Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 209, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 August 1919 — ART WORKS IN ANY LENGTH [ARTICLE]

ART WORKS IN ANY LENGTH

Method of Getting Things Done Quickly Is Not by Any Means an Idea to Be Called .New. Hurry is not characteristic of the present century alone; our ancestors were not always immune from the habit. The Dutch artist Vanderstraaten was a master In scheming out short cuts and saving time. Vanderstraaten had little difficulty, It Is said. In painting in a day 30 landscapes the size of an ordinary sheet of drawing paper. He would surround himself with pots of paint, each of which had Its particular purpose—one for the clouds, one for the grass, one for the shadows. When he was ready to begin painting he called hfs assistant, “Boy, a cloud!” and the lad speedily brought the desired pot. Vanderstraaten, with a thick brush, quickly transferred the clouds to the canvas. With the finishing strokes he called, “There are the clouds; bring the grass!” And so it went, without a moment’s waste of time, until the 30 landscapes were finished. On occasions Vanderstraaten would paint in the manner described a landscape upon a long piece of canvas. In filling the orders of customers he would cut the strip into pieces of various lengths. A purchaser could buy two, three or four feet of landscape, according to his fancy or according to of the space he wished to decorate.