Studio: international art (20.1900)

John IV. Alexander

to be himself to be truly and incontestably
original.

Instead of settling definitely in Paris, Mr.
Alexander, who is an American by birth, has
maintained close relations with his own country,
whereby his conception of art and of life is un-
doubtedly the richer. By this incessant contact
with two civilisations, so widely differing the one
from the other, he is enabled the better to know
himself, and the better to know others. Six
months of the year he lives in America, and the
other six in France, which explains the complexity
of his temperament, the keenness of his vision,
and, above all, the curious strength underlying his

PORTRAIT BY J. W. ALEXANDER

72

work, however delicate. Thus he escapes the
disadvantage of complete transplantation ; for he
is not altogether deranne, but has the benefit of
periodical return to the land of his birth ; and to
the true, strong artist, in whom foreign influences
have served only to develop his personality, there
is nothing so wholesome as the atmosphere of
home.

1 Thus Mr. Alexander has remained truly
American. But would he have triumphed had he
not mingled in our artistic movement; had he not
become imbued with the concentrated beauties of
the European galleries; had he not felt the
fascination of our old French civilisation ? Would
he have gained the mastery he possesses over
his art? One may well doubt it.

John White Alexander was born at Alle-
ghany City, near Pittsburg, in Pennsylvania,
and spent a dull childhood in a gloomy,
smoky town. Left an orphan at an early
age, he was brought up by his maternal
grandparents. At twelve, anxious to earn
his own living, and even then full of will and
energy, he left his school, and served as a
messenger in the telegraph office at Pittsburg.
His intelligence and activity soon brought
him under the notice of one of his chiefs,
Colonel Edward J. Allen. The lad had
already shown a remarkable inclination for
art; every spare moment he spent in drawing
and making sketches of his companions, and
on the death of his grandfather Colonel Allen
took him under his own roof, where the boy
remained till he was eighteen.

Pittsburg then offered but meagre resources
for an artist. The munificent Mr. Carnegie
had not yet established his museum, nor
started those exhibitions which to-day rank
among the most interesting manifestations of
the international art movement. However,
the young draughtsman did several portraits
in crayon which brought him a little—a very
little ! —money. So, with a few dollars in his
pocket, he set out for New York, and straight-
way knocked at the door of the Harper firm.
There he became employed as an illustrator,
and there he remained three years. Then,
the New York climate telling on his health,
he sailed for Europe with another young
illustrator, Stanley Reinhart. First they make
their way to Paris, with the intention of
installing themselves there ; but neither knows
a word of French, and it costs money to
live in Paris ! Reinhart, who knows some-