FOUR

AALICE BECKINGTON is one of the leading members of the American Society of Miniature Painters, and she now holds the office of vice-president. She was born in St. Charles, Missouri, on July 30, 1868. She was a pupil at the Art Students' League in New York under Carroll Beckwith—after that she studied in Paris with Benjamin Constant. Miss Beckington was a close friend of Miss Thayer's, and the work of the two shows a sympathetic understanding. Miss Beckington's work is serious, fine in taste, and dignified in character. She does not play lightly with her art. Her pictures have a pleasing warmth of color; that is to say, blacks and browns, golden flesh colorings, and grays that are never cold. Occasional cool effects are, however, to be found in her work, for Miss Beckington has a full appreciation of the value of harmoniously contrasting color. The picture reproduced on the reverse side of this sheet is taken from an original miniature in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is a portrait of Miss Beckington's mother, the original ivory plate being slightly smaller than the reproduction here given.

As may be seen, it is a work of distinction. The character of this refined woman is portrayed with simple eloquence. The pale blue of the dress and the delicately toned background set off in a poetic and sympathetic manner the character of this fine gentlewoman. The picture is thoroughly representative of Miss Beckington's work, and amply explains her high standing among our miniature painters. Just as many persons in social life who are assured in their exclusive positions dress simply and unaffectedly, so Miss Beckington paints—with directness and sincerity, without display or striving for effect.

Miss Beckington, referring to her early efforts in miniature painting, says that it was during the four years when she was working in oils in Paris that she became interested in miniature painting—and that in this work she was self-taught. Her first portrait of her mother was accepted by the Salon in Paris in 1894, and upon her return to New York she exhibited pictures annually at the National Academy. She believes that the great principles of art that obtain in oil painting should apply to miniature work as well; and she paints her miniatures in the same manner as she would paint in oils—with only the difference in treatment required by the conditions of a small sized picture.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 4, No. 23, SERIAL No. 123
COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.