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300 THINGS IN GENERAL. *
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
I Am That —No In Matter Common Who With ...
color , but so clear and vigorous ; tlie -work of an artist who knows what she is about ,, and whose every touch tells sharp an _$ decisive .
And the little boys who people the landscapes are very expressive . " " It _delights me to hear of any woman ' s pictures being * possessed
of absolutely excellent qualities , without any reference to her peculiar difficulties as a woman . But I want to know why you
carried away the impression of these three minds only . If nothing occurred to you on the spot , has nothing occurred to you since that
may account for such universal nullity ? I am sure there is plenty all of character in what they in what do . ' women write , and in what they say , and above
I . F . " Indeed , yes . I think there is nothing so short-sighted or so narrow-minded as to decry the excellent virtuesthe senseand
, , kindness which meet one among good women in every walk of life . When I see them failing in any kind of work , I only think that
either they are trying to do something for which their peculiar nature unfits them , or else that they have not reached to a clear
comprehension of what they want to do ; never that they are in themselves of little value . I think , after all , the one thing which
impresses me as I look back on those pictures is the very small amount of physical trouble they evinced . "
_" Physical trouble ! Why , do you estimate a picture hy the muscular exertion it cost to paint it ?"
I . F . _" Not exactly ; but to be a good artist must involve the spending of * laborious days . ' A painter must to a certain extent
brave rain and shine ; choose his localities without reference to the varnish on his boots . Witness the loose costume of a wandering
artist , as depicted in last week ' s * Punch . ' But the ladies' pictures in the Royal Academy have a sort of a - "
" Sort of a what ?" I . F . " A sort of look as if they had been painted in crinoline
, sitting in a corner of a garden , or at best on a common a mile from home , with rugs and camp stools brought by a servantthe scene
, being chosen with particular reference to the convenient placing of the said rugs and camp stools . "
" Perhaps the ladies were not strong enough to go farther . " I . F . " Perhaps not , but then the inability is a serious
disadvantage . " " And the figure pieces ?"
I . F . " The figure pieces are so very often portraits or studies from _friends and relations that it seems as if they had not had the
energy to select or procure other models . As if , in fact , their art was bounded by their daily life , instead of their daily life being
raised by their art . " " And will it ever be otherwise for the majority of women ; and
if it were otherwise , would they not suffer in their * distinctive womanhood ? ' "
I . F . " A question I leave to futurity ; more especially as I
300 Things In General. *
300 THINGS IN GENERAL . *
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), July 1, 1859, page 300, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01071859/page/12/
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