WOMAN IN ART
tray the character, to catch the spirit, and even the charm, if the artist be so highly gifted.
A first glance at the canvas revealed a symphony in gray, a distinctive harmonization of fur and velvet, a rich and effective background of autumn leafage, so arranged that the figure was superb against it. The face was fine, an interesting study, with flesh tones clear, and beautifully modeled. The textures were reminders of the Dutch masters of the fifteenth century. The portrait must have had a high value as a likeness (a poetic likeness it certainly was), for the accessories were admirable.
Mrs. Merritt had an attractive group of "Merry Maids" at the St. Louis Exposition, 1904, also "The Piping Shepherd," lent by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; both canvases expressed art and nature most attractively.
This artist was first known to the general public by her painting at the Centennial in Philadelphia, 1876. Her painting at the Paris Salon, 1889, received honorable mention. At the Columbian Fair, 1893, she received two medals, one for paintings in oil, and mural decorations, respectively. A silver medal was hers at the Atlanta Exposition, 1895. In 1901 Mrs. Merritt's painting became exceedingly popular, for it was "Love Locked Out." It was also exhibited in the British National Gallery of London, and is now in the Tate Gallery, and is one of its valued pictures.
Numerous portraits have seemingly come to life under her brush, among them one of life size of James Russell Lowell fills an honor place in Memorial Hall of Harvard University. Another is of Lady Margaret Hall of Oxford. Eight murals in the church of St. Martin, Wanersh, Guildford, England, speak strongly for the success of Mrs. Merritt in that branch of her art. "A Hamlet In Old Hampshire" and "An Artist's Garden" are others of her attractive paintings; also "Reapers" was a refreshing landscape seen at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, 1915.
In speaking of women artists in 1911, an English writer said, "The last twenty years have seen women advance in art with rapid strides, and although election to membership of the Royal Academy is still denied them, their work in nearly every branch of the art of painting has raised them to a position of full equality with their competitors of the other sex. That official recognition from the Academy is still withheld—though their work is welcomed to the annual exhibitions at Burlington House—is merely evidence of the conservative prejudice that still exists against their admission and is in no sense because of their lack of ability." He said, further, "It has often been stated that women are not creative
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