The New York herald., 1922-12-03

the drawings or Jonn HE'D, Jr., SO ac-
curately that it is all but impossible
to tell the difference But she is lost
when she is told to sit down and draw
! her idea OF fiapper walking up the
avenue.
Many an instructor in elementary
art would be glad to collect the draw
ings that the children sometimes make
when the teachers back is turned, or
the strange fancies that children some
times put down when they are at
| home and feel free to draw as they
please. Sven if these pictures are
| unflattering caricatures of the teach.
ers themselves, the teacher who knows
regards them as far more valuable
than a stiff copy OF a picture OF q
kitchen stove.
MacMonnies Was a Boy
Wonder With Clay and Paint
1t is doubtful whether, out OF the
dozens of children in New York who
show unusual aptitude for drawing,
any will be able at the age OF is to
approach the work which Pamela
4
Bianco in the art world is what
Jackie Coogan is in motion pictures.
She is regarded as far and away the
most able child artist of the present
time. Her exhibition at the Anderson
Galleries in the spring Of last year
was sensation. And since then, re-
ports agree, her work has continued to
have the charm and finish that makes
1t sought after by art lovers.
And Frederick MacMonnies is an
other artist at whose career the child
artist might aspire. He was a boy
, sculptor. and a painter as well. Long
before he ever gave q thought to
Civic Virtue" or any of his other
works. he was modelling animals from
the dough in his mothers kitchen.
Children for many blocks around vis-
tied the MacMonnies home in Brook
lyn in those days, not because Mrs.
MacMonnies was such a wonderful
cook - although that helped - but
Chiefly because her cakes were
shaped like all kinds of animals.
One morning MacMonnies and
some OF his boy playmates went down.
town to see the parade OF Barnum's
circus. The first thing he did when
he got back home was to take some
clay and model a certain white ele-
phant that had made tremendous
impression upon him. He was 6
years old at the time. And this clay
elephant is so lifelike that 1T is still
treasured in the MacMonnies family.
Later the boy began modelling In wax
and in chewing gum. He let his nails
grow long. Chinese fashion. so he
could use them in the absence of bet
ter implements. And before he was 1s
years old, although he never had
taken a lesson in mixing colors. he
made an excellent oil painting OF his
father. Later young MacMonnies en-
tered the studio Of Augustus Saint
Gaudens and began in a serious way
the career which has led him so far.
There is a boy In Brooklyn now.
who, his father swears, will some day
be another MacMonnies. or even an
other Rodin. This boy is George, the
i2-year-olds sson of Joseph NJ. Kratina,
a sculptor and artist of 81 Prospect
place, Brooklyn. The father, who
studied under Rodin and exhibited in
New York in 1918. is Pole. His wife
also is an artist. Tho boy. in order
that whatever fame he acquires may
be his own. and not be associated in
any way with what his father may or
may not do, is signing his work with
an assumed name-"K. George" When
the boy was six years old he did a
hand in clay that his father compares
10 the work of Rodin, and says that
Rodin would even have been proud OF
doing such a piece OF work.
"K. George" also has modelled an
ape in plasterine which is remarkable
for the vigor OF its execution. He also
has done a smoking Indian and any
number of grotesaue caricatures that
serve to make tho observer agree with
the father that here, some day, will
be sculptor Of renown.
But you may comb through all the
boroughs, search out every place
where a child genius might reside and
run to earth every tale of how a
neighbor's boy is a prodigy--you may
do all this and you will not find a boy
to compare in versatile talent with the
little olive skinned Skoji Kimura. who
has Just turned IL and lives with his
parents at $40 West Ninety seventh
street. And. unlike most OF the genuine
prodigies. this boy goes 20 Ps:blic
School 179 in West 102d street, where
he is one of the prize pupils.
Skojrs father also is an artist, and
his mother is q Japanese actress. They
have been in this country four years
And during that timo Skoji has moved
I'm a world that has made deep inn.
| preston upon him, SO that his work
Is a curious blend of the Orfentai and
the Occidental. The memory OF wiiai
he saw during his first eight year:
still persists, but IL Is colored by hi:
surroundings and his companions dur
ing the four years he has been in New
York.
AS great an artist as Charlie Chap
lin has told Skoji that he has tn,
promise of great things Every tim'
Chaplin comes TO town (skoji Kimur;
goes to visit him. aqd the two sit ant