International studio (60.1916/1917)

A Portraitist in Petto: Anna Bette Kindlund

no post-mortem records. The very fact that close
corporations, to which condition miniature asso-
ciations undeniably tend, are not over anxious to
extend a too cordial welcome, proves that this lady
has emerged successfully from the ranks of medioc-
rity and is admirably fitted to battle for her artis-
tic livelihood unaided and alone. Further evidence
of her qualities lies in the miniatures here repro-
duced which unfortunately have to be shown de-
void of colour.
The charm of the miniature depends upon much
that will for all time baffle the photographer, even
if it were a mere traditionless process. Tradition
certainly may be counted as one of the many de-
lights contained within the diminutive circle, but
does not concern the artist otherwise than to make
him or her realize that the work should be sin-
cere and dignified, worthily maintaining the rev-
erence due to an ancient heritage.
Where Anna Belle Kindlund demands respect
in her art is her unfailing beauty of colour, her
appreciation of the exact limits of the ivory by a
pattern that is carefully and lyrically conceived
and which just fits right. Fluid brush-work and
a feeling evoked that more could have been done
here and there had the artist not cleverly ab-
stained, mark her achievements as unusual. Also
one gathers the impression, and it is true, that
the artist is regarding each portrait as a distinct
and separate problem, not as No. 25 of a series.
There is not a sign of a tired imagination and the
consequent tread-water attitude so common
among many miniaturists. One can almost
imagine them leaning gracefully Over a counter
with a neat little booklet asking the client to
select the style desired, just as an undertaker’s
clerk might do. The undertaker indeed might
enter the ranks of the artists more than he does,
but instead of removing the painters who are
mostly very lovable people, he should turn his
attention to their work, giving decent coffin space
for all dead products.
The saleswoman to-day is a saleslady and simi-
larly the miniature has become (in capable hands),
a small painting. Anna Belle Kindlund, though
small in person, in fact a living miniature her-
self, is quite big when it comes to self-expression
and all her ivories show bigness and breadth,
they have never been conceived in a meticulous
frame of mind. Consequently they are very un-
like the ordinary article which is turned out more
or less pleasingly by hundreds of her less-gifted

comrades in art. Though an obvious je ne sais
quoi de captivant lurks in each frame we are never
disturbed by prettiness, the hall-mark of so many
paintings, large or small. This artist is indeed a
painter of small portraits rather than a minia-
turist and it is to be hoped that the medal
awarded her at the Panama-Pacific Exposition is
the forerunner of honours that are above and
beyond a mere medal, which in the eyes of a true
artist has trifling significance. Anna Belle Kind-
lund is a good painter, but a bad pot-hunter.
In recording the good deeds it would be hardly
fair to pass over the slight misdeeds, and in criti-
cising the Kindlund miniatures one feels, at times
only, that drawing, construction, and values of
planes might bear improvement. Her stipple
work is her very own and is highly efficient; the
leaning toward decoration in a somewhat Japan-
ese spirit has tended to produce a certain flatness
in applying the colour. But this very fault may
be a virtue in disguise. At all events highly deco-
rative results ensue.
r"p’HE KITCHELL MEZZOTONE
In the November issue of The Interna-
tional Studio an article appeared favorably
regarding the sub-chromatic process invented by
Mr. Kitchell, a method of picture making of so
high an order that the first specimens have been
officially acquired by the British Museum, Lon-
don; Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; Congres-
sional Library, Washington; and the Metropoli-
tan Museum of Art in New York. The subject
of the first Mezzotone is Salome by Regnault, by
special courtesy and co-operation of the Metro-
politan Museum of Art. The offices of the
American Sub-chromatic Alliance are at 15 East
35th Street, New York City.
Mr. George de Forest Brush, of New York,
was in Pittsburgh on November 24 at a reception
given in his honour by the Director and the Com-
mittee of the Department of Fine Arts, and de-
livered an address upon that occasion. Mr.
Brush is not only one of the great painters of
America, but one of the great painters of our
time, and in his exquisite representations of grace
and beauty he stands almost unrivalled. Two of
his important works, Mother and Child and Por-
trait of a Lady are in the permanent collection of
Carnegie Institute.

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