the Child's Pleasure Is That of Recognizing Something Familiar

"Three Machines," by Wayne Thiebaud, 1963.
Read more about him and/or hang a print in a
dollhouse or Doll Art Gallery.

       If Dad is fond of fishing or sailing, the boy's first toys are likely to be boats, and so he is ready for any sea pictures, even Turner's. If Mother has a love for gardening, the little girl trained in the love of flowers will naturally like pictures of flowers. In all such cases it seems to me quite plain that the child's pleasure is largely that of recognition. He is proud and pleased to be able to identify and name the object. You secure his interest in a picture by pointing out the familiar things. The other day I dropped a bank-book which opened at a small woodcut frontispiece of the "Institution for Savings" - not much of a work of art. My four-year-old nephew fell upon it eagerly. "O see the house, isn't it cunning!" he exclaimed, gazing at the picture with the rapture of a Ruskin before the cathedral of Amiens. This of course was the sheer joy of recognizing a familiar thing. The mother might well take a hint from the episode. Here was a starting-point from which one might lead a child on to an interest in great architectural monuments. It behooves us to find out, first, what sort of picture a child likes, and if possible why, and then to gratify this taste in the most beautiful and artistic forms. If the child likes animals, give him Rosa Bonheur and Barye, rather than posters and Sunday comic strips. If baby pictures are in favor, supply prints of Correggio and Bellini, Van Dyck and Sir Joshua, rather than a ten- cent picture-book. If it is flowers, fruit, boats, houses, search out pictures of those objects which have genuine artistic merit. 

• What Makes Your Child "Tick"? Using Children's Interests to Build Communication Skills
• Want your children to survive in the future? Send them to art school.
• 7 Ways to Foster Creativity in Your Kids