Evening star., 1945-09-02
BY Florence S. Bergman.

by lOl eIlCt =. DelIyIIldIl.
An enchanting exhibition of Sc
lected books for children, with origi-
nal paintings and drawings of some
of the illustrations, will open at the
Corcoran Gallery of Art next Tues
day, to remain through September
Is. The selection of such a group,
made under auspices of the Maga-
zine of Art, is to be an annual ac-
tivity. Shown first in New YORK
City, the exhibition has been taken
over by the American Federation of
Arts for a national circuit, on which
the Corcoran's display is the initial
engagement.
The selection was made, of course,
by jury of very discriminating
adults, invited by the magazine S
editorial board. The jurors were
Jacques Barzun. associate professor
of history of Columbia University;
Mary Gould Davis of the Saturday
Review of Literature; Isabel Bishop,
painter; Josette Frank, children s
book adviser of the Child Study As
sociation of America, and John D.
Morse, editor of the Magazine of Art
But the reactions of children
themselves to these books have been
tested and the results will be pub
lished in October. One regrets that
it is not early enough to be available
with this exhibition at the Corcoran
Gallery. The results of the test
should prove unusually interesting.
When left 10 their own devices,
children choose comic books oftener
than not. Since many of their elders
do the same, one can scarcely cen
sure the children for poor judgment.
But it is to be hoped that increasing
numbers of good, well-illustrated
books at modest prices, will wean the
children away from their heavy diet
of comics, which is surely as made
quate for their minds as an all
sweets daily fare would be for their
bodies.
Tacenty Volumes Chosen
Illustration, formal and text were
the three bases upon which the
jurors made their selection. From
large number of entries, submitted
by all publishers, limited to those
books issued during the year be-
ginning spring, 1914, only 20 volumes
were chosen as meeting the stand
ards set. Trick books were excluded
from the eligible list, which was
further limited to books for chill
dren up to the age of 10. Books
for children over 10 have more
emphasis on text, illustrations be-
come subordinated.)
The books are divided in to four
groups: For younger, for older, in
formative and traditional. The last
mentioned group includes such mod
ern reprints of classics as THE Ad-
ventures of Baron Munchausen," :"
Illustrated by Gustave Dore, and
Steyenson's "A Child's Garden of
Verses" Those of us who grew up
with an edition of the latter Illus
trated by Jessie Wilcox Smith, for
instance, will probably continue to
prefer it to this modern edition with
drawings by Roger Duvoisin. But
we can appreciate the fact that If
the poems are timeless, they can
be just-as well interpreted by a
young artist today as they were by
whoever did the drawings for the
first illustrated edition in the 10Th
century.
Feodor Rojankovsky's richly COL
ored, predominantly traditional
paintings for "The Tall Book of
Nursery Tales" and also for Georges
Duplaix's Animal Stories" will
surely rate high in the estimation
OF visitors who were children several
decades ago, as well as with today's
children, who enjoy recognizing
familiar things.
For Younger Children
Books for younger children COM
prise the largest group, 8 CT the 20.
One Of the very best of these is "a
Good Man and His Good WiEe," by
Ruth Krauss, with illustrations by
Ad Reinhardt (cartoonist for PM)
The drawings are done in a comic
technique, simple and linear, which
should attract the average child's
attention. The little story is truly
witty and original, and at he same
time teaches lesson: The advantage
OF having place for everything, and
everything in its place. 1t tells how
the good wife annoyed her husband
by moving things around all the
time, 50 that he never succeeded In
finding what he wanted. Each illus
tration shows the same cross-section
Of their house; one sees the rooms
on upper and lower floors sirnulta-
neously, printed in green. The man
and his wife and the objects under
discussion are printed in red. The
child reader can see at a glance the
distracted husband down in the
kitchen, searching for his favorite
chair Cor whatever). which is &C.