,the ,smoky ,valley ,illustration3 ,birger ,sandzen ,,the ,,smoky ,,valley ,reproductions of a ,series of ,lithographs of the ,smoky ,valley in ,kansas ,by ,birger ,sandzen ,an ,introduction by ,minna ,k4 ,powell ,,carl ,j4 ,,smalley ,kansas ,city1 ,missouri #aibb ,copyright1 #aibb1 by ,carl ,j4 ,smalley ,kansas ,city1 ,mo4 ,published ,december1 #aibb ,printed by the ,republican ,press1 at ,mc,pherson1 ,kansas1 in the ,united ,states of ,america ,sandzen and ,his ,friend1 the ,smoky4 ,when ,birger ,sandzen looks into the seamed face of a pioneer farmer of ,kansas1 he sees the conquest of a spirit4 ,when he looks upon the face of the ,kansas prairie1 he sees the conquest of the ,wilderness and he makes the ,world feel the courage of the ,kansas spirit and the power of ,kansas sinews4 ,an artist who penetrates below the surface of his subject and sees the soul of it looking out1 ,birger ,sandzen ,was foreordained to celebrate in black and white and in color1 the moods and the meaning of the ,smoky ,hill ,river1 which winds so peacefully in and out among the farms of central ,kansas4 ,the ,smoky ,hill ,river is not much wider than a creek1 and the early homesteader valued it chiefly because it watered his land and his stock4 ,then came ,birger ,sandzen1 artist1 who settled near the stream in the town of ,lindsborg4 ,almost immediately a deep affection sprang up between the artist and the river4 ,accustomed to a land of many streams and lakes1 the artist haunted the banks of the river that seemed to speak to him of home4 ,he served the friendly stream by celebrating its moods and sudden turnings1 and the stream taught the artist by gentle gradations its own affinity for the prairie4 ,it was so that ,birger ,sandzen learned to love the ,kansas landscape4 ,but first he sought the shadowed banks of the ,smoky4 ,by sunlight and moonlight he studied it4 ,following its graceful windings1 he caught the poetry of ,kansas1--the tired droop of cattle as they came to drink at dusk1 the grouping of horses in hillside pastures1 huddled cottonwoods like shy children along the clean banks of the stream4 ,finally the river taught him to see the masterpieces of art in the strong and rugged faces of the pioneer farmers whose land stretched along the river's bank4 ,he saw faces in which courage had drawn with a true hand lines of self-conquest4 ,he saw the beauty of fingers knotted and bent with much serving and the glory of dimmed eyes4 ,the pioneer men and women of ,kansas were crowned by ,sandzen with the splendor of their deeds4 ,but always he returned to the quiet river1 grateful for the woods that hugged its banks and were mirrored in the water4 ,his passion for the ,smoky grew and deepened4 ,it became to him the heart of ,kansas1 and ,kansas1 through the ,smoky1 became his friend4 ,and always1 as he tramped up and down the river's banks1 he saw in miniature the grandeur he was later on to find in the ,rockies and the mastery he was to sense in the ,grand ,canyon of the ,colorado4 ,as he painted outcroppings of rock in the hilly pastures1 he was preparing unconsciously for his work of giving expression to the gigantic cliffs and mountains of the great ,west4 ,tributaries of the ,smoky1 overflowing their banks in the spring freshets1 ran dry in summer and provided the artist with beds deeply fissured like their titanic model1 the ,grand ,canyon4 ,the hills near ,lindsborg1 are small replicas of the ,rockies4 ,they slope to the very bank of the ,smoky and ,birger ,sandzen climbed from bank to summit where he looked out over the wide prairie and saw how lovely it was4 ,since then he has never tired of painting the landscape that is the heart of ,kansas1 vibrating with the heroic toil and patience of the past and the hope of the future4 ,thus it is that when ,mr4 ,sandzen makes a study of the moon stealing up behind the willows before the flush of afternoon is quite gone1 he puts into the picture not only the objects a stranger might see1 but also the deep love he bears the river and the land it has enriched4 ,as a lithographer ,mr4 ,sandzen has no rivals in this country1 perhaps none anywhere4 ,his love of the open is that of a poet1 to whom the out-of-doors tells something of the immanence of ,god4 ,sometimes his landscapes express the poignant loneliness that broods over the ,kansas prairie4 ,oftener he sees the delightful homeliness of the farmsteads1 changing the ,smoky ,river ,valley from a wilderness to a place of hearthstones and human happiness4 ,,minna ,k4 ,,powell4 ,illustration3 ,summer ,illustration3 ,stony ,pasture ,with ,cottonwood ,grove ,illustration3 ,the ,old ,homestead ,illustration3 ,portrait ,study ,illustration3 ,twilight ,illustration3 ,in ,the ,meadow ,illustration3 ,home of ,a ,pioneer ,illustration3 ,smoky ,river ,illustration3 ,hilltop ,illustration3 ,willow ,illustration3 ,horses in a ,hilly ,pasture ,illustration3 ,river ,motif ,illustration3 ,abandoned ,farmhouse ,illustration3 ,trees and ,hills ,illustration3 ,willows by ,the ,smoky ,river ,illustration3 ,olof ,olson's ,homestead ,illustration3 ,pond ,with ,cottonwood ,trees ,illustration3 ,hilly ,pasture ,with ,cows ,illustration3 ,in ,the ,park ,illustration3 ,riverbank ,copies of the lithographs reproduced in this volume1 limited to fifty proofs each1 may be obtained from the publisher4 ,prices from six to fifty dollars each4 ,,carl ,j4 ,,smalley4 ,kansas ,city4 ,mo4