Excerpt from Talks on Sculpture

In pursuing her work, Miss Brinkhaus has always used sculpture, not because she does not believe in pictures, but because she believes in teaching the child the beautiful in form. Commenting on the plan, one of the members of the Chicago Board of Education, a lady who had made a special study of art in the best schools of Europe, said: The presence and the study of sculpture in the schools, not only develops the artistic sense of the pupils and refines their ideals and instincts, but also has a power to impart psychologic insight. When I was in the Paris schools, we were impressed with the fact that the expression of character was the first and most important thing in the study of sculpture. In gazing on the outlines of the sculptured face the young child gradually grows into an understanding of the emotions which are there given form, and thus learns a valuable lesson in the reading of human character.

The following is an abstract from a letter received by the Chicago Record Herald from a well-known person in Chicago.

Aside from the great historical value, there is another value still greater those weary, overworked young minds taxed to their very utmost in the comprehension of dull studies (for many seem dull to the struggling young mind) all rise as though one, and with an actual cry of joy, seize a study they can grasp, for its beauty has entered through their eyesight, and not through weary words coming to tired brains.

And its mission will be proven in the child's later work. At last they know why many studies must be mastered if they ever are to be proficient in one.

The child who has grasped the mathematics and grammar of art can never degenerate from the principles of truth and sincerity in his own life's work, no matter what work it is.

In connection with the many weeks of work in Chicago, Miss Brinkhaus had the good fortune to persuade Lorado Taft, Chicago's most distinguished sculp tor, to write a series of articles on sculpture. He was asked to write them in a way interesting for children, not above their heads, and yet old enough for the grown-ups. Mr. Taft was given a list of fifty Or more subjects of the casts given by the Chicago record-herald to' the schools of Chicago. Pressure of work did not permit him to write more than twenty-five articles, and these appeared from time to time in the Chicago record-herald, earning the well-deserved praise of old and young.

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