Art and Handcraft in the Woman's Building
of the World's Columbian Exposition

GREAT BRITAIN —ART. GREAT Britain is justly proud of her women artists, some of whom are represented in the Womans Building, but to judge of all that they are exhibiting at Chicago, the visitor must look in at the Art Palace and see some of the strong pictures exhibited there. It is nothing new to find English women in the front ranks of British art. They have always held a distinguished position, and in any book which pretends to give the history of women’s achievements in art a very large proportion of the paint- ers will be found to have been English, either by birth or by adoption. It is interesting to remember that a woman paintei was one of the original members of the Royal Academy, whose chai ter was signed by King George III., at the instance of thé American painter Benjamin West, who, after the death of Sir Joshua (first president of the Academy), held the position of president dining the remainder of his life. In the art exhibitions of London, women to-day hold a prominent position. Mrs. Alma Tadema is a paintei with a great deal of originality and of power. Her husband has been heard to say that his highest ambition is to have it written on his tombstone, “ Here lies the husband of Mrs. Alma Tadema. Mrs. Stillman is one of our popular painters. Her pictures possess a certain ideal quality which is not always to be found combined with the admirable technique which we find in her woik. Miss Lena Stillman, one of our younger artists, is full of promise. There is a certain gravity and dignity about her compositions which win for them immediate recognition. Kate Greenaway’s name is a household word. Her delightful illustrations are known in every home where children and good taste are to be found. She has done more, perhaps, to bring about an improvement in the dress of our little men and little maids than any other indi- vidual. One meets whole groups of Kate Greenaway children in Hyde Park on a Sunday morning. Mrs. George Watts lias achieved a reputation by her admirable portraits. In the use of water-colors, women share the high position that our English, artists hold m that exquisite branch of ait, foi there (201)