Possible?

Is it possible for a woman to paint a great picture? This question, a hoary one, was revived last week by a critic in directing attention to the symposium of art reviewers (males); it was answered in the negative. Women, said they, have lost the fine impulse for original creation in the centuries of artistic repression which they have undergone. "Paint they can, but not on canvas," said the critics.

The fact is that no woman has ever produced an immortal picture; also that a number of women in every century have produced very creditable ones. Penelope of Mytelene won fame with her character sketch of Theodosius, the Juggler. Pliny praised the paintings of Eirene. In Bruges, when the Van Eycks were teaching the world how to paint in oils, Margaretha, their sister, worked as their equal. Even in 17th Century France, age of the precieuse in living and painting, there were a number of women adept in the academic art of the period. A few years ago, Rosa Bonheur painted some oxen, a bull, some horses; Mary Young Hunter brought to life dreaming children and proud old ladies.

Said Mrs. Phoebe Stabler, woman exhibitor in the Royal Academy: "Whether centuries of repression are responsible for the fact that women have produced no great art, or whether the fact that they have produced no great art is responsible for their centuries of repression is a de batable question. In the past, women have made children instead of art the end of their creative impulse. In the future, there is no reason why the world should not see great women painters." A swaggering Rubens in rolled stockings? A Titian in a toque?