Show f t w f LrCT UAHNHY The Great Painters of the Future Will Be i Women r r By Alice Barney f Religion Cave Mah His First Impetus Toward Art Possibilities of Religious PaintingIn Delicacy and Charm of Thought Woman ExcelsCapable of Giving New Interpretation of Her God Woman needs Faith In Herself and Opportunity Let Those Who Execute Help Women Soon Wilt Rival Masters of Old Copyright by Joseph II Howies Mrs Alfrod Clifford Barney Is one of tho cleverest of tho women ixrtlnts of this country Borne of her pictures have been hunt III l tho Iarls salon nnil Bovorul of hor portraits of American statesmen ordered by the state department at Washington are now on tho walls of the largo reception recep-tion room or that department As Mrs Barney Is possessed of wealth nil tho money received by tier from the Halo of her paintings Is devoted to the assistance of American young women who are study I Itiif art In Iarls Kor years she has boon prominently In I Washington Interested She In lens art had movement more Mttlncs from ambassadors and other Its tlnKiUHhed members of tho diplomatic corps than any other artist In this country coun-try tryIt will ho admitted that up to the last few years gentlewomen were open to but one honorable and almost always al-ways possible fieldmarriage Now lAstead of marrying for her support and living as she often did a miserable miser-able and distasteful existence with a man she neither loved nor admired wo find her living and living well by hor pen her brush her nftislc her profession She may havo to struggle and almost starve to gain her end but her will and determination her talent hor power of endurance and her powers pow-ers of mind aro being dally tested and aro bearing the test well During tho last ton years women both painters and sculptors are no longer a matter of wonder They are accepted facts and their work Is Judged not as tho work of women but as tho work 6f t artists Tho strong mailed hand that has bound her daring spirit to the limits lim-its of a homo Is powerless Her wings well feathered and strong carry her beyond Its profound but narrow limits lim-its into tho great Held of workers where hor talents demand and command com-mand rncocnltlon Naturally men have objected to women entering aay of tvo moneymaking money-making Holds They know In tho nature na-ture of thingIn each department thero is only so much money or suc cess to bo gained and that money success and fame will fall to thoso pos sosslng tho greater talent and appllca tlou Women entering the field of art and forging ahead as they are doing means that men of loss talont and men of like talent and less application will do without tho success and money hat tho competing women carry off TJioy know that In all things when you can keep down tho number of competItors compet-Itors greater aro tho chances of suc coss and tho standardsexcept where genius existsless high Remember it is In tho boys early yours that tho seed of example Is planted and from that seed perhaps of ambition the man becomes a warrior i war-rior a statesman a sciential or an artist Hoys from the beginning are taught of the great deeds of Caesar Washington Newton and Columbus Who wore Michael Angola and Vales quoz Were they not men T Were not all the grout men but men Am will he not as he dally studies their deeds tho deeds of groat powerful minds will he not think I shall bo a II1llna groat man 1 Year after yea ho grows with the idea firmly planted In his mind that ho Is a man to whom all things are possible And unless ho is great In mind and deed It often takes time and many hard knocks before be-fore much If not all of his conceit Is I knocked out of him nut would It not bo well if tho coming com-ing woman were taught that women can aid shall attain that glorious fame that victories are in somo Hold equally possible for women as foramen men And to that end let the women who cannot but who desire to progress help these women who have alruad started on the way aiding them at least by encouragement and cheer so far as their talent ami 1 strength will carry them thereby making the road less hard for tho future woman If 1 ovory Idle woman who says she has no talent no power of expression would Interest herself in some oman struggling to attain would encourage and strengthen hor efforts at those moments when the artist feels despair she would find that tho mere effort to help another would awaken In horse first an Interest and then a desire to create and little by little hor artistic temperament would ho aroused until the desire to try lmrsf to accomplish omothlng would thrill ner heart and I sho would feel arise the power of ex resslon that is within each ono of us It may be she would become Inteiost od In a woman struggling to become a painter and thereby would awaken the powers of a painter within herself or encouraging a painter the sleeping musician or poet or the active practical prac-tical worker In the world of progress would be aroused It was religion that awakened the first crude effort of man to express b > his means of pigments and marble Ideals Tho great statues of the gods and goddesses crowning the hills ol Oreeco were but mans expression ol his belief In the deities that ruled his fate In Italy the palette and brest wore laid at the feet of the church o tome serving to add to her glory tr portray her beliefs to seek the spe clal blessing that her service bo stowed and In the end to crown man rind with tho flower ot an Immorta nrttho expression In color of hit Ideals With searching for tho Ideal mar awoke to the realization of the wonders won-ders of nature Perfect In detail marvelous In construction sumptuous In color nature surrounded him beau Iful even In Its bareness In Its bar en spots What could rival tho play of the sunlight upon field and forest ho mists of morning and of twilight time What could mere thought and canvas and colors do to surpass tho charm that atmosphere breathes upon and about the homeliest things of life giving them character and beauty mystery and pathos What could rival the charm of life with all Its varia Ions So art turned from tho church Its history and service to life to its mirth and sorrow Not to the cranking crank-Ing of its God but to a broader and more comprehensive service tho higher high-er expression of whichto my belief will bebythahand of the future woman For women are fast making themselves them-selves teachers In the field of religion leading and leading well to those things that heretofore they were permitted per-mitted only to accept with unques lonliig faith and never permitted to Judge and may not tho women who ire painters thoso who are touched by the same religious fire may they not give their talent like tho masters of old to the glory of their God arousIng arous-Ing not only tho eye to see but the mind to awake to the possibilities of tho soul And why should not art touched md conquered by the hand of woman lvo form to her higher Intention and her higher ideals For the delicacy and charm of her thought In her unselfishness un-selfishness and love of the Ideal sho excels men and will she not carry art of which she Is fast malting herself naster Into her purer atmosphere giving expression to hor idealism del cato dreams and great unselfishness love t at is self sacritlco and uncon scions beauty to lay all at the feet ol her hearts religiona new Interpretation Interpreta-tion of her God In Genesis It Is tho earth tho plants ho animals man and then woman that follow one after the other In the order of creation more perfect more powerful more Intelligent and more spiritual until woman having been made we reach tho highest and most i spiritual of all created beings We know that women aro moro spiritual than men and It Is tho spirit that makes the great artist I It is tho spirit that Is developed by continuous effort then that which Is gained by arduous toll stamps Itself upon the soul and personality never to leave giving a certain facility or trend to the artists expression Painting Is not merely mechanical and technique alone Is nothing but the greater master of technique ono becomes tho greatet will bo tho possibility of Interpreting any subject as tho mind desires And i technique also Is not mastered without work hard work constant work not merely tho work of the classroom but original work trying to weld together to-gether and to weed out so that what one desires to express will be unquestionable unques-tionable Tho master knows just what to nut In and what to leave out bo sldos what method will give the do sired effect and that Is what the pupil only acquires by tedious arduous work and step by stop If women painters advance In the present century as they havo In the past they will outstrip men Glvo women faith In themselves and an opportunity op-portunity to work and wo shall see thorn rise to the pinnacle ot tho great masters of old whom nono has excelled ex-celled and to whom all artists aspire We shall see woman when her faith In herself Is strong a great religious painter Interpreting that thrill of religious re-ligious Inspiration which is in tho midst of us and which seeks cxpies slon for its broad pulsing life So It Is as the future religious painter paint-er that I look to women to raise art above tho art of men And to this end I would arouse In tho women of today that great faith In themselves In their possibilities in their powers and in the highness of their aim Let them try to achieve and over keep trying and let tho wcraen who cannot achieve through lack of talont of opportunity encourage their moro fortunate sIsters until women shall bo tho power and most true Then thoso who cannot i see with the eye of tho Imagination can see to Interpret that which Is most beautiful masterstrokes whore the color Is put upon canvas by women to onduro as masterpieces have endured en-dured for centuries |