THE PICTURES AND WHO MADE THEM
A distinctive feature of this volume is the inclusion of more than half a hundred of original drawings by a young artist. Every boy and every girl delights in pictures. There is something in pictures, even though the subjects be foreign to us, which readily takes hold of our innermost feelings and becomes companionable to the extent that we find ourselves loving that something whatever it is:—a man, or an humble dog, or an old homestead, or what not. We seldom think that some great mind has been hard at work to produce that picture and that it takes years and years of application and deep study to prepare even a genius in art.
While you are enjoying the pleasures to be derived from the “rough sketches” in this book it is hoped that at the same time you will catch the inspiration of the artist who made them. The negro race has produced very few artists of note, for very few of them have made a success in the profession. Of that few, John Henry Adams is second only to Tanner.
Coming up with little in his favor other than a determination to “win” and the prayerfulness of loving parents, John Adams kept himself in school until he was thoroughly prepared to enter upon life’s sea as a thinker for and a master of himself. Acquiring his art education at The Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, Adams returned to Atlanta and found a place to utilize his training at the Morris Brown College, where he has been eminently successful as a teacher, and where he is loved and honored by all.
The lapse of twenty-six years is a very short time to begin to measure a man’s success, but Mr. Adams has already succeeded. The demand for his work is large and plenteous. If there is such a thing as having more work than one can do, it applies pointedly to him. Besides the many fine and costly paintings which Mr. Adams makes and sells, his “rough sketches” are quite popular and “go like hot cakes.” And, with all of this he is a regular contributor to one daily paper, two weekly papers and a monthly magazine. This is but a glimpse of the man. His work as trustee of city charities, his visitations to mission houses and his liberal pocket-book show the more tender side of the artist. When a football game is in progress there’s another side of the man—the enthusiast. But all the way through Mr. Adams is ever the amiable gentleman, the vigorous thinker and worker, the friend of children and a constant source of gladness to the poor of Atlanta.