William Fuller Curtis , Pyrographer 
LOVE AND LABOR GLORIFYING LIFE 
A new work recently completed by William Fuller Curtis 
lines of the composition are long, sweep¬ 
ing and graceful. It is carved and burnt 
and the color is rich, many toned and strong. 
The trees and foliage occupying the terminal 
spaces are a dark red-brown, whereas the 
distant fields which form the background 
take on the tone and quality of gold. 
The next important theme which Mr. 
Curtis chose tor rendering was the famous 
adage of the Three Sacred Monkeys of 
Nikko—“ Hear no evil ; see no evil ; speak 
no evil.” Of this he gave a free translation, 
substituting young women for the Darwinian 
characters and introducing chattering little 
parrots for the gossip element. In this, as 
in the Rubaiyat panel, there was a meaning 
beneath the surface to be discovered by the ob¬ 
servant, yet so adroitlv was the moral pointed 
that it at no time intruded upon the artistic or 
decorative feeling which dominated the work. 
“ Love and Labor Glorifying Life ” is a 
new work this artist has now about completed. 
Mr. Curtis was born in February, 1873. 
He is a nephew of the late George William 
Curtis, the famous editor and distinguished 
man of letters. After a general education he 
went abroad in 1890 with his sister to study 
art. First he entered the studio of Julius 
Rolshoven, of Detroit, who was then living in 
Paris. Later he enrolled himself as a student 
in the Julian School, where for two years Tony 
R. Fleury and Francois Flameng were his in¬ 
structors. Then came a winter spent in Italy. 
Returning to America in 1893, he spent 
three years in New York making pen and ink 
drawings for illustration. Since then his win¬ 
ters have been spent in Washington and 
his summers in a delightful artist’s workshop 
at Ashfield, Mass. 
During his last term in the Parisian school 
he received the prize for the best drawing in 
a competition including members of all the 
several schools, and in 1902 he was given for 
his burnt wood panel of St. Agnes the third 
Corcoran prize in the Society of Washing¬ 
ton Artists’ Annual Exhibition. His work 
has developed rapidly, the power of the me¬ 
dium and his own uncommon ability being de¬ 
monstrated chieflv during the past three years. 
What further possibilities the medium 
may possess none can prophesy with assur¬ 
ance, but to suppose that the artist has 
already reached the limit of his powers 
would be as unreasonable today as it would 
have been ten years earlier, when pyrography 
had no place among the fine arts. 
The Angel of the Darker Light" 
