Herbert Read on Education through Art

Author(s): John S. Keel

Source: Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Oct., 1969), pp. 47-58
Published by: University of Illinois Press
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HerbertRead on EducationThroughArt
JOHN S. KEEL

HerbertRead is perhapsthe most thoroughand helpful scholarof our age

to considerat lengththe place of art in societyand the task art educationhas
to tackle. Like such men as Gibbs in the sciences,Frank Lloyd Wright in
architecture,Deweyin philosophy,he producesso lavishly,extendsour powers
of concentrationand understandingso greatly, that it will take us time to
catch up to and to implementthe majorresultsof his labors.
FrederickLogan
On modest estimate, Sir Herbert Read (1893-1968) may be regarded as
one of the remarkablyversatile and penetrating minds of his generation
in England. As poet, prose stylist, editor, literary critic, and one of the
world's leading writers on the visual arts, Read eloquently dealt with the
possibilitiesof the creative arts as fundamental modes of human development and advocated a system of aesthetic education. His study, Education Through Art (1943), has become an international classic on the
theory and practice of art education, and its title has sounded a rousing
theme for the work of art teachers around the world. It was in this work
that Read stated his fundamental thesis: ". . . art should be the basis of

education.... The aim of education is the creation of artists- of people

efficient in the variousmodes of expression."'
Read's writings,viewed as a whole, take on the proportionsof a theory
of general education in which art - creative aesthetic activity - becomes
the core of the curriculum and the focus of educational work.2 His
S. KEEL is Associate Professor of Art Education at San Francisco State
College. He has written several articles on Herbert Read and on the history
of art education. He is also Book Review Editor for the journal Etc.
'Education Through Art, 3rd ed. rev. (London: Faber and Faber, 1958),
pp.2 1, 11.
See John S. Keel, "The Writings of Sir Herbert Read and Their Curricular
Implications- the Aesthetic Education of Man" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of WisconsinLibrary,Madison, 1959).
JOHN

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48

JOHN S. KEEL

argument is no simple proposal for an education in art or for the place

of art in education but rather, as he wrote in The Redemption of the
Robot (1966), "Art ... is a way of education- not so much a subject
to be taught as a method of teaching any and all subjects."3 In his concept of art, Read includes not only the visual arts but also music, drama,
dance, literature, and even scholarship that is raised to the level of intensity of artistic creation. In this collection of essayson education, which
he indicated as "my life's work," Read attempted to show that the whole
development of a child might be built on sequences of aesthetic and
creative experiences. He argued that there was not a subject "from
arithmetic to calculus, from nature study to theoretical biology, from the
writing of poetry to metaphysics"that could not be acquired creatively
and aesthetically in activities akin to the arts.4 Art, in Read's sense, becomes a means of acquiring important knowledge and skills, of developing morality and a sense of community, and most importantly,of achieving self-actualizationand individual freedom. His attitude seems to be
summed up in the concluding chapter of Icon and Idea (1955):
Anxiousas we rightlyare in this age of technologyto sustainthe greattradition of liberalculture,we shouldneverthelessmakesurethat we do not in the
processmuddywith eruditionand vain learningthose crystalfountainsfrom
which flow our most essentialcreativeenergies. Those fountainsare bedded
in the humanframe;they are the unpollutedriversof perceptionand imagination. Educationshould thereforebe conceivedas primarilya cultivationof
thesesensuousactivities,as aestheticeducation.5
But while thus proposinga wide-ranging and general form of aesthetic
education, most of Read's efforts to articulate the explicit meanings of
his concept of education through art have been made in relation to education in the visual arts, i.e., the field of "art education."6 Although there
are instances of his concern for the specifics of teaching the writing of
poetry and the appreciation of literature,7the overwhelming part of his
educational writing was directed to audiences of art teachers. Although
calling for a thorough revision of the educational system, he seemed also
to imply that teachers of art might work within the present system,
applying the principles of aesthetic education in their own classes and
exploring their wider and deeper possibilities in the ongoing teaching
Redemption of the Robot (New York: Trident Press, 1966), p. 8.
4Ibid., p. 115.
Icon and Idea (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1955), pp.
138-39.
6 See "The Future of Art Education," Art Education, Vol. 9 (January 1956),
7-11.
'See Read's This Way Delight (New York: Pantheon, 1956) and "The
Method That Kills," The Listener, Vol. 45 (June 21, 1951), 1013-14.

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HERBERT
READON EDUCATION
ART
THROUGH

49

process of the art education studios. There is always the implication in

Read's writings that the art teacher must serve as an exemplar and
pioneer and that the practices worked out in the art studio might be
gradually extended to the educational system as a whole. "The ideal
may be manifested only imperfectly and intermittently, but nevertheless the only rational activity in which we can engage, and which can
justify our existence, is to strive daily to make the ideal an actuality."8
TOWARDEDUCATION
THROUGH
ART

In one of his first formulations on aesthetic education, his inaugural

lecture as Professorof Art at the University of Edinburgh (1931), Read
dealt mainly with the problems of teaching art history and appreciation
at the university level.9 In Art and Industry (1934), he advocated an
education of the senses that was necessary for the citizen and consumer
in an industrializedand technological society. He indicated the usefulness
of the methods of the Bauhaus and teaching techniques developed by
Marion Richardson. In Art and Society (1937), Read began to stress
the importance of expressiveactivity as a means of giving play to instincts
and unconsciousenergiesat work in the nervous system. Thus by gradual
steps his attention moved from a focus on appreciation to an emphasis
on the creative aspects of art education. In The Redemption of the
Robot he wrote:
This is my credo: that the perfectionof art must arise from its practicefromthe disciplineof toolsand materials,of formand function. I believethat
it is a mistaketo define a world of art and set it apart from life. I believe
that it is a mistaketo confinethe teachingof art to appreciation,for the implied attitudeis too detached. I believe that art must be practicedto be appreciated,and must be taughtin intimateapprenticeship.I believe that the
teachermust be no less active than the pupil. For art cannot be learnedby
precept,by any verbalinstruction.It is, properlyspeaking,a contagion,and
passeslike fire fromspiritto spirit.10
Read's reflections on his own education during 1939 and 1940 seem
to have precipitated the full development of his educational philosophy.
His writings note the increase of literature, drama, music, and the visual
arts in the curriculum, but they question whether the educational reforms are taking the right direction. It is noted that even when the arts
are admitted to the curriculum they are subordinated to the overriding
intellectual conception of education which deforms their essential nature
Education Through Art, p. 301.
9The Place of Art in a University (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1931).
Read's lecture has been reprinted in Education Through Art, pp. 256-64.
8

10

Redemptionof the Robot,pp. xxxiii-xxxiv.

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JOHN S. KEEL

50

and makes them amenable to the traditional academic methods of teaching. In the context of an autobiographicalessay discussing his own educational experience as a poet and philosopher,Read attempted to project
a more natural form of education:
The techniqueof literature,like the technique of painting, would be encouragedas a practicalactivity. Poetryand plays would be written,recited,
or produced,and the creativeartist would be elevated above the academic
scholar. It would, of course,revolutionizethe educationalstandardsif marks
were awarded,or even degreesgranted,on the artisticmerits of an original
composition;but that is the only way in which the arts can be broughtinto
organicrelationwith a vital systemof education. Otherwise,it is betterto let
the aestheticimpulsedevelopunaided,as it did in my case.1
Read's appointment to a Leon Fellowship at the University of London
during World War II made possible the researches and writing which
comprise Education Through Art and which have become the basis of
subsequent writings, The Grass Roots of Art (1946), Education for
Peace (1949), and The Redemption of the Robot (1966).
Education Through Art is a difficult and complex book which systematized much of Read's earlier speculation on the psychology of art
and his convictions about the educational potential of the creative arts.
In his discussionof the purposesof education, Read suggested that there
are two irreconcilablepossibilities: ". . . one, that man should be educated to become what he is; the other, that he should be educated to
become what he is not."12 Read argued that most traditional forms of
education assume that schooling must eradicate all individual idiosyncracies unless they conform to a certain ideal of "character"determined
by the social tradition. In opposition to this assumption, he stated his
own assumption "that each individual is born with certain potentialities
which have a positive value and that it is his proper destiny to develop
these potentialities within the framework of a society liberal enough to
allow for an infinite variation of types."
Read's concept of education through art developed in this book involves (1) working in relation to contemporary concepts of the nature
of art, with particular emphasis on the "unconsciousmodes of integration" in the process of creation; (2) working in relation to the development of the unique personality of the student, as opposed to forcing
a single criterion on all students; (3) working in relation to the ways in
which children naturally express themselves in artistic media, recog'The

Contrary Experience (New York: Horizon Press, 1963), p. 171.

'2 Education Through Art, p. 2.

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ART
READON EDUCATION
THROUGH
HERBERT

51

nizing various natural stages of growth which require different kinds of

"teaching."
The conception of the dynamics of education is in large measure a
working out of the process of artistic creation which Read put forward
in Reason and Romanticism (1926), Form in Modern Poetry (1932),
Art Now (1933), and Art and Society (1937). He outlined a schematic
conception of the human psyche in which the conscious and rational
processes- logical thought, the projection of ideas and ideals, and other
discrete awarenessesof objects, conditions, and situations- are seen as a
mere crust on a much larger field of mental operations. This more
extensive psyche includes a "preconscious"level of available memory
images, a "dynamic unconscious" of feeling-toned complexes resulting
from past experiences,and a "collectiveunconscious,"an inherited forming power which the individual shares at a deep level of being with the
rest of humanity. In the creative process, manifestationsof the function
and energies of these levels below consciousness are spontaneously released to the aesthetic sensibilitythrough objectificationin some material
and perceptible form. The conscious mind is not capable of controlling
the process,but it may "state its problems, set up its oppositions,and thus
create a tension . . . which demands a release, a solution."13
The development of personality,as opposed to the superficialdevelopment of character, is a process which involves a reconciliation of conscious elements of experience with the inner, largely unconsciousself, and
this is accomplished at an unconscious level, but forms emerge which
are available to conscious perception in the course of spontaneous art
activity. In The Redemption of the Robot Read wrote:
The art of childrenis supremelyimportantfor this very reason: it is the
earliestand most exact index to the child's individualpsychology.Once the
psychologicaltendencyor trend of a child is known,its individualitycan be
developedby the disciplineof art, till it has its own form and beauty,which
is its uniquecontributionto the beautiesof humannature. This, of course,is
the antithesisof those totalitariandoctrinesof education (not confined to
totalitariancountries) which strive to impose a unique concept of human
natureon the infinitevarietyof humanpersons.l4
In developing the implications of his theory of "personality,"as opposed to "character,"Read attempted to show that the integration of
the individual is "a very complicated adjustment of the subjective feelings and emotions to the objective world."15 The process can be facili18

Ibid., p. 179.

"Redemptionof the Robot,p. 56. Cf., The ContraryExperience,pp. 168-70,

and Read's essay "The Personalityof the Poet," Selected Writings (New York:
Horizon Press, 1964), pp. 81-97.
6 Education Through Art, p. 7.

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JOHN S. KEEL

52

tated by approaching the individual -motivating him, guiding him,

helping to evaluate and understand his own work--according to his
particular type or physio-psychological orientation which is revealed
in the manner of his perception and expression. Read has outlined a
typology of eight types, based on Jungian psychology. Read's system
distinguished between introverted and extroverted variations of four
kinds of mental functioning - thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuition
-which also seem to correlate with persistent types of art expression,
which in their modem manifestationsare frequentlydesignated as "realism," "superrealism," "expressionism,"and "constructivism." In his
chapter on "The Art of Children" in Education Through Art, Read has
attempted to show that these types are already discerniblein the earliest
expressionof children.
ARTAND CHILDDEVELOPMENT

As a consequence of his "genetic approach to criticism," Read was

drawn to the psychology of art, and he took particular interest in the
expression of "primitive"cultures and the art work of children. As an
art critic for The Listener during the 1930's (and even as editor of
Burlington'sMagazine, one of the world's best known periodicals on art
history), Read made it a point to discuss exhibitions of children's expression and to review books related to the teaching of art. In a review
for The Listener in 1930, he could only lament the depressing results
displayed. "Most of the exhibit," he wrote, "makes it clear that the
teaching of art in our schools bears no relation either to the principlesof
aesthetics or to the psychology of childhood."'6 Early in his writings on
the visual arts, he seems to have been convinced of the value of a psychogenetic approach which took into consideration a natural pattern of
unfolding in children's art expression. Over the years he has endorsed
the work of such art educators as Franz Cizek, Margaret Mathias, Helga
Eng, Marion Richardson, Viktor Lowenfeld, Wolfgang Gr6zinger,
Rhoda Kellog, Seonaid Robertson, and Henry Schaeffer-Simmern,
among others, as being closely related to his own conceptions.17
6 "Children's Drawings," The Listener, Vol. 3 (March 12, 1930), 460.
On Cizek, see "Creative Ability in Children," The Listener, Vol. 29 (January 28, 1943), 111. On Richardson, see "Writing into Pattern - A New Way
of Teaching Art to Children," The Listener, Vol. 13 (June 19, 1935), 1034-35.
On Eng, see "From the First Stroke," ibid., Vol. 6 (October 21, 1931), 693-94.
On Lowenfeld, see "The Art of the Blind," ibid., Vol. 21 (February 16, 1939),
350-51, and Read's review of Creative and Mental Growth, Athene, Vol. 9
(Winter 1958-59), 23-24. Also see Read's prefaces of Wolfgang Grozinger,
Scribbling, Drawing, Painting (New York: Praeger, 1955); Seonaid M. Robertson, Rosegarden and Labyrinth (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1963).
17

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READON EDUCATION
ART
THROUGH
HERBERT

53

In his discussion of the earliest stages of education, Read recommended undifferentiated play activity, and he indicated that gradually
the child should move from play activity to the beginnings of music,
dancing, the saying of poetry, and drawing and painting. Through such
activities children vent impulses of which they are hardly conscious, but
which are nonetheless quite real. Read has attempted to explain the
dynamicsof education at this level in these terms:
Supposewe took even one of these primitiveinstincts- to make a mess, for
example- and used that as a basisof spontaneouscreativeactivity. We have
.. discoveredthat the child beforeit can managea brush,can with immense
pleasuredab its fingersinto paint and transferthe colours,with some sense
of purpose,to a clean sheetof paper. Wherethereis a senseof purpose,there
is already a rudimentof a sense of discipline, already a coordinationof
muscularreflexes. Discipline has begun, has been born in the process of
primitive creative activity. Similarly the instinct to make a noise--how
easily this is satisfiedwith a drum beating rhythmically,even if that drum
is no morethan an old tin can. Tin cans can be orchestratedwith tin whistles
and toy trumpets. With very little encouragementand guidance,the notion
of melodyemergesfromthe chaosof sound.18
Read has noted the functional importance of Cizek's principle of the
"aestheticautonomy"of child art: "Almostmiraculousresults ... follow
from the child's realization that its particular mode of expression is
legitimate and appreciated by the teacher."'9 He has approved the
rhythmic exercisesdeveloped by Marion Richardson for their recognition
of the instinctive and pre-rationalnature of artistic activity.20 In recommending Lowenfeld's Creative and Mental Growth as "indispensableto
any serious study" of children's art and art education, Read called
it "the basic textbook in the training of every art teacher."21 Read's own
researchesare best representedby his chapter of "The Art of Children"
in Education Through Art. In keeping with the literature on the psychology of child art, Read has emphasized the relatively passive aspects
of teaching method for the early stages of education.
[The teacherof art] has first of all to observechildren,to study their individual interestand abilities,their particularaptitudes. Then he must arouse
interestand curiosityin the child, indicatinghow line and form and colour
may be made a languagefor the expressionof ideas and feelings;and beyond
this the teachercan do little else except supply the material,the right materialsand plentyof them.'
of the Robot, pp. 114-15.
19Redemption
The
Vol. 29
18

Listener,
(January 28, 1943), 111.
20TheListener, Vol. 13 (June 19, 1935), 1034-35.
21
Athene, Vol. 9 (Winter 1958-59), 23-24.
22
"The Teaching of Art," The Listener, Vol. 8 (November 30, 1932), 789.
Cf., "Art in Education- The Problem Stated," ibid., Vol. 22 (August 3,
1939), 214-15.

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JOHN S. KEEL

54

It is also important to help the child discover the appropriatematerial

for his expressionfor "once the medium is discovered, a natural childish
industryensues which not only eliminates all need of coercive discipline,
but allows the child's intelligence to evolve as spontaneouslyas a plant."23
The greatest necessity of teaching method at this level is a negative one:
the avoidance of imposing any preconceived standardof skill or versimilitude. The child, Read insisted, is not observing nature and portraying
the objective reality, rather he is an expressionist, "giving a symbolic
representationof an inner life of fantasy and feeling."24 "Let him learn
how to hold a pencil, how to mix his colours, and use a brush; let him
learn the simple techniques of art, but guard him against the tyranny of
facts."25
Read has been concerned with the psychological stages which begin to
take place at the age of eleven in which the child moves from selfabsorption and satisfaction with its own inner imagery to an outwardly
directed life adjusted to the visual aspects of the objective world and its
conventions. In Art and Society he has interpreted this change as a
movement from dependence on the "pleasureprinciple" to a dominance
of the "reality principle." This stage is an awkward age usually accompanied with a considerablediminishingof quality and quantity of art
expression. But Read is convinced that the hurdles of this age can be
overcome: "The instinctive sense for colour and pattern can be retained and employed in compositionsof a more formal or a more literary
activity - that is to say, good painting can be as normal as good handwriting or good tennis-playing."26
Values and learnings must change with the years of growth. "What
is valuable in and for the child of five will not necessarily be valuable
for the child of ten or fifteen."27 The teacher must be prepared to say
farewell to the charmsof naivety; he must encourage the child to expand
its world and realize new potentialities. Careful observationmay be encouraged, not so much as art but as science, and skills may be taught
where they expand the potentiality for expression. And, "The child must
be induced, not merely to express its own images, but to appreciate ...
expressionin others."28
The meaningof art and the significanceof the art of the past can onlybecome
fully availableto the child if we succeedin developingan objectiveattitude
The Listener, Vol. 29 (January 28, 1943), 111.
24The Listener,
Vol. 22 (August3, 1939), 215.
2 The Listener, Vol. 3 (March 12, 1930), 460.
26 "The Art of
The Listener, Vol. 19 (January 26, 1938), 180.
"7Education Children,"
Through Art, p. 211.
28

28The Listener,Vol. 22

(August3, 1939), 215.

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HERBERTREAD ON EDUCATION THROUGH ART

55

towards works of art as such, and in educating those faculties by means of

which we appreciate the qualities of such works. . . . We have to take care
that we do not revert to our intellectual concepts and turn the appreciation
of art into an accumulation of facts about art. As the child grows up it will
be necessary to relate the great works of the past to their social background,
to see them in their chronological sequence - if only because such knowledge
can deepen our aesthetic enjoyment.'9
ART AND ADOLESCENCE

In writing of the art of adolescents, Read has noted that an exceptionally intelligent teacher is needed to forestall the negative effects of the
psychological and physiological changes that take place in this stage of
development. He has suggested that teachers might even take advantage
of the nature of these changes. For example, the attitudes, ideas, and
ways of working which the teacher exhibits can strongly influence the
adolescent:
As art grows less instinctive it becomes more eclectic. The child, as he grows
into adolescence, begins to use his intellect and critical faculties. The influence
of the teacher is therefore more readily absorbed because it is understood and
appreciated by the adolescent. The process is inevitable, so there is no question of corruption."
The best that a teacher can do in this situation is "to widen the influence
by introducting his pupils to styles of expression other than his own."31
The introduction of such external influences, however, requires the
greatest care lest the pupil be confused and inhibited by a mass of styles
which have no meaning for him.
For the secondary level of education Read has recommended a gradual
differentiation or specialization of the student's work in terms of his interests and talents. Projects might be undertaken which bring the student
into contact with the community at large, and, where appropriate, group
projects might lead to the development of a community spirit. Although
such work may be directed toward some practical function there must be
no diminishing of concern for the aesthetic and creative quality of the
work: "The desire to make beautiful things must be stronger than the
desire to make useful things; or rather, there must be an instinctive realization of the fact that beauty and utility, each in its highest degree, cannot be conceived separately."32
29

Ibid.

80"Adolescent
Art," The Listener, Vol. 23 (April 25, 1940), 842. Cf. Education Through Art, pp. 240-49.
81Ibid.
8Education Through Art, p. 216.

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56

JOHN S. KEEL

In Read's projections there seems to be an implication that secondary

education, following the model of the Bauhaus, be diversifiedby various
workshopsand studios in charge of teachers who are artists in their field
and master of their crafts, yet who have an overall awareness and concern for the organic organization of the curriculum and a genuine
interest in the individual students. In Art and Industry, some of the
more explicit learnings are identified. At various points in his writings,
Read has recommended the approaches of Schaeffer-Simmer, Graham
Collier, Allen Leepa, William Stanley Hayter, and Seonaid Robertson
in dealing with the more advanced levels of education through art.33
Read has on occasion also suggestedthat the idea of a "master"might
still offer the best prototype of what a teacher should be. He should be
a "master of art" rather than a master over children. He should be a
leader, not in the sense of "impressing"his authority, but one who "expresses the group by being susceptible to [student's] thoughts, feelings,
and desires."34Such a "master"must encourage, inspire, and guide, but
often a raised finger, a questioninglook, is the proper limit of his activity,
and he must avoid assertivenesson his part and overdependence on the
part of the student. In The GrassRoots of Art he wrote:
The teacheris not a dictator,but rathera pupil more advancedin technique
than the others,more consciousof the aim to be achievedand the meansthat
must be adopted,who workswith children,sympathizeswith them and encouragesthem, gives them that pricelesspossessionwhich is self-confidence.
It is only fear that preventsthe child from being an artist--fear that its
privateworld of fantasywill seem ridiculousto the adult, fear that its expressivesignsand symbolswill not be adequate. Cast out fear from the child,
and you will have releasedall of its potentialitiesfor growthand maturation.8
Teachers, Read has said, should be "exemplars who confirm and
strengthen the truth we have discovered in ourselves."36The teacher
"must be primarily a person and not a pedagogue, a friend rather than
a master or mistress, an infinitely patient collaborator."37The function
of the teacher, for Read, was at the core of his concept of education
through art. He has written of the teacher as mediator between the student and his environment, as a person who can initiate and maintain a
8 See Read'sprefacesto the following: GrahamCollier,Form, Space and
Vision(EnglewoodCliffs,N.J.: Prentice-Hall,1967); StanleyW. Hayter,New

Ways of Gravure (London: Kegan Paul, 1949); Allen Leepa, The Challenge
of Modern Art (New York: A. S. Barnes, 1949). Cf. Redemption of the Robot,

pp. 144-72.

84Politicsof the Unpolitical (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1943),

p. 31. Cf. Redemption of the Robot, pp. 35-44.
85The GrassRoots of Art, revised ed. (New York: Wittenborn, 1955), p. 108.
6 The ContraryExperience, p. 186.
Redemption of the Robot, p. 56.

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HERBERT
READON EDUCATION
ART
THROUGH

57

method of spontaneousdevelopment. This process must be seen in terms

of the individual student'sunfolding life in relation to nature, to society,
and to the emerging forms of his work. According to Read, it is the
world, the whole environment which educates man by drawing out his
powers and allowing him to be convinced by the consequences of his
actions: "The elements educate him- air, light, the life of plants and
animals; and relationships educate him."38 The process is centered in
the thoughts and activities of the student as he moves through time and
space. The teacher is important only as part of that environment and
as a guide and catalyst in the interaction, but this influence may be
crucial.
Much of the essence of the concept of education through art is found
in Read's chapter on "The Teacher." Here Read summarized and endorsed the ideas of Martin Buber which view man as creator, as a lonely
figure, needing love, comradeship,and friendship in order to save himself from isolation and to experience communion in his creative efforts.
Such acceptance or communion is not the measuring of his work against
some scale of good or bad, but it is to value the uniqueness or the Thou
of the individual and his work. But teaching must go beyond acceptance.
It must distinguish and anticipate the real developmental needs of the
pupil.
As he graduallybecomesawareof whatthis individualneeds and whatnot, he
understandsevermoreprofoundlywhatthe humanbeingneedsin orderto become human. But the teacheralso learns how much of what is wanted he
himself is able to give, and how much he cannot give; what he can already
give, and what is still too much for him. Thus he learnshis responsibilityfor
the particleof life entrustedto his care, and as he learns he educateshimself.... The forcesin the worldwhichthe pupil needs for the creationof his
personalityshouldbe discernedby the educatorand educed in himself. The
educationof a pupil is thusalwaysthe self-educationof the teacher.'
IN CONCLUSION

It is probable that articles such as this cannot convey adequately the

full meaning of Herbert Read's conception of education through art.
They should thereforebe looked upon as introductorymaterials to Read's
own writings on the subject rather than as a substitute for them. In a
sense they must be taken as exercisesin educational aesthetics rather than
as demonstrations of aesthetic education. While the quotes presented
Education Through Art, p. 288.
9Ibid., pp. 291-92.

88

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58

JOHN S. KEEL

here are from Read's work, they are taken from their context in his
dialectical development of his ideas in the essay form.
Within their proper context in Read's essays they frequently achieve
an appropriate impact not evident here. In an appreciation of Read's
work, the poet and critic Henry Treece has written: "He is a true
teacher, whose opinions must always convey respect, if not always compliance, because of their obvious sincerity and organic existence as fundamental growths from a live mind."40 It may also be noted that one of
Read's finest evocations of an image of education through art is to be
found, not in his educational essays, but in the poem Beata L'alma:
New children must be bom of gods in
a deathless land, where the
uneroded rocks bound clear
from cool
glassy tams, and no flaw is in mind or flesh.
Sense and image they must refashion they will not recreate
love: love ends in hate; they will
not use
words: words lie. The structure of events alone is
comprehensible and to single
perceptions communication is not essential.
Art ends;
the individual world alone is valid
and that gives ease. The water is still;
the rocks are hard and vein'd,
metalliferous, yielding
an ore
of high worth. In the sky the unsullied sun lake.41
40 Henry Treece (ed.), Herbert Read, An Introduction to His Work by Various Hands (London: Faber and Faber, 1944), p. 37. In writing of a poem by
Read, Treece also notes: "There is here a stiffening of the poet's attitude,
almost an arrogant sharpness,as though he is at the moment conscious not only
of his mission to teach, but also of the Godhead within himself, the power of
vision, which enables him to do so" (p. 27).
4' Collected Poems (London: Faber and Faber, 1946), pp. 171-72.

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