"In the Swing" Silhouette and Poem

Higher! Higher!

Up I go!

Now the spire,

Which I know,

Goes to where

The sky is blue;

Seems no higher

Than I to you.

High! High!

See me fly!

Lower, lower,

Down I swing;

Slower, slower, 

On the wing,

Gently sailing

To and fro,

Almost failing

Now to go.

Low, low,

Slow, slow.

The Three Bears Silhouettes

The above silhouette is very old and it's creator is unknown.

       There are now two sets of bear silhouettes here. Both are based upon the fairytale "Goldilocks and The Three Bears."

Draw a Landscape Using Vincent Van Gogh's Drawing Technique

      Both of these art teachers taught the same lesson. However, they gave their students different mediums and papers. The students in one class used oil pastels on black paper and the students in the other classroom worked with magic markers on white drawing paper. In both instances, their art teachers taught them how to use short choppy marks to define space, color and landscape, just as Van Gogh did when he drew landscapes.

Drawing by Vincent Van Gogh

      Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter whose work, notable for its rough beauty, emotional honesty and bold color, had a far-reaching influence on 20th-century art. After years of painful anxiety and frequent bouts of mental illness, he died aged 37 from a gunshot wound, generally accepted to be self-inflicted (although no gun was ever found). His work was then known to only a handful of people and appreciated by fewer still.

      Van Gogh began to draw as a child, and he continued to draw throughout the years that led up to his decision to become an artist. He did not begin painting until his late twenties, completing many of his best-known works during the last two years of his life. In just over a decade, he produced more than 2,100 artworks, consisting of 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings, sketches and prints. His work included self portraits, landscapes, still lifes, portraits and paintings of cypresses, wheat fields and sunflowers.

      Van Gogh spent his early adulthood working for a firm of art dealers, traveling between The Hague, London and Paris, after which he taught for a time in England. One of his early aspirations was to become a pastor and from 1879 he worked as a missionary in a mining region in Belgium where he began to sketch people from the local community. In 1885, he painted his first major work The Potato Eaters. His palette at the time consisted mainly of somber earth tones and showed no sign of the vivid coloration that distinguished his later work. In March 1886, he moved to Paris and discovered the French Impressionists. Later, he moved to the south of France and was influenced by the strong sunlight he found there. His work grew brighter in color, and he developed the unique and highly recognizable style that became fully realized during his stay in Arles in 1888.

      The extent to which his mental health affected his painting has been a subject of speculation since his death. Despite a widespread tendency to romanticize his ill health, modern critics see an artist deeply frustrated by the inactivity and incoherence brought about by his bouts of illness. According to art critic Robert Hughes, Van Gogh's late works show an artist at the height of his ability, completely in control and "longing for concision and grace". Read more . . .

• Recent news about Vincent Van Gogh
• Vincent van Gogh Gallery. The complete works and letters of Vincent van Gogh.
• Van Gogh Letters – The complete letters of Van Gogh, translated into English and annotated. Published by the Van Gogh Museum.
• Johanna Gesina van Gogh-Bonger, Memoir of Vincent van Gogh
• Memoir of Vincent van Gogh. By Johanna Gesina van Gogh-Bonger, Vincent's sister in law.
• Van Gogh's Letters, unabridged and annotated.
• Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
• Vincent van Gogh at the Museum of Modern Art
• Works by or about Vincent van Gogh in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Van Gogh at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., United States.
• Painted with Words: Vincent van Gogh's Letters to Emile Bernard – Facsimiles at The Morgan Library & Museum
• Union List of Artist Names, Getty Vocabularies. ULAN Full Record Display for Vincent Van Gogh. Getty Vocabulary Program, Getty Research Institute. Los Angeles, California.

Draw Mardi Gras Performers

      Draw a Mardi Gras street performer or parade participant then add some glitter and feathers and presto chango you've got a terrific celebration for your school's hallway!

Jack and Jill Silhouette

A silhouette pattern of Jack and Jill, rudimentary and charming.

Tangram Cats

      If more than one set of tangrams is used to make a single figure, the combinations are almost endless, but one set to each figure is the rule. Sam Lloyd, the famous puzzle man, managed to get some very fair representations of animals with them. Here are some of his ideas of what cats look like:

      Perhaps with this much of a hint, you will be able to arrange these little black forms so as to resemble a horse or a dog. To make a fox, with its sharp ears, something like a cat's should not be difficult. If you happen to get some outlines that you think are very good, Send us a link and let other youngsters have a look at them.

      Here are two more of Sam Lloyd's cats, which might be entitled "Before and after drinking:

"Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines"

Traian Vuia

      "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes" is a 1965 British comedy film starring Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles and James Fox, directed and co-written by Ken Annakin.

      Based on a screenplay titled Flying Crazy, the fictional account is set in 1910, when Lord Rawnsley, an English press magnate, offers £10,000 to the winner of the Daily Post air race from London to Paris, to prove that Britain is "number one in the air".

      In 1910, just a few years after the first heavier-than-air flight, aircraft are fragile and unreliable contraptions, piloted by "intrepid birdmen". Ardent suffragette Patricia Rawnsley (Sarah Miles), the daughter of Lord Rawnsley (Robert Morley), a newspaper magnate, strives to become an aviatrix. Aviator Richard Mays (James Fox), a young Army officer, and (at least in his own eyes) Patricia's fiance, conceives the idea of an air race from London to Paris, to advance the cause of aviation (and his career), and persuades Lord Rawnsley to sponsor the race.

      Rawnsley complains: "The trouble with these international affairs is they attract a lot of foreigners." Most of the contestants live up to national stereotypes, including the by-the-book, monocle-wearing Prussian officer (Gert Fröbe), impetuous Count Emilio Ponticelli (Alberto Sordi) whose test flights wreck one aircraft after another and amorous Frenchman Pierre Dubois (Jean-Pierre Cassel). In a recurring gag (suggested by Zanuck), Irina Demick plays a series of flirts: first, Brigitte (French), Marlene (German), Ingrid (Swedish), Françoise (Belgian), Yvette (Bulgarian), and Betty (British), pursued by the French pilot. Yujiro Ishihara is the late-arriving Japanese naval officer Yamamoto, whose perfect Etonian accent makes him sound more British than the British.

      Echoing the rivalries between their respective nations, the contestants are pitted in an aerial competition that deteriorates into a ridiculous balloon duel between the German and French teams, and the nefarious actions of baronet Sir Percy Ware-Armitage (Terry-Thomas), an unscrupulous rogue who "never leaves anything to chance." With his bullied servant Courtney (Eric Sykes), he sabotages other aircraft or drugs their pilots, and cheats by shipping his aeroplane across the channel by boat. More complications occur when the rugged American cowboy Orvil Newton (Stuart Whitman) falls for Patricia, forming a love triangle with her and Mays.

      Fourteen competitors set out, but, one by one, they drop out or (like Ware-Armitage) crash, until only a few land in Paris. Newton loses his chance to win when he pauses to rescue Ponticelli from his burning aircraft. Mays wins for Britain, but insists on a tie with Newton and shares the prize with the now-penniless American. Orvil's and Patricia's final kiss is interrupted by a strange noise. Those at the flying field look up to see a flypast by six English Electric Lightning jet fighters overhead as the time period reverts to the "present" (1965). Read more . . .

YouTube Movies

Find The Film:

• Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines at the Internet Movie Database
• Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines at the TCM Movie Database
• Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines at AllRovi
• Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines at Rotten Tomatoes

Pattern for Stamp box in Pyrography

This little shamrock pattern appeared in "The St. Paul Globe, Sunday, April 17, 1904.

A newspaper clipping of an early pattern for pyrography in 1904.

"Can you suggest a pretty birthday gift, one that I can make myself, for a friend whose anniversary occurs in the month of March?" writes a girl reader.

      In answer she will find the picture of a charming little pyrographed case for postage stamps or other uses--and the pattern, exact size, to be followed in making it.

      A box of the proper size can be secured anywhere where pyrographic supplies, etc., are on sale.

      Transfer the pattern given to the lid of the box, and scorch it in with delicate lines.

      The first step is to tint your box all over, using water colors.

      Commence by washing the wood with a very thin wash of burnt sienna.

      On this, before it is perfectly dry, let fall drops of very liquid pale green.

      Now, put it aside to dry, leaving it to chance to work out a good effect by the mingling of these two colors. 

      When perfectly dry put in the foliage which decorates the corners with a warm green.

      A rich pink is used for the little roses in the corners and for the petals of the eglantine, which forms the center of the the design. It is now complete, save for a light coat of varnish.

The original shamrock and roses pattern, 1904, for pyrography projects for those of you who would like to reproduce it.

Tangram Stencil

       One of the oldest and most fascinating puzzles comes, like so many quaint things, from the Far East where, over four thousand years ago, a learned Chinese man named, Tan, made the invention which forty centuries have been unable to improve or alter. Worthy of a civilization that invented Chess, Tan's puzzle has lived on unchanged through the ages, affording amusement and thought to men of such ability as Napoleon, who during his exile on St. Helena, used to spend hour after hour with the little black geometric figures.

        Print cut and trace around the Tangram pattern below using sharp scissors and black craft paper. Now you will be ready to assemble the Tangram figures below.

Tangrams, a recreation that appears to be at least four thousand years old, has apparently never been dormant,
 and has not been altered or "improved upon" since the original was first cut out the seven pieces shown above
 in diagram 1. If you mark the point B, midway between A. and C., on one side of a square of any size,
 and D, midway between C. and E., on an adjoining side, the direction of the cuts is too obvious to need
 further explanation.

       All these seven pieces must be fitted against each other, never overlapping, in order to make the figures of men, beasts, houses, or the like.

Where does the second man get his foot from?

The cocked hat puzzle with answer on the right.

Lady holding her skirts high puzzle and answer.

The representation of a depressed cat puzzle and it's answer.

The gentleman tired of life puzzle and it's answer.

Tan presenting a puzzle to his wife, answer just right.

Chinese tea set made from Tangrams

What Are Tangrams?

The 'Tangram Story'

      The tangram (Chinese: 七巧板; pinyin: qī qiǎo bǎn; literally "seven boards of skill") is a dissection puzzle. consistes of seven flat shapes, called tans, which are put together to form shapes. The objective of the puzzle is to form a specific shape (given only an outline or silhouette) using all seven pieces, which may not overlap. It was originally invented in China at some unknown point in history, and then carried over to Europe by trading ships in the early 19th century. It became very popular in Europe for a time then, and then again during World War I. It is one of the most popular dissection puzzles in the world.

      The tangram had already been around in China for a long time when it was first brought to America by Captain M. Donnaldson, on his ship, Trader, in 1815. When it docked in Canton, the captain was given a pair of Sang-hsia-k'o's Tangram books from 1815.They were then brought with the ship to Philadelphia, where it docked in February 1816. The first Tangram book to be published in America was based on the pair brought by Donnaldson.

      The puzzle was originally popularized by The Eighth Book Of Tan, a fictitious history of Tangram, which claimed that the game was invented 4,000 years prior by a god named Tan. The book included 700 shapes, some of which are impossible to solve.

      The puzzle eventually reached England, where it became very fashionable indeed. The craze quickly spread to other European countries. This was mostly due to a pair of British Tangram books, The Fashionable Chinese Puzzle, and the accompanying solution book, Key.Soon, tangram sets were being exported in great number from China, made of various materials, from glass, to wood, to tortoise shell.

      Many of these unusual and exquisite tangram sets made their way to Denmark. Danish interest in tangrams skyrocketed around 1818, when two books on the puzzle were published, to much enthusiasm. The first of these was Mandarinen (About the Chinese Game). This was written by a student at Copenhagen University, which was a non-fictional work about the history and popularity of tangrams. The second, Det nye chinesiske Gaadespil (The new Chinese Puzzle Game), consisted of 339 puzzles copied from The 8th Book of Tan, as well as one original.

      One contributing factor in the popularity of the game in Europe was that although the Catholic Church forbade many forms of recreation on the sabbath, they made no objection to puzzle games such as the tangram.

      Tangrams were first introduced to the German public by industrialist Friedrich Adolf Richter around 1891. The sets were made out of stone or false earthenware, and marketed under the name "The Anchor Puzzle".

      More internationally, the First World War saw a great resurgence of interest in Tangrams, on the homefront and trenches of both sides. During this time, it occasionally went under the name of "The Sphinx", an alternate title for the "Anchor Puzzle" sets.

      The number is finite, however. Fu Traing Wang and Chuan-Chin Hsiung proved in 1942 that there are only thirteen convex tangram configurations (configurations such that a line segment drawn between any two points on the configuration's edge always pass through the configuration's interior, i.e., configurations with no recesses in the outline).

 

More Tangram Resources:

• Tangram worksheets by I.D.E.A.S.
• "Tangram" by Enrique Zeleny, Wolfram Demonstrations Project
• "New Tangram paradoxes" by Gianni A. Sarcone, Archimedes Laboratory Project

100 Dr. Seuss Resources

      Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist most widely known for children's picture books written and illustrated as Dr. Seuss. He had used the pen name Dr. Theophrastus Seuss in college and later used Theo LeSieg, and once Rosetta Stone, as well as Dr. Seuss.
      Geisel published 46 children's books, often characterized by imaginative characters, rhyme, and frequent use of anapestic meter. His most celebrated books include the bestselling Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Horton Hatches the Egg, Horton Hears a Who!, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!.
       Numerous adaptations of his work have been created, including 11 television specials, four feature films, a Broadway musical and four television series. He won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958 for Horton Hatches the Egg and again in 1961 for And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. Geisel also worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns, most notably for Flit and Standard Oil, and as a political cartoonist for PM, a New York City newspaper. During World War II, he worked in an animation department of the United States Army, where he wrote Design for Death, a film that later won the 1947 Academy Award for Documentary Feature. Read more . . .

1. Seussville site Random House
2. Dr. Seuss biography on Lambiek Comiclopedia
3. The Advertising Artwork of Dr. Seuss
4. Dr. Seuss / Theodor Geisel artwork can be viewed at American Art Archives web site
5. Register of the Dr. Seuss Collection, UC San Diego
6. Dr. Seuss Official Channel for Kids at YouTube
7. Dr. Seuss Inspiration for The Classroom Pinboard
8. Seuss Landing at Universal Studios and a Review
9. Dr. Seuss Museum in Springfield MA
10. YouTube video of Seuss Landing Tour
11. Survive 12 Hours at Seuss Landing YouTube Video
12. A Video Tour of Seuss Museum in Springfield, MA
13. The Grinch Stole Christmas trailer for modern film here, and the cartoon one here...

About Dr. Seuss and Video:

1. Dr. Seuss: Rhymes and Reasons Video: * part one * part two * part three * part four * part five * part six * part seven * part eight * part nine
2. Dr. Seuss' The Sneetches Video
3. Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears A Who Video, Part One and Part Two
4. Seussville site Random House
5. Dr. Seuss biography on Lambiek Comiclopedia
6. Dr. Seuss Went to War: A Catalog of Political Cartoons by Dr. Seuss
7. The Advertising Artwork of Dr. Seuss
8. The Register of Dr. Seuss Collection UC San Diego
9. Eugene Hotchkiss III (Spring 2004). "Dr. Seuss Keeps Me Guessing: A Commencement story by President Emeritus Eugene Hotchkiss III". lakeforest.edu. Archived from the original on August 14, 2004. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
10. Dr. Seuss / Theodor Geisel artwork can be viewed at American Art Archives web site
11. Dr. Seuss at the Internet Movie Database
12. Dr. Seuss for Kids - learn his history and about his stories

Dr. Seuss Lesson Plans & Activities:

1. Lessons: The Lorax
2. Dr. Seuss at The Virtual Vine
3. Bartholomew and the Oobleck
4. You've Got A Wocket Where?
5. Meeting and Reading Dr. Seuss
6. Teaching With Favorite Dr. Seuss Books
7. 10 Apples Up On Top
8. Dr. Seuss Themes for Preschool 

Dr. Seuss Organizers, Printable Worksheets & Coloring Pages:

1. Free Dr. Seuss Printable Activities from raymondgeddes.com
2. Free Printables to Use With Dr. Seuss by Leap of Faith Crafting
3. Dr. Seuss Printables by Readbrightly.com
4. Do You Like Green Eggs & Ham?
5. Super Teacher Worksheet Collection for Dr. Seuss here...
6. Dr. Seuss Coloring Pages

Games About Dr. Seuss Characters:

1. Activities & Games from Random House
2. Ring Toss Gack 
3. Dr. Seuss Photo Booth 
4. Color by Number Dr. Seuss by madewithhappy

Seuss Sings to Kids:

1. Dr. Seuss sings the 50 United States
2. Wes Tank Raps Seuss Playlist
3. "Mr. Brown Can Moo" Sing-Along with texts
4. Dr. Seuss's ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book Song

Free Digital Downloads for Dr. Seuss Learning:

1. Green Eggs and Ham by Mama's Bilingual Play-School 
2. Free coloring pages for early learners from Maritza Good Idea
3. Free Printable Seuss Jokes by artsyfartsymama.com

Dr. Seuss Party Ideas:

1. D.I.Y. Truffula Tree by Caffie Mincey
2. How to throw a very Grinchy Christmas Party
3. Cat In The Hat Birthday Party Ideas by LeeLaaLoo
4. Dr. Seuss Baby Shower 
5. Dr. Seuss Activities for Kids 
6. Dr. Seuss Birthday Sign Project Here by MamaMittens
7. DIY Dr. Seuss Party Hat by Mrs. Approved
8. Paper Balloons for Dr. Seuss Party by Paula Biggs
9. My Life as MaMa: It's The Cat in The Hat
10. Cat in The Hat Birthday Ideas
    
11. Cat in The Hat Cupcake Ideas by Johana CaudiG's Recipes, Tutorials and Vlogs

Dr. Seuss Crafts:  

1. Handprint Cards Thing 1 and Thing 2
2. Egg Carton Turtle Craft 
3. Dr. Seuss preschool craft and free printables by meandmyinklings.com
4. The Cat in the Hat craft by Rebecca 
5. Dr. Seuss Creations: Tizzled Topped Tufted Mazurkas 
6. Cat in The Hat Portraits 
7. Horton Hears a Who Hat
8. Make a Fox in Socks Tweetle Beetle Battle Bottle
9. Make your own foot book
10. Thing Pencils
11. Library Card Frame 
12. Cat in the Hat Hats/Puppets from toilet paper rolls 
13. The Cat in the Hat Pasta Puppet

Dr. Seuss Sweets and Recipes:

1. Two Plus Jilly: Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! 
2. Dr. Seuss marshmallows 
3. Muffin Tin Monday: Yertle The Turtle 
4. Yertle The Turtle fruit bowl 
5. The Lorax Bento 
6. Green Eggs and Ham Cake 
7. Dr. Seuss Cookies 

Dr. Seuss for The Classroom Bulletin Board etc...

1. Birthday quote, Cat's hat
2. 10 Facts About Dr. Seuss Books 
3. Classroom crafts about Yertle the Turtle 
4. Truffula Tress for the Classroom
5. Seussville directional signs 
6. Thing 1 and Thing 2 Corner Plus Cabinet 
7. Horton Hears a Who Door
8. Dr. Seuss Inspired Reading Chart 

Buster Brown Silent Films

The above silent film is of Buster Brown in 1904, "Buster and Tige Put a Balloon Vender Out of Business."

More films:

• Buster Brown and Dude
• Buster Brown Makes Room for his Mama at the Bargain Counter
• Buster Brown's Revenge on the Tramp
• Buster Brown's Dog to the Rescue

The Buster Brown Musical Comedy

      In 1905, a play was performed on Broadway at the Majestic titled Buster Brown. It starred a 21-year-old adult dwarf actor named Master Gabriel (1882–?), born Gabriel Weigel. Photos of Master Gabriel in the role show him very convincing as a child. Gabriel appeared in another children's oriented play in 1908 Little Nemo and a return engagement as Buster Brown in 1913. It also featured famous animal actor George Ali as Tige.

      This musical comedy played and toured the country for many years afterwards. The characters in "Buster Brown" changed throughout it performances many times. Buster Brown for instance, was also played by two other dwarf actors, Master Jimmie Rosen, and Master Rice and Maser Helton who was an actual child actor played Buster in the winter of 1906 in Los Angeles.

Good Attraction at The Grand

"Jack" Bell as "Tige"in Buster
Brown at the Grand in 1908. 

      R. F. Outcault's cartoon comedy, 'Buster Brown," will be the attraction at the Grand theatre all next week, commencing Sunday evening, March 1rst, with matinees Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. 

      "Buster" is too well known to the public to need explanation as to the character of the play; suffice it to say that the best of the many escapades in which "Buster," and "Tige" and "Mary Jane" have figured in the comic supplements of newspapers, have been selected, and so joined together by cleverly written dialogue that a comedy of unusual merit has been evolved. Twenty new song hits, the Bobby Burns Brigade, the Hughes Musical Trio, and a singing , dancing chorus of 25 pretty girls, are only a few of the features of this production. Buster Brown has been seen by millions, and the high standard of the attraction having been kept up, it will be seen and highly appreciated by many more. Goodwins weekly, 1908

"Buster Brown"

Buster, Tige and Mary Jane, in "Buster Brown
at the Grand Theatre."

      The ever-welcome "Buster Brown" will be at the Grand theatre, with matinees Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, for one week commencing tonight. Since musical comedies first became popular none has ever been given great patronage than Mr. Outcault's play. The impression prevailed for some time that "Buster Brown" was an entertainment designed for the amusement of children only, but the error o f this was discovered and the grown-ups now comprise a very considerable part of "Buster's" patrons. They have found that it contains all that combines to make a musical comedies successful. It is full of bright, snappy dialogue that makes it always interesting. Its musical numbers are all new and of the character that will cause those inclined to humor whistle to keep busy for a while. The music is of the jingly sort, that is always a feature of productions of this sort, but with "Buster" it is even a greater feature than is si with any other current musical comedy. That this is a fact is largely due to the effective manner in which a large chorus is employed. Another quality, and a very essential oe to the success of all in which the chorus figures, is what is commonly termed ginger. Or this very desirable element "Buster Brown" has a superabundance, as is amply attested to by the audience in its insistence on repetitions of all numbers in which the chorus participates. Some of the numbers for which the audience have shown their appreciation are "Won't You Be My Baby Boy," "Old Bill Oliver," "I Won't Play Unless You Coax Me," "Rosebud," "I Couldn't Make a Hit With Suzie," and a new "Buster Brown" song. An added feature this season is the celebrated Hughes musical trio. Salt Lake Herald, 1908

Buster Brown Girls in Gay New York at The Bijou This Week.

More clippings from newspapers

"Grand-Commencing with today's matinee, "Buster Brown," the boy hero of the Sunday comic papers, aided and abetted by the faithful Tige, repeat the laughable stunts that have made him famous all round the world and have incidentally made a fortune for his creator. Buster is, of course, accompanied by parents, relatives and all the familiar friends-and then some. Maser Helton is the latest actor to appear as Buster and at the same time the youngest. Buster has hitherto been played by a man, but Helton is a "real boy." Tige is the same Tige that was Tige last year and ma is the same ma, but pa and the policeman and almost all the other members of the company have not been seen here in the parts before. There is a chorus of forty and all the girls are guaranteed to be pretty, young, clever dancers and good singers." Lost Angeles Herald, 1906

Times Dispatch: Richmond, Va., February 11, 1906

      Now, boys and girls, likewise parents, "Master Gabriel," the most talented toy comedian, will make things lively at the Academy on Wednesday, matinee and night. In the latest musical extravaganza, "Buster Brown," this little "bunch of flesh" make his audience quiver with laughter, while his side-splitting partner, "Tige" (his dog) is every ready to assist in mirth-provoking mischievousness. How delightfully pleasing it is to be able to witness a musical play, youthfully pure in every way, and at the same time entertaining to both old and young. There is not a company on the road today, with more beautiful and accomplished lady vocalists than the "Buster Brown Company" possesses. The male members are equally as strong vocally, as the female members, making in all a chorus of voices seldom heard in the most elaborate musical productions of to-day.

      Master Gabriel, though a midgit, is proportioned exactly and perfectly as a four or five-year-old child. He is twenty-one years old, but to see him on the stage, one would not think him other than the real thing-the real "Buster Brown" of comedy life, he and his wonderfully clever dog, "Tige," that did not want to be a "mad dog," nor what is more, "kiss grandma," even to pleas his master, because he did not like her looks, nor her temper. These two are enough for a whole evening's merriment, but when other good things are thrown in, such as a little of vaudeville, farce, musical comedy, newest songs, pretty girls, fine drills, etc... then one has more than the worth of his money.

"Rice plays the part
of Buster, and is admirably suited
to it. He is 22 years old, but is a
child in size, and he romps through
his work with the innocence of a
boy and the intelligence of a well-
seasoned actor." Arthur Hill plays
opposite him as Tige.

      George All, who takes the part of "Tige," is very clever. If there ever was a man who grew into the skin of a sagacious brindle pup more perfectly than he, it has never been known, This make-believe "pup" is about the funniest "made" article that ever came over the pike. He is  warranted to cure a chronic case of the blues. His muzzle is more doggish than his original of the cartoon drawing; in fact, he affects a great deal of "dog" in all his actions. He has a wicked eye, which he rolls ominously at "dear grandma," and when she appears in his proximity his teeth show very dangerously. He is quite as much an actor as 'Buster." He can play "mad dog," "Scotch collie" (where he delights in his plaid and cap for a show occasion), and in general protection of the place; in fact any child might be happy in the possession of such a sagacious and humorous beast.

      On the whole, the present offering is far more successful than the general run of dramatizations in that it pleases young and old alike.

      This is positively the same company that appeared at the Academy last season and scored such a big hit.

Buster Brown played by Harold West, 1911.

Paint a Britto Inspired Vase of Flowers

      Romero Britto (6 October 1963) is a contemporary Brazilian-American Neo-pop artist, painter, serigrapher, and sculptor. He combines elements of cubism, pop art and graffiti painting in his work. Britto has lived in Miami, Florida since 1989. His paintings inspire countless elementary school children in the United States. This is primarily because his subjects are fun and simple and his patterned, colorful surfaces are certainly easy to emulate if you are young and enthusiastic for art! I've included below a couple of bright, still life paintings that hung in a local school art exhibit this spring. These second grade students looked at Britto's imaginative artworks and painted a few of their own based upon his vision.

Child artworks inspired by Romero Britto.

Visit Romero Britto's studio here.

A Complimentary Colored Cubism

A simple complimentary colored cubism project for
 young art students, ideal for students fourth grade
and up.

      Arrange in the center of the classroom a still life that may be viewed in the round. This will enable students to draw it from a wide variety of perspectives. Students should draw their ideas lightly on a heavy piece of white drawing paper with a pencil before deciding upon a design. Encourage your students to walk around the still life and draw parts of it from different view points. Have them draw the elements simply, with basic geometric shapes. After the drawings are done, hand out colored pencils or watercolor trays for the addition of color and pattern. If you wish, you may insist that students choose complimentary colors to complete the assignment. This additional condition helps teachers meet with required standards that teach color combinations from the color wheel.  

      Cubism comes in three stylized types: Protocubism, Analytical Cubism and Synthetical Cubism.

      Protocubism was an intermediary transition phase in the history of art chronologically extending from 1904 to 1910. Evidence suggests that the production of proto-Cubist paintings resulted from a wide-ranging series of experiments, circumstances, influences and conditions, rather than from one isolated static event, trajectory, artist or discourse. With its roots stemming from at least the late 19th century this period can be characterized by a move towards the radical geometrization of form and a reduction or limitation of the color palette (in comparison with Fauvism). It is essentially the first experimental and exploratory phase of an art movement that would become altogether more extreme, known from the spring of 1911 as Cubism.

      Proto-Cubist artworks typically depict objects in geometric schemas of cubic or conic shapes. The illusion of classical perspective is progressively stripped away from objective representation to reveal the constructive essence of the physical world (not just as seen). The term is applied not only to works of this period by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, but to a range of art produced in France during the early 1900s, by such artists as Jean Metzinger, Albert Gleizes, Henri le Fauconnier, Robert Delaunay, and to variants developed elsewhere in Europe. Proto-Cubist works embrace many disparate styles, and would affect diverse individuals, groups and movements, ultimately forming a fundamental stage in the history of Modern art of the 20th-century.

The synthetical style which developed
out of the two former styles was
characterized by the use of collaged
elements and a looser interpretation
 of the elements being portrayed.
The elements became flatter and
more abstract.

      The term Cubism did not come into general usage until 1911, mainly with reference to Metzinger, Gleizes, Delaunay, and Léger. In 1911, the poet and critic Guillaume Apollinaire accepted the term on behalf of a group of artists invited to exhibit at the Brussels Indépendants. The following year, in preparation for the Salon de la Section d'Or, Metzinger and Gleizes wrote and published Du "Cubisme" in an effort to dispel the confusion raging around the word, and as a major defence of Cubism (which had caused a public scandal following the 1911 Salon des Indépendants and the 1912 Salon d'Automne in Paris). Clarifying their aims as artists, this work was the first theoretical treatise on Cubism and it still remains the clearest and most intelligible. The result, not solely a collaboration between its two authors, reflected discussions by the circle of artists who met in Puteaux and Courbevoie. It mirrored the attitudes of the "artists of Passy", which included Picabia and the Duchamp brothers, to whom sections of it were read prior to publication. The concept developed in Du "Cubisme" of observing a subject from different points in space and time simultaneously, i.e., the act of moving around an object to seize it from several successive angles fused into a single image ('multiple viewpoints' or 'mobile perspective'), is now a generally recognized phenomenon of the Cubist style.

The analytical cubism
describes painted elements
with faceted shapes and was
 most usually painted in
monochromatic colors.

      Analytic cubism (1909–1912) is a style of painting Picasso developed along with Georges Braque using monochrome brownish and neutral colors. Both artists took apart objects and "analyzed" them in terms of their shapes. Picasso and Braque’s paintings at this time have many similarities. Synthetic cubism (1912–1919) was a further development of the genre, in which cut paper fragments – often wallpaper or portions of newspaper pages – were pasted into compositions, marking the first use of collage in fine art.

More Art Lessons About Cubism:

Cubist Still-life: Hong Wen School
My Cultural Heritage Cubist Portrait Lesson
Cubist Drawings