It was nice to have Minette Duffy
Bickle back in town the other day
for a short visit, along with other
members of the family. Knowing
the dream her mother had of a re
stored Tryon’s Palace, it wasn’t at
all surprising when Minette, Char
lotte, Charles and Sophie Sue show
ed up for opening ceremonies.
We were particularly interested
in chatting with Minette, since she
left her native New Bern as a
promising attist and has continued
her portraits while living in Bos
ton, Hamilton (Mass.), Pittsburgh
and now Philadelphia.
Married to William C. Bickle of
the Gulf Oil Co., she moves from
place to place with him as his du
ties demand. At the moment she
is busy settling down on Moreland
Avenue in the Quaker City’s Chest
nut Hill section.
Study to enhance her God-given
talent never ends for this slender,
smiling New Bernian, who is prob
ably the easiest person to interview
of all the famous and non-famous
folks we’ve popped questions at in
30 years of newspapering.
In addition to study at the St.
Louis School of Fine Arts, and at
the Art Students League in New
York, she has been studying pri
vately. Now she is enrolled in the
Pennsylvania Academy.
“You never stop learning,” she
told us. “You might disagree with
some of your teachers, but each
one of them gives you something
you can grasp. I feel it is a mis
take to remain with one instructor.
By going from one to another, you
broaden your scope.”
As far back as Minette can re
member, which isnt so very long
compared with some of us, she has
been drawing. However, she didn’t
actually paint until she was 17.
One of her earlier claims to fame
was the portrait she did of Tyrone
'Power while he was stationed at
Cherry Point. Incidentally, another
Marine netable who sat for a por
trait was General Larkin. If we’re
not mistaken, it has remained dis
played at the Marine Corps Air
Station.
Few of her subjects have been
more interesting than Monsignor
Irwin, and it is fitting that this
portrait is at St. Paul’s Catholic
school here. “Older people are the
easiest to paint,” says Minette.
“Their character has definitely de
veloped in the lines of their faces.”
As a matter of fact, she prefers
to w.ork with adults, rather than
children, although a number of her
subjects have been juveniles. She
is intensely fond of people in
general, and this is reflected in
her portraits as clearly as a writer’s
heart is reflected in the phrases he
fashions.
Most of us who aren’t overly fa
miliar with art have the impression
that portraits are almost always
painted on canvas. Not so with the
fine work done by Minette .
She paints on paper or wood, and
prefers the former. By Utilizing pa
per, she achieves an oil pastel
look. “You can work quicker,” she
told US, “and your portrait has a
soft effect. It is made permanent
by placing it on a board.”
Minette relies on two techniques
—the Old Masters and the Egg
Tempera. It surprised us to learn
that the latter technique, just as its
name implies, calls for the use of
whole eggs in the paint, along with
other ingredients that include pow
dered zinc.
While in New York she did a
portrait of Lynde Selden, vice-
chairman of the board of the Amer
ican Express. A number of other
outstanding persons have posed for
her above the Mason-Dixon line.
In every instance, she is commis
sioned to paint the portraits.
• There’s nothing uppity or tern-
The NEW BERN
1
PUBLISHFi:*
w
80>
VOLUME 2
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 1959
NUMBER 3
A GEM ESf aTH3E DARKNESS—-As we ^tpproach the" 250th
anniversary of New Bern’s founding by the Swiss, The
Mirror will bring its readers a series of magnificent photos
depicting our mother city of Berne. They were arranged
through the cooperation of top-ranking officials far across
the sea. Here, in its nocturnal splendor, is the Swiss House
of Parlinient, glistening in a Spring rain.
New Bern Can Learn a Lot
From Its Famed Mother City
The history of Berne, our mother
city, has something of the fantas
tic about it.
At the end of the 12th century
the Duke of Zahringgen, an im
perial subject holding lands in
Bergundy, founded a fortified town
at a strategically important river
crossing.
The nobility of the district and
artisans and workers soon became
an important part of its population.
Gradually, this small imperial city
with its many towers and walls
grew in size. Building materials
came from the ruins of Roman set
tlements and the sandstone quar
ries around Berne.
At the battle of Laupen, only a
century and a half after its founda
tion, Berne won an important vic
tory over its threatening neighbors,
and now the town expanded in all
directions. By the 16th century it
was master of an area stretching
from the Lake of Geneva almost as
far as the Rhine.
Politics, diplomacy, war, agri
culture, and -administration were
the tasks which “the smallest of
the great powers”, as Berne has
been named, was faced. In many
ways the city and republic of
Berne may be compared with
ancient Rome, and there were Ber
nese statesmen whose ideas -and
ability bear comparison with the
peramental about Minette. She is
quite aware that whatever talent
she possesses is a gift from the
Master Artist, and equally aware
that talent is worthless without
hard and constant labor. We wish
her only the best in a wonderful
creative field.
great Romans of the past. i of secondary importance. And
The arts, intellectual pursuits, Berne has remained an important
commerce and industry were only Apolitical center-right to the present
BERNE’S TOWN CLOCK
day.
However, the Bernese have pro
duced great writers and artists
such as Niklaus Manuel, the great
poet-doctor Haller, the Nobel prize
winner Theodor Kocher, the artists
Ferdinand Hodler and Albert
Anker and the famous author Jere-
mias Gotthelf.
The kings of France placed great
value on a friendly relationship
with the Bernese nobility, whose
ruling families monopolized the
government of the Bernese nobili
ty, whose ruling families monopo
lized the government of Berne un
til the French Revolution and the
new liberal ideas of the 19th cen
tury destroyed them.
Napoleon visited Berne before
he rose to power as Consul and
Emperor. The young secretary at
the French embassy in Bene, Count
Gobineau, later to become a fam
ous author, found Berne a boring
place.
He wrote in this strain to the
great political thinker, Alexis de
Tocqueville, complaining of the
unpolished manners of the first
federal councillors. De Tocque-
vine’s reply was anything but
sympathetic, however.
Just as the clock on New Bern’s
City Hall has become a symbol of
the town, the Clock-Tower in
Berne is that city’s best .known
landmark. In 1527, Casper Brun
ner of Nuremburg set up the as
tronomical clock which still stands.
This justly celebrated work is a
superb witness to the grand and
impassioned epoch, influenced at
once by humanism and the refor-
Gothic art began to penetrate north
(Continued on back page)