Childhood Of The Art Historian, parts 432 - 435

Richard Britell

432. My art teacher was very impressed with my color acuity, but she did not think I could ever be an artist, saying, "Albert, you draw like a six year old, but your skill with color could be very useful if you decided to be an art critic, or perhaps an art historian.

433. Don't you sometimes wish you could go back in time and reprimand your old teachers who years ago gave you stupid advice that turned out not only to be wrong, but disastrous.

434. That is what I would like to do, go back in time and tell my old art teacher that you don't have to draw to be able to be an artist, on the contrary, being able to draw is a positive detriment. Could Jackson Pollock draw? If he had been able to draw like the old masters would he ever have done his paintings.

435. Just picture little Jackson Pollock in grade school and his teachers are hovering over him and saying, "Oh Jackson your drawings are so beautiful, just like Michelangelo."  And then they would get him to read Vasari's biography  of Giotto.