Evening star., 1924-05-15
The North Window
BY LEILA MECHLIN

the Arts Club under the auspices Oh
the American Federation of Arts,
which is at this time holding con-
vention in Washington. Florence n.
Levy, director of the Baltimore Mu-
scum of Art and for many years sec
retary Of the School Arts League Of
New York, presided, and among the
speakers were the directors of art
this conference it was stated that
there are innumerable school districts
in the United States where the chill
dren have never had the opportuni-
ties of knowing or creating beautiful
things.
Yet children, it would seem, are
most sensitive to beauty and pecul-
iarly apt in art expression when
gently led in the right direction and
allowed freedom of action At least
testimony to this effect is given in
the exhibition of work by Viennese
National Museum. The teacher of
these children, Prof. Cizek, affirms
that the age OF purest art is from
one to seven, and he urges that mu-
of their intrinsic value, the art works
Of children of this age. What liv-
ing springs" he exclains, have been
ldost to the world because no one has
cared about the art works of chill
dren! How sad, for instance, that
we have lost the works of Durer and
Titan as children" The South Ken
sington Museum has listened to his
wood cuts of Prof. Clicks pupils,
thus taking the first official step in
this direction.
+ \ X X
TT is between the ages of one and
sevens" this gifted teacher of children
tells US. that a child draws a great
deal, not because he wants to COM
municate something, but because he
wants to formulate his own ideas"
From seven onward to about fourteen
ne goes on drawing and making from
sheer delight in expression. Then
comes the intellectual awakening the
dawn of seif-consciousness. beyond
which only the exceptionally gifted
pass on to largo accomplishment
x * 4
Prof Clicks method of teaching is
that of inspired leadership. 1t follows
| the precepts laid down by Froebel
and advocated by Nine. Montessori-
| methods which, rightly applied, bring
forth magical results; but, like the
scriptures, can be rested" to ones
ruin. All educational methods, as the
| head of one of the great departments
| at Harvard University has lately re-
| marked, have been greatly improved
within the last half century. College
| instruction in the fine arts formerly
| approached from the literary point of
| view, is now taught by what has
he Lob ~
method-that is, a study of works of
art at first hand. In the schools
that is, the best schoolS-routine has
been set aside for inspirational meth
ods. The cubes and squares, the
! dreary exercises and drudgery of the
| art courses of fifty years ago in the
grade schools have been replaced by
| work from nature which affords op-
portunIty for originality and play of
| ina gfnation.
To some extent what Prof. Cizek
urges in his own country has found
| effect in ours. He pleads with the
| teachers to free the schools in which
| they teach from themseIves-that is,
| from the schoolmaster spirit Make
your schools" he says, into some
thing else; make them into gardens
where flowers may grow as they grow
| in the garden of God. The teacher
ought to learn to hover like an invis-
| ible spirit over his pupil, always
ready to encourage, but never to press
or force. His own methods are
| those of the comrade and play fellow
| He does not hesitate to advise, to
| criticize and to suggest; and the work
which is done under his direction
| amply testities to the quality of the
| inspiration which the children get
| from him.
| Education, he claims. begins with
| the parents, of which there are three
| types: First, those who are always
| fussing about their children, control
ling and correcting them, trying to
make them walk in the same paths as
themselves; then the infinitely PREFER
able variety who neglect their chill
dren altogether; and lastly, the ideal
kind who watch their children from a
distance and are ready with encour-
/ agement and friendship when that is
| needed" There are also, he explains,
three distinct types of children: First
| "those who grow from their own
| roots and are unaffected by outside
| influence; second, those who are af-
/ fected by outside influence, but have
| strength enough to keep their indi-
viduality; third. those whose inspira-
| tion comes entirely from without. and
who, in consequence, lose their per-
| sonality altogether"
| Obviously even the most expert
| gardener cannot secure blossoms of
equal beauty from all plants. Here
| is food for thought and an explana-
tion of much of the weak art of the
| Iay- Tho cturdv pIo nj crrou-iDr frou,
| it's own roots is pretty sure to bios
| som if it is given the benefit of good
soil, sunlight and showers, but even
| such may wither through starvation
or close confinement, and when such
is the case, how irreparable is the
| lossl
The object of art teaching in the
majority of our public schools is not
| to produce artists, but to open the
| eyes of the little citizens to the beauty
| around them, to cultivate in them that
! is an enormous, enrichment to life.
But it is amazing how gifted they are
| in expression. These VienneSe school
| children, who seem to have accom-
plished miracles, are not chosen from
| among the more prosperous, or those
who have advantages of an excep-
| tional sort; many, in fact, have little
| heritage of tradition. Our own
| American children are of the same
type and would doubtless prove equal
ly skillful under similar circum-
stances.
Strange as it may seem, there is a
| childlike simplicity in some OF Whis-
| tiers paintings which critics regard
as most sophisticated and astute. 1t
was this childish simplicity of express
| sion in which the world of art in
WhistIers day found material for
L la1 70. hut inh Z, if< 4Iax-x