The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-10-30
MONROE WINS PRIZE.
Karl Ekstrand's Essay Secures a
Handsome Painting for that
School.
His Subject Was the Fine Picture,
Resting, BY Clifford
Beal. s.

It has remained for 15-year-old
Karl >Ekstrand, native of Norway and
pupil in the seventh grade of the Mon
roe school, to carry off the 500 prize
painting offered by the Minneapolis
Society of Fine Arts for the best essay
written by member of the seventh
and eighth grades on any portion of
the exhibit usually given by the So
ciety.
In determining upon the relative
merit Of the various essayists DR.. G.
M. Jordan, superintendent Of schools,
arranged for a thoro sitting process
which called upon the critical powers
of three different boards of examina-
ton and finally left the superintendent
with less than half a dozen papers to
choose from. 49,
Ekstrand's, achievement is the more
remarkable because 1t is the result of
but a very few years of schooling. He
came to this country when he was
but S years old, spent three years at
Lake Minnetonka, and subsequent
years at Lake st. Clair, until he en-
tered the. Seward school in Mime
apolis in 1901. MI. ~
He was then in the fourth grade,
but afterward entered the Monroe
school, about a year ago, and has
advanced beyond his classes month
after month until as the prize winner
he is one. of the members OF the, first
year. seventh grade. For his faith
fulness,. cleverness and modesty as a
student he is greatly beloved by Anna
L. Weston, his teacher. and is en-
titled to much credit for MS aplllty
to do what he has done, handicapped
by the necessity of earning his own
living. In his spare. time he is EN-
ployed in the mechanical department
of r h e j ur nal. .... r. -., -
~ The Prize Essay. "a. -
\ The essay which won the prize is on
the picture Resting" by. Clifford
Beal. and is accompanied by the aft
,davit." Il have been to the art ex-
hibit'' The wording of the prize
composition is: H.. -H..E.
Clifford Beal was born in New York,
Jan. "a, 1879. He studied under Will
liam M. Chase and Henry Ranger.
One of his pictures received third
prize at the Rochester museum, 1903.
He did a very good piece of work
when he painted Resting 1t is one
of those pictures which seem to hold
the spectators in a sort of trance from
first sight. The longer one looks at it,
the more beautiful it becomes. One
is not satisfied until he has looked at
it from every point of view, and even
then there is a strong inclination to
set down in front Of it and look and
then move on a little farther and look
more, and keep on looking.
"Old mother nature must have been
a very godo friend of Clifford Beal,
and she must have whispered secrets
to him which no other human being
has been allowed to hear. There is
perfect harmony of color turnout the
whole picture, and there is something
in the pose of the contented compan-
ions that cannot fail to strike a re-
sponsive chord in the coolest heart.
1.-The road in the foreground, the
stone wall on the side of the road, and
the beautiful trees with slight touch /
of. yellow here and there, contrast
splendidly with the rustic, two
wheeled cart and it's owner The man /:
addressed in coarse, shabby clothes, !
his gray hair shows itself timidly from
under his Well-worn hat, and he looks
at his greatest friend, the horse, with
an air of affection and Kindness
The well-fed horse seems to have
perfect confidence In his indulgent
master, and the two are so far re-
moved from worldly cares that one
cannot help wishing himself in their
place. -. ..l .[@ -.. p
There seems to be something in
the picture that leaves no doubt as to
the exact condition of the weather;
from first sight, there seems to be the
clearness of the atmosphere and a.
mildness of the temperature, and no
illdCICl HOW CIOSe anu Study Cne air is
in the room where the picture is hung,
the onlooker breathes freely from the
start. F.''~,E' 49,
Thru an opening in the foliage
can be seen the distant horizon with
here and there purple, indistinct hills,
as If to suggest that there is more in
the world than the little paradise in
the foreground, which one is almost
inclined to doubt, after looking at
the picture for WHILE" ..-
The prize winner from the fourth.
fifth and sixth grades was Muriel
Wright of the Minnehaha school, who
received her honors because of the
cleverness of her essay on George In
ness Juniors END of the Day." a most
remarkable production for a miss of
her few summers. - ~ 70