Princes, Knights

Another formula, as effective as that of Mr. Kalish, is its opposite --to reproduce in art the shapes or surfaces of things that are totally unfamiliar. This is the formula which supports Mrs. Leonebel Jacobs, portraitist. Mrs. Jacobs has always painted celebrities. She used to paint familiar celebrities; her picture of Mrs. Coolidge hangs in the White House. Recently Mrs. Leonebel Jacobs went to China; last week in Manhattan she exhibited the faces of certain ladies and gentlemen few westerners have looked upon. The deposed Empress of the Manchus looks out under a headdress of cultured, decadent and nameless flowers. Prince Pu, with European hair, has the clear intelligent gaze of a Pekinese. There is Hsuan Tung, a petal-faced youth, the deposed Emperor; others, in stiff silk, noblemen, princes, knights. Mrs. Jacobs, a clever and sophisticated painter, does her work well, suggesting an exotic atmosphere with diminishing ovals, soft colors. She did not always charge her patrons for her work. Said she: "My reluctance profited me shamefully. Soft-footed coolies would come to the door with great bundles of priceless silk. Coral necklaces, jade bracelets, jewels marvelous for their antiquity as well as their intrinsic worth, all were sent as tokens of friendship and return of courtesy."