Art and the Child
- Author:
Marion Richardson. Introauction by Sir Kenneth Clark. University of
London Press. 18s.
This book will be welcomed by all who knew Marion Richardson or whose work is based on her educational reforms. Written with simplicity and great understanding, attractively produced, with an admirable selection of illustrations, it may well be a means of introducing her achievements to a , wider public.
As a student in Birmingham, working under Mr. Catterson-Smith, she learnt to rely on her visual powers rather than on technical skill. Later, as a teacher, she saw that children worked best when painting from their own mental images. She was painfully aware of the inadequacy of the traditional method, which imposed an adult standard on the child, with deadening results. There followed the discovery of another way of approach : ” One day I decided to try giving the children a word picture. From that moment the work had a new quality. Whereas before it had been little more than the reproduction of something photographed by the physical eye, it now had an original and inner quality. … I began to see that this thing was art, not drawing. I was myself a natural visualizer and found that the children were interested in descriptions of my own imagery, that as I talked something passed between us. … I must not give the impression that the children’s subjects were never self-chosen or seen at first hand. What I hoped for, and I know in part achieved, was to give the children complete confidence in their inner vision as the seeing eye, so that it would come to colour and control their whole habit of looking. They would then see pictures everywhere, in poor, plain places as well as lovely ones.’’’’
Within the next few years, the results of this revolutionary teaching were seen in exhibitions, in teachers’ classes, in the Writing Patterns which were a parallel activity, and above all in the happiness and fulfilment of countless children.
” The studio now offered opportunities to all, not just a gifted few. Even more welcome and significant was the fact that rebellious and frustrated children found peace when they painted.’’’’
Those who know the value of art as a means of healing owe a deep debt of gratitude to Marion Richardson. As Sir Kenneth Clark points out in his Introduction, there had been other workers in the field, but it was she alone who recognized that the power of imaginative expression could be developed in almost every child as part of his education. How sensibly she deals with all sorts of practical matters and individual problems ! Take the instance of the older child with leanings towards the ” pretty-pretty” The wise teacher will never seem superior. She will be content to let these things spend themselves and meanwhile have their time and day.”
There is a misconception of the new art teaching which imposes a formalism not far removed from the tyranny of earlier days, by insisting on large sheets of paper and brushes, a meaningless, slapdash technique, and the rejection of any ideas or help from outside. Marion Richardson had no sympathy with such a point of view. The freeing of the inner vision demands complete sincerity and the highest standard of work. It will require experiment with different materials, and will be strengthened by the teacher’s guidance.
She had her own and highly successful way of working, but this was not a ” method ” to be copied. Once the implications of her teaching are accepted, the means of expression will be an individual matter. Neither is a particular training essential. Indeed, the non-specialist may possess the fundamentals?those qualities of love and understanding which were the foundation of Marion Richardson’s teaching. M.F.H.
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