PICTURES IN SCHOOLS

Evening Star, Issue 19804, 1 March 1928, Page 3

PICTURES IN SCHOOLS

VALUE OF /ESTHETIC TRAINING SELECTION FOR CLASSROOM DECORATION The British Board of Education has just issued the report of a committee on the selection of pictures for public elementary schools, in, which emphasis is laid on the aesthetic value of good pictures. Advice is also given as to the sort of pictures that should be chosen. The committee admits that schools are better equipped than they were fifty years ago, yet it has found that the position is still unsatisfactory. Dealing with the confused ideas that exist on the subject of pictures it says: “Pictures may be of value for the decoration of the walls of a school; pictures may be a valuable adjunct to the formal work of the classroom; but both decoration and instruction can be carried out without their assistance. The case for providing pictures in schools rests ultimately on their importance in connection with aesthetic training. /Esthetic training cannot be carried on unless children live in contact with beautiful things. And without aesthetic training one of the three desires of the. spirit:—to do what is right for the sake of doing what is right, to know the truth for the sake of knowing the truth, to desire beauty for the sake of beauty—is left unsatisfied,”

Developing its argument as to the value of aesthetic appreciation, the committee adds; “ The boy or girl who has been led at school to take an interest in good pictures and has learnt in some measure to respond to the emotional experience of the artist will be in a better position later to estimate at its true value much that is presented to him as beautiful. He will have at his command, too, a source of happiness of which at present but few partake, for his capacity for enjoying Ids leisure time will bo immeasurably increased. Moreover, he will have a reservoir of feeling in later life which will insure him against two evils characteristic of the modern world—restlessness . and ostentation.” SCHOOLROOM DECORATION. Most attention is naturally 'devoted

to the selection of pictures for the purposes of schoolroom decoration ns distinct from those for the purposes of instruction. The committee suggests that the pictures should be choson on n plan “which corresponds roughly to flic natural development of taste in children,” beginning, therefore, with pictures whose appeal is direct, like the ‘Boyhood of Raleigh’ (Millais), ‘Maiwand: Saving the (funs’ (Caton Woodvillc), ‘Last of the Garrison’ (Briton Riviere). ' Twixt Wind and Tide’ (Napier Homy), ‘The Lighthouse’ (Stanhope Forbes), and others. Next might come pictures with a direct appeal, but with personal or individual treatment of their subject, such as the ‘Laughing Cavalier’ (Hals). ‘ Dauto and Beatrice’ (Holiday), 'Sunset at Land’s hind’ (Olsson), and ‘Love's Baubles’ (Byam Shaw). Finally there should bo sonic pictures “which are definitely harder for the child to appreciate, the subject matter being less important and the artists’ method of treatment more important.” On this point the committee adds: “ Among these there will bo a greater proportion of old masters and pictures by foreign artists whose outlook is strange to an English child. It will even include some of the great masterpieces which are definitely beyond the child’s understanding, because it is worth while that a child should grow up in daily contact with some of the pictures which he will hear about all his life if he hears about pictures at all. As examples of pictures which we consider suitable at this stage we mav instance ‘ Oueen Elizabeth Going on Board the Golden Hind ’ (Brangwyn). ‘lnfanta Margarita Teresa’ (Velasquez), ‘Diana of the Uplands’ (Fnrse), ‘The Artist’s Mother’ (Whistler), ‘The Doge’ (Bellini), ‘Portrait of an Old Lady’ (Rembrandt). ‘Fighting Temernire ’ (Turner), ‘The Middelharnis Avenue’ (Hobbema), and ‘Lorenzo and Isabella’ (Millais). This list can obviously be extended to any length.” LACK OF ART GALLERIES. The committee gives, in brief, its general conclusions. These are as follow : “We cannot rely ujxm picture galleries for the cultivation of good taste and a sense of beauty among children, because this country is not sufficiently well provided with galleries. “Schools require pictures—(a) for purposes of aesthetic training (this is

the ultimate justification ior providing schools with good pictures); (b) for purposes of direct instruction; (c) for purposes of wall decoration. “School pictures for decoration and (esthetic training should not be produced specially for the purpose. Tho masterpieces of great artists should bo used. Since schools must depend on | reproductions care is necessary to secure adequate and good ones. “ Pictures for direct instruction, when used for demonstration and class purpose, present an accurate, vivid, and convincing picture of the features under consideration, not be overloaded with _ unessential detail, and be on a sufficient scale to be easily visible to the whole class. “Pictures tor direct instruction, when used for group ’Or individual study, should he clear and not overloaded with irrelevant detail which may distract attention, he. accompanied by •some indication of the points which they particularly illustrate and of the scale of the drawing, and be on loose sheets, so that comparison of different pictures is easily possible.” Pictures of direct instruction, the committee _ adds, should bo classified and kept in portfolios, and not hung permanently on tho walls. Teachers should rather encourage children to look at pictures than attempt to teach “appreciation,” For purposes of decoration and aesthetic training in the elementary school, the pictures chosen should ho good in design and technique; tho subjects of the pictures should be attractive to children and easily understood; while pictures whose excellence depends solely on technical qualities which are too far beyond tha child’s grasp should be excluded. There is, it is pointed out, a deficiency of reproductions of breezy landscapes and seascapes and the work .01 modern British artists. Attention k necessary to the framing of pictures. Conventionalised pictures and posters should be used with due regard to their special limitations. '