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

58 ART AND HANDICRAFT and proves that the commendation she received from such men as Puvis de Chavannes and Cazin was not undeserved. The only picture by a woman ever purchased by the trustees of the Chantry Bequest Fund for the South Kensington Museum was painted by an American, Mrs. Anna Lea Merritt, and it may be interesting to know that the oil and water-color copies of Turner’s pictures given to the students of the South Kensington schools to copy from are by May Alcott Nierken, an American who died in 1879.“ At the last annual exhibition of the Water Color Society in New York a woman, Sara C. Sears, was given, for the first time, the prize for the best picture. The justness of the award was apparent to all. To a woman should have been given, if justice were unalterable, not only the prize for the best picture by a woman, but also the prize for the best picture, irrespective of sex, seen at the recent exhi- bition of the New York Academy. In the short space allotted to woman in art, it is impossible to mention even a few of the best of our women artists without seem- ing invidious, there are among us so many women artists whose work is serious and fine. We prefer that they should speak for themselves, as surely they have an opportunity of doing in Chicago. To that critic who is to come, when the dragon of bad art (“ which is the Devil and Satan ”) is bound for a thousand years, “ and a seal is set upon him that he should deceive the nations no more,” and the millennium of great American art is come, we com- mend our women artists, for no small part will they contribute; and we hope the dawn of that great day will be in Chicago. S. T. Hallowell. * Mrs. Nierken was the sister of Louisa Alcott, and the original of the character of Beth in “ Little Women.”