Page:The illustrators of Montmartre.pdf/77



use crayon, charcoal, or lithographic chalk, none produce work which is so subtle and yet so facile and so sure as Wély. He is a light-hearted Steinlen of my lady's dressing-room; or an emboldened Helleu.

The relations between artist and artist's model frequently attract Wély's pencil, while other outside subjects seem to tempt him much less frequently. The hard-working, penniless, happy-go-lucky artist rapins he draws arc a delightful crew, most excellently put upon paper.

A specimen of his humour is indicated in the words accompanying onc of his rare pen and ink drawings, which appeared in Cocorico, A chic little lady is seated in a shop, while a female attendant unrolls pile after pile of material in the hope of supplying her wants. The lady says: "Why certainly, show me some more: I'm not a bit tired,"

A beautiful little drawing, of two dainty Parisiennes gossiping on a pier, discloses the method he has employed to produce a telling piece of work. The outline has been rapidly sketched in with a few bold, subtly curving lines from a pen, while modelling and colour have been given to the whole with deft crayon touches. We feel the joy the artist must have evinced in regulating the pressure he put on the crayon, so as to give each line its exact breadth, and depth of tone. The pleasure he takes in manipulating his medium is always manifest in his work, "The complete modelling of a dainty neck