Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1943-06-21

MR.. PICKERING an n n er
drink until the end OF the war.
Anyway, I'm painting again.
especially children's portraits.
With children. they never have
n false shell. Their real chArac-
ter shines through their faces.
Almost every adult has n false
shell"
In the war effort besides
designing false shells for fac
tories, Van Sake has contrib
uted pictures 20 various bene-
fits. and has given one. a
Mexican landscape, 10 the Pan
American Union which has in
cluded u in collection OF
PICTURES designed 10 foster good
will with Latin America.
Floyd Starr Of the maynard
! boys school AZ Albion, first
, urged Van Sake 10 go 10 Mex
leo, and when he g0rrnere- ne
fell IN love with the country. He
also became a very good friend
OF Riego Rivera with one res
ervation: Rivera is fine
friend except he's too lazy 10
write letters
He hopes 10 90 back 10 Mex
iee- and Ia Peru and rs neigh
borS. after the war when he can
forget camouflage, He confeSses
hope that IL won't be neceS-
Sary 10 use the Camouflage after
AL, bat he also is afraid that
that would leave him feeling
that he hadn't really contrib
uted anything Hes working for
Ford.
ran ACROSS his paintings
IN special show IN one Of the
Woodward avenue art galleries
although Detroit hasn't very
many galleries, II has a few.
Unfortunately. most Of them
are harder 10 find than the
average Speakeasy.
incidentally, although paint
ers are producing pictures, The
art galleries are having a thin
time of II because Of the great
difficulty in getting objects
dart or other types, vases and
such.
As 10 Van Sake he is one
painter who goes from one eX-
treme Of subject matter 10 the
other. Despite his preference
for painting children, he often
switches 10 landscapes, and he
has Travelled all over the United
States in trailer through
Mexico on a donkey, and IN
other countries by more con
ventionsl Conveyances
When in the country he
! paints lakes. trees. shores In
The city he paints buildings or
railroad yards. and he is one
of three painters 10 be- allowed
10 do sketches inside the Ford
Rouge plant--that was long
before he was engaged for the
camoufsge work.
Financially he admits that
he often Is a dope Some OF his
CanvaseS which would bring
high prices including his most
famous, The American Blue
Boy"-he refused to sell AT all.
One time he painted a scene
IN the West. Painted II and
sold II, all in one day he re-
lates. The owner of a house
which happened 10 be in the
picture saw Van Sake at work,
and asked how much the pic
ture was worth Van Sake
quoted HIM a ridIculouSly low
price and sold 1t 10 him be
cause pictures ought 10 be
owned by people 70 whom they
mean something
A 10 his war camouflaee,
its matter OF conjecture
whether his birthplace has any,
thing 10 do with 1t. He's a.
American citizen, but was born
in Rotterdam. which suffered AZ
brutal punishment from bomb
ing as, perhaps, any city
However. he refuses to talk
about it. I'm an American"
he explains. adding. Anyway.
I'm not sure ! even want 70
see Rotterdam again. after all
that's happened
RANDOM NOTES There are
other front-yard victory gar
dens. says a contributor. The
1890 block Of Linnhurst, Just
off Gratiot, has two or more.
One front lawn is now mostly
baby cabhages. 4
y NJ Helen karr, 4345 Bins
ham. Dearborn. lays claim TO
being the first 10 harvest d
garden-earen her spinach AMI
lettuce. AMI canned eight plnts
of peas. W. hear others nave
started harvesting. though
one of the city'S strong Vot
eetters is getting ready to take
a whaCk at the race for mayor
but wont run unless drafted as