In the more complete retrospectives, you may find a corner given over to drawings the artist did as a child. Typically, they will show ships, soldiers and, especially, horses. Pictures by someone who even at seven or eight was able to get things looking right bring back memories of the children in your class who were 'good at art'. I was seven years and three months old when, in July 1944, my parents carefully dated the painting shown here. We who could do a better than average horse, tank, pretty woman or pony often stuck to just one of those. The talent shown by the 'good at art' was, like the interest which engendered it, commonly specific.

LRB 9 October 2003 | PDF Download