52SD 
 
 UC-NRLF 
 
 N 
 
 352 
 
 W5271 
 
 1921 
 
 MAIN 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Professor Edna W. Bailey 
 
A CLASS AT 
 PROFESSOR 
 CIZEK'S 
 
 Subject — 
 "AUTUMN 
 
 By 
 
 FRANCESCA M. WILSON. 
 
 CHILDREN'S ART EXHIBITION FUND 
 MCMXXI. 
 
JtpAN STACK 
 
l.-Z'XK'EfxHAN^ 
 
 H. Zlokkkmann. A(iED 14. 
 
 " Something incomplete, it is true, but pull ok poetky." 
 
 (See p. 13 of Text.) 
 
Helena Klaunzner. 
 
 Aged 16 years. 
 
 "Monumental like her native mountains." 
 
 {See p. IS of Ttxt.) 
 2 
 
A CLASS 
 AT PROFESSOR CIZEK'S 
 
 %9P 
 
 THERE were from 50 to 60 children, boys and girls, 
 of all ages from 6 to 15. Each one of them 
 had a piece of paper of the same size in front 
 of him, a charcoal pencil, and a box of paints. 
 It was the day for the " Klassenarbeit " — no choosing of 
 their own medium of expression to-day. Autumn was 
 the subject Cizek proposed to them. It was a fine Novem- 
 ber day with the sun coming through after a week of 
 mists, and it was a good day, he thought, to do Autumn 
 on. They must represent Autumn by a figure. First 
 they must draw a narrow margin round their paper, and 
 the figure must be big enough for its head to reach the 
 top of the margin, and its feet the bottom, for, as be 
 explained to them afterwards, when discussing their 
 work with them, a picture looks poverty-stricken and 
 miserable when it has only a tiny figure in it, and is mostly 
 empty. The size of the figure was law of the Medes and 
 Persians, but otherwise they might make their Autumn 
 just how they liked. 
 
 112 
 
He wondered how Hans would represent it. Hans 
 said at once he would have an old man with baskets full 
 of apples. Franz, after this suggestion, got on his feet, 
 and said he would have someone blowing very hard at 
 the trees so that the leaves blew off. Elizabeth, a small, 
 determined, little party, with a pale face, and two straight 
 pigtails, declared with great decision that she would have 
 an old man with pots of paint, painting the leaves bright 
 colours. 
 
 Cizek approved all these suggestions, declared them 
 each as they came up very fine, and full of possibilities 
 but as the children were already straining at the leash, 
 so to speak, with eagerness to start, he closed the 
 discussion, and told them to begin. 
 
 This they did with a speed and a lack of hesitation 
 that surprised me. I could imagine myself toying with 
 my charcoal and paper for half an hour wondering what 
 I was going to do, but they made up their minds at once, 
 and attacked the subject straight away. No doubt the 
 constant encouragement of their Professor has developed 
 this self-confidence and courage in them. 
 
 After a few minutes every child had a head on the 
 paper, and some the whole figure. Cizek then reminded 
 them that the figure must exactly fill the whole sheet. 
 Several of them, he said, were starting without remember- 
 ing this, and were making their heads too big or too small. 
 They ought to sketch out very lightly the whole figure 
 at once, before spending time on an}^ detail. He then 
 wandered up and down, an extraordinarily encouraging 
 presence amongst them with his gentle, whimsical ex- 
 pression — mostly amused by what they were producing, 
 but not in the detached, superior grown-up way, much 
 
Martha Zehenter, 
 
 
 Aged 14 years. 
 
 One of our own NiederosterreIch maidens." 
 
 (See p. 12 of •Text.) 
 
 5 
 
more in the serious child's way. He takes his children 
 very seriously, as seriously as they take themselves, indeed. 
 He never touched any of their drawings, nor did he go up 
 to the black-board as most teachers do, to draw something 
 for them himself in order to illustrate some question of 
 proportion or anatomy. Where he could, he induced the 
 children to stand up to their work as it would give them 
 more freedom and boldness. 
 
 There was an extraordinary atmosphere of zest and 
 joy in the whole room. 
 
 The smaller children worked away with great absorp- 
 tion, adding all sorts of interesting details to their original 
 sketches just as ideas came into their heads. One boy 
 made his Autumn a girl running against a strong wind, 
 and he threw her pigtail out behind her and blew her 
 bright ribbon off the end of it with chuckles of delight, 
 lyittle Elizabeth had her old man wearing a deep red cloak, 
 and painting the leaves gold and orange in a very brief 
 space of time — and he really was there. Childish as the 
 whole thing was, you could see what she meant if you 
 stood at the end of the room, 20 feet away. Some of the 
 older, more experienced artists daubed away with a dreamy 
 expression, and when their figures were complete, began 
 adding flowers and coloured leaves to their pictures, 
 without having drawn them first. They wore an air 
 of negligent ease that was most impressive. 
 
 After an hour and a quarter, the pictures were all collected 
 and piimed against the wall, and the children squatted roimd 
 in a circle full of the most eager expectation, for the 
 discussion of their works is always the most thrilling part 
 of the whole lesson. It was certainly a most motley 
 collection. I^ots of the sketches would have been passed 
 
over hastily by most teachers as childish daubs. A few 
 condescending words might have been found to say, but 
 the serious attention that Cizek proceeded to turn on to 
 them would hardl}^ have been accorded. 
 
 Of the sixt3^ sketches, there were about a dozen that 
 attracted one's attention either for skill of execution, the 
 liveliness of the fancy they expressed, or for some charm 
 of line or colour. These dozen had a full share of Cizek's 
 appreciative comment, but he saw something in all the 
 others as well. He discussed them one by one, dwelling 
 on them affectionately, sometimes with the amused 
 pleasure of a humorist, sometimes with an artist's sheer 
 delight in beauty, but alwa^^s as seriously as though they 
 were his own creations. Not that he was uncritical. 
 
 " Here is a woman in pale green and misty blue, a 
 pleasing figure, but is she Autumn ? " he asks — " but that 
 is Doris Gunther's, of course, and Doris is so much 
 the Spring herself, how can one expect her to make an 
 Autumn ? It is true the leaves are falling about her 
 little woman in the musical Autumn way though the 
 flowers are still blooming in the grass. She is the Indian 
 Summer — the second Spring that blossoms in the heart 
 of Autumn. (See illustration p. 14.) 
 
 " Here is an indeterminate figure — one is not quite 
 sure if it is man or woman, nor on which side of its 
 body the head is placed. But Karl is a new boy, he will 
 soon learn that the sexes are quite distinct, and that 
 heads are on definite sides of bodies. Here is a very 
 sprightly man leaning against a tree with the smartest 
 curling moustaches, and baskets of apples beside him, 
 but * was schaust Du mich an ? ' (' What are you looking 
 at me like that for ? ') " cried Cizek, while the children 
 

 t: 
 
 Marie Kind. 
 
 Aged 14 years. 
 
 " Thr Little Tanzmeister." 
 
 (See p. 12 of Text.) 
 8 
 
Mada Primavesi. 
 
 Aged 15 years. 
 
 Wholesome as the soil she spkings feom." 
 
 (See p. 13 of Text.) 
 
 9 
 
Melitta Primavesi. Aged 12 years, 
 
 "A Jolly Toper." 
 
 (See p. 12 of Text) 
 
 10 
 
Trautel Konrad. Aged 16 years. 
 
 " A Nymph amid gay colours." 
 
 (See p. 1 1 of Text. J 
 11 
 
shouted with laughter, for, indeed, we suddenly all saw 
 the little man looking at us with a most impudent and 
 provocative expression. " Certainly, the impudent little 
 man wants to sell his apples, and get good prices for them 
 too. There is much humour in the picture, but is it quite 
 Autumn — Autumn who gives ever>i;hing to us so lavishly 
 without asking for anything in return ? 
 
 "Margarete's old woman is surely a truer Autumn — 
 she is old and bent because she has all the months of the 
 year on her back; see how she sniffs the winter from afar — 
 and how the cold wind blows her! Her dress is orange 
 and red — it has all the true colours of Autumn in it. (See 
 illustration p. 17.) 
 
 "And what about this little * Tanzmeister ' of Marie 
 Kind's — how rh\'thmically he moves, how beautiful he is 
 with his arms full of Autumn flowers and fruit." (The 
 little Tanzmeister is in truth an exquisite creation, perfect 
 in proportion, colour and fancy, and as rhythmical as the 
 words Tanzmeister can suggest.) (See illustration p. 8.) 
 
 " And here is a jolly toper with his barrels full of the 
 grapes that have been trodden in the winepress, and 
 already he is drinking a glass of the year's new wine, 
 and * er hat recht ' (the master's voice is full of zestful 
 approbation). (See illustration p. 10.) 
 
 "And here Vri,. Uhlmann has given us again 
 one of her elegant and fashionable creations. Behold 
 Madame Autumn walking towards us as it might be down 
 the Karntnerstrasse. 
 
 "And IVIartha Zehenter, though she has been in 
 Holland, has not been lost to us — she has painted, not one 
 of the Dutch children she found there, but one of our own 
 Niederosterreich maidens. And that is very important. 
 
 12 
 
for * man versteht das Heimatliche am besten * ; it is 
 right that we should have roots in our own soil, and that 
 we should paint the things we know and understand, rather 
 than strive after something exotic that we do not really 
 know or understand, {See illustration p. 5.) 
 
 *' Mad A Prima vESi has given us another splendid 
 peasant type. Look at her expression — wholesome as the 
 soil she springs from, sound as the apples in her baskets ! 
 And what splendid colour — like an orchestra of wind 
 instruments ! I am glad that Mada remembers the coimtry ; 
 that she hasn't forgotten the earth she belongs to — 
 this dear earth of ours, which gives us rich fruits and 
 wines, strong colour and joy in all our hearts. {Se^ 
 illustration p. 9.) 
 
 "HEiyENA Ki^AUNZNER has remembered. Here is one 
 of her strong Tyrolean women, monumental like her native 
 mountains. {See illustration p. 2.) 
 
 " And here is Herta Zuckermann who lamented all 
 the lesson that nothing would succeed for her to-day. She 
 has given us something incomplete, it is true, but full 
 of poetry — a child standing, raising her hand, with a 
 gesture most musical; a child who will, no doubt, be 
 painted and finished to-morrow, and yet it is almost 
 regrettable, she is so fresh and poetic and expressive just as 
 she is. {See frontispiece.) 
 
 " Trautei, Konrad has given us one of her own graceful 
 and delicate creations, a nymph amid gay colours, but 
 with a wind that is cold blowing at her. We are always 
 glad to see these creations of Trautel's and we are glad 
 to have her back sharing this joyful and merry hour with 
 us (' f reudevoUe, lustige Stunde'). {See illustration p. 11.) 
 
 ** Here is a man rushing ' geschwind, geschwind ' with 
 
 13 
 
Doris Gtinther. 
 
 Aged 13 years. 
 
 "The Indian Summer — the second Spring 
 that blossoms in the heart op autumn." 
 
 (See p. 7 of Text-) 
 
 14 
 
all the fruit he must bring to market, and the wild ducks 
 are flying above him just as I saw them last week at 
 Grinzing with the sun making them shine white, and a great 
 noise of wings. And no doubt the artist has seen them 
 flying like that, too. . . Richard has not yet learnt to give 
 us things he has felt and experienced. One must paint things 
 cherished in the heart, otherwise they are not interesting. 
 And his poor young Autumn in a bathing costume, he must 
 be so cold. 
 
 " Magda's old woman is picturesque and full of 
 character. It is true she is wrongly proportioned, but 
 Magda is quite right to make her just how she feels her." 
 
 So he passed from one to the other, and the delighted 
 children listened, hearing their own imaginations made 
 articulate, as it were, and their thoughts interpreted and 
 explained as they scarcely would have kno\Mi how to 
 explain them themselves. It was the children who had 
 trifled, because they had had nothing to express, or because 
 they had striven after some artificial effect from a memory 
 of some picture they had seen, who found their work 
 passed over without appreciation or encouraging comment. 
 
 No description of this lesson can give a full impression 
 of what it was. Cizek is evasive and cannot be quite 
 written down. But I felt, after I had attended it, that I 
 understood a great deal of his secret. He is not only 
 intensely an artist, he is also a keen and incisive critic. 
 But his criticisms have their root (as all true criticisms 
 should have) in understanding and sympathy. He is 
 gifted with a rare understanding and sympathy with the 
 child mind. The only thing that finds lack of response 
 from him is insincerity and artificiality. He is profoundly 
 sincere himself, and he demands it of his children. 
 
 15 
 
At the same time one feels, after seeing such a lesson, 
 that there is no reason why there shouldn't be groups 
 of happy children all over the world revealing the treasures 
 of their hearts and minds with the aid of a little charcoal 
 and paint. There is only one Cizek in the world, but 
 there are a number of art teachers who have both sincere 
 artistic sensibility and an understanding of children; 
 and to these the work of Professor Cizek and his class 
 will be an encouragement and inspiration. 
 
 Francksca M. WiIvSON. 
 
 16 
 
Margarete Hanus. 
 
 Aged If) years. 
 
 All IHE MONTHS OF THE YEAR ON HER BACK. 
 
 (See p. 12 of text.) 
 
 17 
 
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