House and "Garden 
established and confirmed by scholastic principles. 
Th us Mr. Mindeleff h as acquired technical facility 
through practice, and mental confidence through 
searching study. 
His compositions are peculiarly charming in 
line, but, oddly enough, they are always con¬ 
ceived in color. Their inception is commonly 
a tiny sketch, made on a fragment of paper—a 
mere mosaic of color spots—which later, with 
infinite pains and patience, is worked out into 
a more or less elaborate composition. The 
color scheme is invariably the first considera¬ 
tion; the units of the composition being those 
which best serve as vehicles; the lines refined 
and perfected as boundaries defining the sev¬ 
eral elements. Herein is published the deco¬ 
rator—the man who appeals first to the eye and 
then to the intelligence. The crucial test of a 
picture is whether or not it wears well. Many 
canvases attract the beholder upon first sight 
but lose their charm and even become offen¬ 
sive upon long acquaintance. This is due to 
a variety of causes, chief among which is a lack 
of decorative motive. It may be the result of 
shallow subjective import; of a too staple ren¬ 
dition of a transitive state; of a pleasing color 
scheme unbalanced by lineal weakness, but 
whatever the cause one may feel profoundly 
m certain that a picture which does in some 
^ measure serve as a decoration will in time 
p prove a tiresome companion. It need not of 
^ necessity be primarily decorative, but it must 
S lend itself sympathetically to its environment, 
unconsciously gratifying the aesthetic sense of 
the casual observer, while, if it be a great 
work, it bolds its deeper significance in reserve 
for the thoughtful consideration of those who 
may linger. 
It is on these grounds that Mr. Mindeleff’s 
panels find special favor. While to the general 
public they are pictures, to the specialist they 
are decorations. By the artist iuries they have 
been made welcome, and in the architectural 
exhibitions they have likewise readily found 
inclusion. 
His flowers are studied directly from Nature, 
but they are adapted rather than transcribed. 
A dozen studies made at first hand produce a 
single composition which will, in turn, set forth 
in simplest form the composite type. Thus a 
painting of Japanese magnolias while inter¬ 
preting the flower in naturalistic guise will, in 
its entirety, represent their structural form and 
habit of growth more accurately than any sin¬ 
gle example or realistic group. Unlike the 
Japanese he does not take advantage of acci¬ 
dents of growth, but endeavors to rather follow 
Nature and create type. He owns, in connec¬ 
tion with his residence on Georgetown Heights, in 
Washington, D. C., a most attractive garden, which 
he has laid out, planted and cared for himself, and 
in which he has gained an intimate knowledge of 
his subjects from the time they were set out to 
io 
