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VIII

J. WÉLY

ÉLY is one of the more recent stars in the firmament of Parisian illustrators, nevertheless he shines with a peculiar brilliance of his own.

His drawing of the female form divine, more or less disclosed in dainty decollété, is well nigh unsurpassed. The excellence of the draughtsmanship, which is so generally attained in the Paris Schools of Art, is very frequently nat traceable in work produced later in the artist's career. This, however, is not the case with Wély; the sureness of drawing required in the schools remains, plus a large quantity of vim and esprit. The adjective which best labels his work is charming; and here it may be well to state that the more emancipated any one Is the greater the number of Wély's drawings he is able to admit to his collection, to charm again and again. For Wély is the artist of adventures — the adventures of the bedroom. He is a humorist, and not a