Art Young - Native American Rebel
Art Young - Native American Rebel /n Ail Y* unit's Infemu. Suffering, especially the suffer nig of children, diove him to u sort of Old Testament rage attains! the powers and principalities of...
...His draw-lags of politicians, of children, of the quaint char actors of his old home town show how deeply he savored all the quirks of the human animal Basically be loved mankind—all sorts and sizes arid shades Though be was deeply American western American, small town American—he never knew a touch of prejudice against any hinnan creature anywhere in the wot 1.1 it was evil that he hat«d -especially evil socially en trenched, grasping, relentless, powerful And more, if possible, he despised the attending hyprcrites and syco plants the e-hurehly blessers of plunder, the profes s'irisj rationalizers of robbery, the political panders fot pelf...
...He was against all plunderers and exploiters ami their hangers-on...
...The New Year's card which Art mailed out on the day before his death represented well his spirit of unquenchable hope...
...He was for the workers, the '|k>or, the oppressed...
...Like most artists, Art Young conceived of the struggle for improvement in the simplest terms...
...The basically gentle and humane spirit of the man turned prophetically bitter smd sharp...
...Though be nave a large part of his life's work to socialist jour uals like The New York Call and The New Leader, his drawings went, also, to the organs of countless little struggling groups without inquiry as to their specisl dogmas or purposes...
...As long as there were exploiters, (pretenders, hypocrites or deceived and desperate "poor fish"—he ooudd not rest . He was much more—much bigger -than a mere sati rist...
...Least if all can any friend of his imagine this kindly humanitarian lining up with totalitarians or terrorists of any stripe...
...Yet only in his fantastic inferno would he torture the enemies of mankind in life he was the gentlest of souls...
...Or these were reserved the most exquisite torture...
...It presented a figure of himself still striding on toward the sun and bore the caption: "1944—four Freedom*—Maybe More...
...During his last years he* contributed his work occasionally to The New Maetee and The Daily Worker, and now...
...He could never have been an artist in uniform...
...They will fail to convince anyone but themselves that this man wore anyone's blinders or fitted into any sectarian groove...
...j^Kt YOUNG'S Ufa and 18*6 to the Now Deal and ths second World War H* we* an artist, an ae tive and successful artist...
...at the moment of his death, the spokesmen of these journals are not above claiming Art Young's free spirit tor their sect...
...But most of all he was a fighting human spirit de voted to the last ounce of his energy to the betterment of our way •.{ living...
...the powers and principalities of modern capitalism...
...His Trees at Night reveals a powerful imagination worjppg through an exacting and delicate technique...
...Up to hie last breath his mind and his heart were eoneeraed with the inconsistencies of our society and his eager tn.icem were reaching for a pencil...
Vol. 27 • May 1944 • No. 2
