Art and the ABC

New Zealand Listener, Volume 10, Issue 250, 6 April 1944, Page 12

Art and the ABC

The issue of the "ABC Weekly" from which we have taken William Dobel!l’s detence of his painting also contained an editorial supporting him and giving details of the work the ABC does among school children to enable them to understand the "modern" art of all ages. OBELL, says the editorial, declares that most of the published criticism of the picture has been misinformed. Such criticism springs from the average man’s fear of anything that is unusualthat does not conform to the pattern of popular tradition. In the minds of many of his critics, Dobell is a "modernist" if not a surrealist, but he suggests that those with some knowledge of painting will see in his own individual style the influence of his acknowledged masters-Rembrandt, Goya, Renoir, and others. Dobell also shocks his critics by his insistence on the artist’s right to express a point of view in his work. This right has been exercised by famous artists throughout history-but for doing so Dobell is labelled a caricaturist. The ABC has been doing some pioneering work of its own in the schools at the age when interest in colour and form-and self-expression through colour and form-begins. In a South Australian series of school broadcasts an interesting experiment is being tried in radio-visual education. The ABC is issuing picture sheets, price one penny each, which are printed reproductions of the art works discussed, so that children can look at them while the talk is being given. New South Wales and Western Australia have had school broadcasts on art for some time, and this year they are being transmitted in New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia. In modern art education, children are encouraged to express what they themselves see and feel. There has to be some discipline of skill in drawing, etc., but the discipline is an aid to self-expression rather than accurate copying.