Studio: international art (18.1900)

Edith Farmiloe

out of doors. Hence, no doubt, a graphic object and sets herself clearly to visualise it, to see
humorist treads on very delicate ground when he it clearly with her mind's eye, the feeling of be-
tries to provoke mirth by letting his art play in wilderment leaves her, and the model's chief lines
such unwholesome places. are soon upon paper. This skill in drawing from

Besides, normal children are not uncommon memory is often very helpful to Mrs. Farmiloe,
among the poor of London, and in art, as in life, for children never know when they are being
they are vastly more attractive than the abnormal. " took," and consequently never pose and look
This is what many of us have forgotten during the unnatural. She can take part in their amusements
coster craze, so I rejoice that Mrs. Farmiloe recalls and yet be their graphic historian. On the other
it to mind, giving us at the same time a street- hand, it is also a dangerous way of working, since
bred humour that is never blatant. That her it is apt to give rise to stereotyped conventions,
art has faults, faults of inexperience, is certainly to endless repetitions, so that this tendency ought
true. Most details are stumbling-blocks to Mrs. to be counteracted by patient studies from the life.
Farmiloe. On several occasions, for example, as The drawings thus made may be bad, yet they
in the winsome sketch entitled Ireland — an Evic- store the mind with new and varied material, which
lion (p. 177), she has been tempted to put a few is certain to find its way into the next memory-
birds flying in the distance; and in every case I sketches. And I say this because a few children
would gladly scratch them out, either because they in Mrs. Farmiloe's art have a family likeness, a set
are too big, or else because there is something type of face and figure.

wrong in their arrangement. So I cover them We must remember, nevertheless, that in writ-
with a cigarette-paper and enjoy the rest of the ing about a lady of genius a man may easily give
picture. bad advice. "Women," said Goethe, "do the

One other point is worth noting in connection most through imagination and temperament."
with the difficulty that Mrs. Farmiloe experiences Their best work has ever been done intuitively,
in handling details. She tells me that she cannot under an instinctive rather than technical guid-
sketch well from nature, as she is bewildered by ance. They have eyes to see and hearts to under-
the great number of lines which have to be drawn stand a great many subtle things unperceived by
one by one ; but when she turns away from the men; hence we are often seriously at fault when

we try to influence their ways of working.
This is what Mr. Ruskin found out in the
case of Lady Waterford, the greatest
woman-artist of the century, who was ren-
dered timidly self-conscious by a course of
systematic instruction. Nature was her
best guide, as Mr. Ruskin soon acknow-
ledged. In brief, academic studies do
much for men, but it is doubtful if they
are ever very useful to women of first-rate
ability; and thus I may be altogether
wrong in my remarks on the benefits that
Mrs. Farmiloe would receive from study-
ing from the life. This is a point which
she alone can decide, guided by her intui-
tions.

Just a few biographical facts must be
given now. Mrs. Farmiloe is the second
daughter of Colonel the Hon. Arthur
Parnell, a retired officer of the Royal
Engineers and a second cousin of the
late Irish leader, Charles Stewart Parnell.
She has four sisters and four brothers, and
a talent for humorous drawing runs in
the family. Her husband, the Rev.
William D. Farmiloe, is Vicar of St. Peter's

"a street singer"

drawn for "the studio" 1sy edith farmiloe