CHILD ARTISTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 148, 25 June 1938, Page 19

CHILD ARTISTS

ACADEMY IN LONDON

MODERNISTIC TENDENCIES

The hanging committee of the Royal Academy went into session recently for this year's exhibition at Burlingham House, in London. The deliberations of this committee held no terrors for some artists, however, states an overseas writer. Their pictures are already judged and are now hangi'ig in another gallery. These are England's artists of the future, for at this exhibition, held in the Guildhall,' the youngest artist is Miss Shirley Ann Parker, of Bath, aged two years and five months, and the oldest are but nineteen. Their work is on view at the 49th annual exhibition of the Children's Royal Academy, held under the auspices of the Royal Drawing Society.

Gone are the days when the young artist was confronted with a vase and two eggs and told to draw it for a school exercise. The exhibitors in this show are encouraged to cultivate natural vision and freedom of movement and with this in view the president's prizes, the highest awards, are given for the best snapshot drawings from memory of things seen. This year's winners, one of each sex, are both only fourteen. The girl chose black and white as her medium and child riders as her subject and very spirited her drawings are, too. The boy, who must be a traveller, exhibited two oil sketches, one of a bull fight and one' of a Spanish dance. There was nothing childish either in his conception of these very adult scenes or in his handling of his pigments, which he did in quite the Degas manner. UNUSUAL SUBJECTS. The two-year-old chose a rabbit and Mickey Mouse as her subjects, but on the whole the children chose anything but the obvious juvenile tilings to draw. Here a mere grownup is likely to put her foot in it. Perhaps it would be more truthful to say that the artist did not choose the sort of subjects a grown-up might expect them to. There were, for instance, no fairy pictures, no story-book characters. Pets, dogs, horses, cats, school sports, the changing of the guard, scenes from the ballet. The teen age was interested in landscapes and in modern things, ships, buildings, poster designs, textile designs. . The younger fry were more interested in themselves. Me and Sister in our Best Clothes', Mother Going for a Walk, Myself Painting in the Garden. This last is the work of a five-year-old, Patricia Walker, and it is used to illustrate the cover of a catalogue. It presents the back of the young artist, in school tunic, seated before an easel, upon which is a half-finished landscape. It has action, proportion, and perspective, and is executed in coloured pencils. One or two other drawings by this young lady are remarkable for their sense of movement and perspective and she is our choice for a future R.A. / . The mysteries of the impressionist school hold no terrors for some of the exhibitors. The contributions of two nine-year-olds are entitled After Hearing Music and Impression of the Word "Beginning." A very young painter, under seven belongs to this school also, and paints a picture called "Dreams,' 'a symphony in blues. There are contributions from overseas, with two young artists of Hamilton, Ontario, to uphold Canada. Jane Niblett, aged seven, sent three water colours, depicting Eskimo life, and W. Thompson, aged eleven, sent a still life and a yachting scene. ' 10,000 VISITORS. It is said 'that ten thousand people a year visit the Guildhall, one of London's oldest buildings, to, see the pictures of these children. Many of them, when they leave the Guildhall, walk the few yards to another historic old building where, if they wish, they may

see a very old picture. The. building is the church of St. Lawrence Jewry, one of the many city churches to be built by Sir, Christopher Wren. As a matter of fact it was the first church he rebuilt', after the Great Fire and is the official church of the Corporation of the City of London. But it has a special interest for Canadians as it is also known as the Church of the 'Dominion of Canada in London. It has been adopted'by the 1.0. D.E. and a year ago, in March, 1937, the 1.0. D.E. pew was' dedicated. The church has old-fashioned pews with doors' and on the 1.0. D.E. door is the coat 6f.arms of the Order. Above hangs a Canadian flag, the gift of the Order in Vancouver and on a nearby pillar is. a brass tablet inscribed with the details of the dedication. The picture which is shown is in the vestry, a gem of a room in Wren's best style, with the door frames carved by Grinling Gibbons, and a beautifullypainted ceiling with delicate plaster mouldings. Over the fireplace hangs the picture, a painting depicting the martyrdom of St. Lawrence. Poor young man, he was grilled, alive for refusing to render unto Caesar his parish funds. Before the Great Fire in 1666 this picture hung above the altar in the old church of St. Lawrence i Jewry. Just before the church went [up in flames a boy member of the parish fought his way into the building and rescued the picture. He was given | a reward of six shillings for the heroic deed which salvaged the gruesome 'painting so that today it is preserved for,a kindly vicar and a rosy-cheeked verger to show to the visitors who come j calling from all parts of the world.