International studio (35.1908)

International Art Congress

will report the proceedings of the Congress to the
Bureau of Education at Washington.
The aims of the Congress are to place the teach-
ing of drawing and art on the best principles; to
insist upon the extreme importance of training
workmen to become better craftsmen, more particu-
larly in such industries as are dependent upon art
for their success; to obtain proper recognition for
all art teachers, and to discuss the methods of teach-
ing as they appeal to the different classes of teachers
of drawing and art throughout the world.
The work of the Congress will include the reading
and discussion of papers, lectures, and an interna-
tional exhibition of work. Applications for space
were received from the United States, France, Ger-
many, Italy, Austria, Japan, Belgium, Hungary,
Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Chile, Newfound-
land, Scotland, Ireland, Finland. England, of
course, will be very fully represented.
The interchange of ideas between teachers of all
nationalities and the opportunity for studying and
discussing their principles and methods, together
with the examples of actual work done in the vari-
ous schools, cannot fail to stimulate and improve
art teaching and education generally.
The exhibition of the work of the public schools
of the United States was shown in New York, May
14 to 18. It is a composite exhibition of the chil-
dren’s work arranged by grades. The following
States accepted the invitation to exhibit: Ohio, Il-
linois, Indiana, Iowa, Colorado, Louisiana, Michi-
gan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, New
Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania,
New York,Vermont, Maine, California, District of
Columbia, Maryland, Washington, New Hamp-
shire, Montana and Missouri. Each mount con-
tains the work of several children and often from a
number of cities. These gray mounts are hung in
three lines, the top one being devoted to illustrative
drawings, the middle one to drawings and paintings
made from nature, and the lower section, known as
“structural,” consists of designs and work actually
made from these designs. The section shown in
our illustration represents work done in the seventh
grade, where the average age of the children is thir-
teen years. The pencil drawings are from Chicago,
Ill., and St. Louis, Mo. Nature drawings are from
St. Louis, Mo.; Homestead, Pa.; Minneapolis,
Minn.; Pittsburgh, Pa., and East Orange, N. J.
The structural work is from New York City (Bor-
oughs of Manhattan and The Bronx).
Some cities have confined their exhibits to certain
phases of art work. Denver, for instance, is repre-
sented only by some striking tissue paper windows

and a group of large carbon photographs illustrating
schoolroom decoration; Philadelphia has sent only
illustrative and nature drawings, while, on the other
hand, the Boroughs of Manhattan and The Bronx,
in New York City, are represented only by the craft
work done in the various grades.
In addition to the elementary and secondary pub-
lic schools throughout the United States there are
separate exhibits from some of the art schools, par-
ticularly those where special attention is given to the
preparation of art teachers. Among these may be
mentioned the New York School of Art, Teachers
College of Columbia University, Pratt Institute of
Brooklyn, the Art Institute of Chicago and the
Rhode Island School of Design of Providence.
Besides the exhibition, the American Committee
has published a handsome volume, “Art Educa-
tion in the Public Schools of the United States,”
which contains over four hundred pages and more
than a hundred full-page illustrations. The vari-
ous chapters have been written by experts, as fol-
lows:
I. The Development of Art Teaching in the Public Schools,
by the Editor, James P. Haney, Director of Art and
Manual Training, New York City (Boroughs of Man-
hattan and The Bronx).
2. The Philosophy of Elementary Art Education—Colin
A. Scott, Professor of Psychology, Boston Normal
School, Boston, Mass.
3. Child Study in Relation to Elementary Art Education
—Lecturer on Education.
4. Organization of Art Teaching in the Elementary
Schools—Julia C. Cremins, Assistant to the Director of
Manual Arts, New York City.
5. Art Education in the Elementary Schools—Cheshire
L. Boone, Supervisor of the Manual Arts, Montclair,
N.J.
6. Art Education in the High Schools—Charles M. Carter,
Director of Art Education, Denver, Colo.
7. Art Education in the Evening Schools—J. Frederick
Hopkins, Director of Maryland Institute of Art and De-
sign, Baltimore, Md.
8. Art Education in Normal Schools—Harriet C. Magee,
Director of Art, Public Schools of Chicago.
9. Art Education in Colleges—William Woodward, Pro-
fessor of Art, Newcomb College, Tulane University,
New Orleans, La.
10. Normal Art Schools—Jeanette Buckley, Principal Nor-
mal Art School, Art Institute of Chicago.
II. Professional Organizations—Frederic L. Burnham,
Massachusetts State Agent for Drawing.
12. Art Museums, with Special Reference to Their Use by
Public Schools—Florence N. Levy, Editor, “American
Art Annual,” New York City.
13. Statistics—George H. Martin, Secretary Massachusetts
State Board of Education.
The underlying purpose of art education in our
elementary schools is not to create artists but to cul-
tivate a sense of appreciation for beauty in every
form, to help the children to see nature and the best
in their daily surroundings, to train the hand to exe-
cute what the mind conceives. Gradually more skill
of hand is acquired until, in the upper grades, some
of the work is equal to that of trained craftsmen.

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