THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

NEW YORK 19 I I WEST 53rd STREET

TELEPHONEt CIRCLE 5 - 8 9 0 0

C A B L E S : MODERN AR T, NEW-YORK

SENT TO NEW YORK TIMES AKD NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE MARCH 22, 1951

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SWEDISH CONSUL-GENERAL TO SEE SWEDISH

CHILDREN'S WORK AT MUSEUM

The H o n o r a b l e L e n n a r t N y l a n d e r , Swed i sh C o n s u l '

G e n e r a l , and a g r o u p of Swedish o f f i c i a l s w i l l

make a s p e c i a l t o u r of t h e c u r r e n t e x h i b i t i o n

WORK BY SWEDISH CHILDREN a t t h e Museum of

Modern A r t , 11 West 53 S t r e e t , on S a t u r d a y ,

March 2l\ a t 1 0 : 3 0 a .m. Mrs . Ebba Bockinan,

a r t t e a c h e r from S tockho lm who s e n t t h e

e x h i b i t i o n t o t h i s c o u n t r y ^ w i l l d i s c u s s t h e

c h i l d r e n ' s w o r k .

THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART PRESS PREVIEW: TUESDAY, II WIST 53 STREET, NEW YORK 19, N. Y. MARCH 1 3 ; 2 - 5 P.M.

TELEPHONE: CIRCLE 5 - 8 9 0 0

$10208 - 17 FOR RELEASE MARCH ll*, providing the statement is made that the exhibition opens to the public on March 19•

PAINTINGS BY SWEDISH CHILDREN SHOW FANTASY AND REALISM

Fifty-eight paintings, mostly watercolors, in an exhibition of WORK

BY SWEDISH CHILDREN will open to the public at the Museum of Modern

Art, 11 West 53 Street, on Monday, March 19, and will remain on view

in the Young Peopled Gallery on the second floor through May 20,

The pictures, characterized by an interest in detail and done on

a smaller scale than is customary in U.S. schools, were brought here

to acquaint American educators and parents with work from another

country. They are by children between the ages of 7 and l6 on three

topics: Animals - domestic, wild or fantastic; Travel - land, sea or

air; An Adventure - dangerous or pleasant, experienced or imagined.

Some of the adventure pictures might be called Dreams of Glory

or The Thrill That Comes Once in a Lifetime. In one, a little boy

precariously but successfully walks along the top of a picket fence

as two admiring friends watch; in another, a tightrope walker is all

alone in an empty, de Chirico-like street on a rope stretched between

the top floors of two tall,yellow-brown buildings.

In some pictures, adventure and travel, experience and imagination

have become completely intermingled. While some of the ships por­

trayed are ordinary craft - a boat with brown sails and a black

fishing net, or a sturdy red, white and blue steamer, others are

fantastic in line and color and are shown fighting terrible storms or

disembarking passengers who are climbing ladders to the sky. In one,

a deep sea diver is exploring a sunken ship and fighting off a

sneering octopus.

Several adventures depict covered wagons, cowboys and Indians,

those popular European subjects. Street accidents are a recurring

theme. Other topics are ba.ll games (one with the audience shown as

rows of little pink pumpkin faces suspended in space), apple picking

and stealing, a graveyard with smiling ghosts, buried treasure and

prehistoric animals.

This exhibition was arranged under the direction of Victor D'Amico, Director of the Department of Education. It will open In advance for members of the Committee on Art Education, who are assembling from all over the country for their 9th Annual Conference at the Museum, on March 15,and to the public on March 19.