederick Stearns and James E. Scripps in June of last year, in acknowledgment of their services to the museum. The Cincinnati Museum Association, which holds interesting exhibitions of works of arts of all kinds, and corresponds with the leading academies and museums of the country, has not yet offered any medals or money awards to exhibitors, though it has on several occasions purchased works exhibited; on one occasion giving $500 for a painting by a Cincinnati artist. The Art Association of Indianapolis has no official prizes to offer; nor has the Art League of Minneapolis; nor the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, excepting in the art schools; the latter, however, reckons among its funded assets two donations, one of $10,000 and the other of $20,000, from both of which the interest is devoted to the purchase of works of Art to be added from time to time to the per

manent collection of the academy. The first of these was received from Mr. S. S. Jewett in 1871, and the second from the late F. W. Tracy, Esq.

On the Pacific coast, the San Francisco Art Association issued an address to "the artists of California" in November, 1895, announcing a competition in historical painting to be held under its auspices in the following winter, for three prizes offered by its president, Mr. James D. Phelan, "for the encouragement of local art and historical research." The first prize, of $800, was for the best picture painted by a California artist, resident in the State, representing one of these subjects: "The Discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Balboa;" "The Discovery of California by Cabrillo;" "The Discovery of the Bay of San Francisco by Portola." The second choice in the competition was to receive $150, and the third, $50. The successful picture was to become the property of the Art Association, and all the competitive canvases were to be exhibited at the next spring exhibition of the association, in April, 1896. The judges were chosen in the following manner: Two artists by the competitors, two laymen by the directors of the association, and a fifth, who was to be an artist, by the four so chosen. Under these conditions the competition was carried out, and the prizes awarded respectively to Messrs. Mathews, Keith, and Pissis. Historical art being a plant of very feeble growth in this country, or, rather, being one that having made a promising start in the early days has since died and completely departed, such wellmeant encouragement is worthy of record and imitation.

In the national capital, the Corcoran Gallery of Art awards prizes only in its schools, and the two artistic societies, that of the Washington artists and the Cosmos Club, make no awards. The latter purchases annually a picture to the value of $200 from the exhibit made by the former.

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Herr Reinicke's genius for embodying types and bringing out odd notes of character is enough to make him one of the great succession of character - draftsmen to which Cruikshank and Leech belong; while his work shows all the advance in method of the most

modern school. The faithfulness and suggestiveness of the drawings for "No Continuing City" will not need to be pointed out to anyone familiar with the street types of a German town, even if he has no closer acquaintance with the German poor.

ABOUT THE
WORLD

A

ND so at last New York City is to have a great library-a library which will be to other libraries what the metropolis is to other cities. It was an exceedingly happy thought to combine the Astor, Lenox, and Tilden foundations in one great democratic institution; the directorship has fallen into the hands of a man of great force and administrative ability, Dr. John S. Billings; and a site has been chosen which is wellnigh ideal the space now occupied by the THE NEW YORK imposing masonry of PUBLIC LIBRARY parallelogram formed

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buildings, no less than eighty-eight architects submitted plans; the judges, Professor Ware, of Columbia University, and Mr. Bernard R. Green, engineer of the Congressional Library, selected twelve architects to compete in the 'finals," each of the twelve to receive a prize of $400, and $800 to cover the cost of drawings, whether or not any of his suggestions are used. Under the terms of the legislation which established the library, its buildings are to be constructed by the Department of Public Works, from the plans secured by the Trustees after these have been approved by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.

The space now occupied by the reservoir, which makes such a picturesque feature of the

the old reservoir, in the Fifth Avenue vista, is 482 × 455 feet, so that

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by Forty-second Street on the north, Bryant Park on the west, Fortieth Street on the south, and Fifth Avenue on the east.

The methods and plans of the trustees for the buildings and equipment of this coming New York Public Library are so carefully thought out, and speak so intelligently the last word in the science of library-making, that they have an interest for many people other than the vexed New Yorkers of library habits and needs who have been contending as best they might with the lack of public facilities in the metropolis.

In the competition for the designing of the

there will be room for an edifice of really mag

nificent dimensions, with sufficient space about it to insure a plentiful supply of light and air. The structure will cost $1,700,000, exclusive of heating, lighting, and all interior equipment. It will measure about 230 by 340 feet, which would allow about seventy-five feet of ground on the Fifth Avenue front, and about fiftyeight on Fortieth and Forty-second Streets. On the west side there is, happily, Bryant Park, with its pleasant relief of green foliage. The stone building will probably be faced with Indiana limestone. The book-stacks will be in the first and second stories and the basement, leaving the third story for the readingroom and other purposes. This arrangement

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