DOI issue:
Nr. 162 (August, 1910)
DOI article:Duncan, Frances: The miniatures of Miss Laura Hill
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19867#0232
Miniatures by Miss Hills
PORTRAIT BY MISS HILLS
a sense of positive refreshment. Her painting has,
of course, become more varied, more subtle, wider
in its scope, but, although having gained in depth
and vigor, her work has never lost its unhesitating
directness, its delightful spontaneity.
Miss Hills is a born miniaturist. Her portraits
are not large portraits done small, but essentially
miniatures; they have that exquisite jewel-like qual-
ity peculiar to the miniature in the hands of the few
masters of this exquisite and lovely art, the quality
which will always make miniature painting a thing
apart. Also, she has a wonderful sense of scale;
her miniatures could neither be smaller nor larger
without missing some of their point, losing some-
thing of their perfectness.
In her painting she always gives one the impres-
sion of knowing precisely what she wants to do and
doing it with ease and sureness; of having some-
thing to say in art and saying it with force and cer-
tainty.
There is nothing of feminine timidity, never any
mere prettiness; her work is strong, vital, large
(except in actual inches) and never monotonous; in
fact, in Miss Hills one expects the unexpected. Her
color is peculiarly fresh and clear, and pure in tone;
never does it look worried out of its integrity by a
changing purpose in the artist. It is probable that
the rapidity with which she works, the comfortable
faculty of knowing exactly what she wishes to do,
has something to do with this delightful quality in
her color.
Her backgrounds show astonishing inventiveness
and resourcefulness, and the relation of the sitter to
the background is a thing which from her receives
evidently very careful study; and yet, original and
daring as she often is here, she never gives one the
impression of being intentionally unusual; daring
effects in color are never used for the sake of aston-
ishing folk, but to accomplish a definite artistic pur-
pose. Take, for instance, her well-known Flame
Girl—the intense background brings out the cold,
pure color of the face with an almost dramatic value
very effective, but few artists would have thought
of it, which is one reason why this miniature at-
tracted so much attention, though I doubt if Miss
Hills herself considered it very unusual; to her it
was a most natural thing to do. There is always a
refreshing variety in her composition. It is a far
cry from the Butterfly Girl, a thing of an exquisite,
light and filmy delicacy—of "wingy mysteries," Sir
Thomas Browne would say—to the portrait of Per-
sis Blair, in which even the background echoes the
PORTRAIT OF BY MISS HILLS
MR. ARTHUR HARLOW
XLVII
PORTRAIT BY MISS HILLS
a sense of positive refreshment. Her painting has,
of course, become more varied, more subtle, wider
in its scope, but, although having gained in depth
and vigor, her work has never lost its unhesitating
directness, its delightful spontaneity.
Miss Hills is a born miniaturist. Her portraits
are not large portraits done small, but essentially
miniatures; they have that exquisite jewel-like qual-
ity peculiar to the miniature in the hands of the few
masters of this exquisite and lovely art, the quality
which will always make miniature painting a thing
apart. Also, she has a wonderful sense of scale;
her miniatures could neither be smaller nor larger
without missing some of their point, losing some-
thing of their perfectness.
In her painting she always gives one the impres-
sion of knowing precisely what she wants to do and
doing it with ease and sureness; of having some-
thing to say in art and saying it with force and cer-
tainty.
There is nothing of feminine timidity, never any
mere prettiness; her work is strong, vital, large
(except in actual inches) and never monotonous; in
fact, in Miss Hills one expects the unexpected. Her
color is peculiarly fresh and clear, and pure in tone;
never does it look worried out of its integrity by a
changing purpose in the artist. It is probable that
the rapidity with which she works, the comfortable
faculty of knowing exactly what she wishes to do,
has something to do with this delightful quality in
her color.
Her backgrounds show astonishing inventiveness
and resourcefulness, and the relation of the sitter to
the background is a thing which from her receives
evidently very careful study; and yet, original and
daring as she often is here, she never gives one the
impression of being intentionally unusual; daring
effects in color are never used for the sake of aston-
ishing folk, but to accomplish a definite artistic pur-
pose. Take, for instance, her well-known Flame
Girl—the intense background brings out the cold,
pure color of the face with an almost dramatic value
very effective, but few artists would have thought
of it, which is one reason why this miniature at-
tracted so much attention, though I doubt if Miss
Hills herself considered it very unusual; to her it
was a most natural thing to do. There is always a
refreshing variety in her composition. It is a far
cry from the Butterfly Girl, a thing of an exquisite,
light and filmy delicacy—of "wingy mysteries," Sir
Thomas Browne would say—to the portrait of Per-
sis Blair, in which even the background echoes the
PORTRAIT OF BY MISS HILLS
MR. ARTHUR HARLOW
XLVII