SOME years ago through the influence of a friend I visited the studio of Claude Boykin. I went somewhat against my better judgment, but to my surprise I found the work of the small class of colored children more than ordinarily promising. The drawings were not good if one considers the technique and proportions of importance. In many cases they had neither of those qualities, but they did have a curious expressiveness, an honesty, an integrity, an appreciation--not only of the subject--but of how black charcoal should look on white paper. They had achieved beauty without accuracy or technique.
In my surprise I am afraid that I cross-questioned Mr. Boykin more severely than our casual acquaintance would seem to permit. It developed that the quality inherent in these drawings was not due all together to superior instruction, although Mr. Boykin was a born teacher. The children, themselves, unconscious of the so-called tenants of art, out of their own consciousness had supplied illusions of beauty.
Later I surprised myself and an audience of educators to whom I was delivering an informal address by affirming that it was my belief that the colored race was destined to make an important contribution to the visual arts; just as important a contribution as the one that they have made in music. Not only was I surprised to find myself saying this without any previous thought on the matter, but I was surprised to find that I was so sure of this that I was willing to express it to the heads of foundations who were at that time beginning to inquire into the matter. Somewhat upon the strength of this statement, justified by his personal interest in Mr. Boykin, Mr. Keppel of the Carnegie Foundation, made a small appropriation to continue this instruction. This was the beginning of the Art Work Shop in Harlem which was sponsored by the Harlem Adult Education Committee. The work under the direction of James Lesesne Wells of Howard University, was carried on during the summer among children and adults.
We cannot all have pictures, we cannot all even understand them, but we all have to have clothes and we must surround ourselves with household utensils. Just as much art goes into making them beautiful. In the last analysis beauty and utility are one. For if an object is one hundred per cent useful it will have obtained beauty, whether you will or not. I do not mean that the least electrical or mechanical instrument that serves its purpose is necessarily beautiful, but I do mean that anything that has survived--come down through many tests of human use, like a spoon or the chair, or the pen--has become beautiful. And it is quite within reason to turn this around and say that anything that is one hundred per cent beautiful is not without utility. So we deduce that in order to make training in art useful to the whole of the community, the students must be taught to surround themselves with objects of genuine beauty and this thought leads directly to the exhibition now on view in the 135th Street Library.
There on the walls above the book cases one sees the work of students that could easily be adapted for commercial purposes. The drawings and the paintings are good, but the designs are splendid and would hold their place in fast company. What Mr. Wells accomplished in the limited time he worked with the classes is something to marvel at. The influence of the instructor is evident in all the drawings. It may be just a shade too evident, but any mistakes that he made in over-instruction must be excused because the originality and the character of the children is portrayed in the most vivid manner. If the best work of the class is a little too uniform, we must not be critical of it. We must remember that the instructor was working with untrained youngsters, struggling to develop in verdant soil a feeling for line and for design and to be sure that he had succeeded, one has only to see the exhibition. In fact the art lovers of the city may very safely turn their eyes toward Harlem for the character and fidelity of expression of the race, the refinement and taste of the race, here makes its bow to the public.
