A Child of Six Could Do It: Cartoons About Modern Art

by George Melly

ForewordThis is a book of jokes about modern art which accompanies an exhibition on the same theme. Among all the ways in which we could have illustrated the astonishing transformation of art in the last seventy-five years have appeared to the public, we believe this is the most telling. The cartoons are often works of art in their own right and, as well as being funny, present a whole range of responses from the highly informed to the ignorant, from a fond amusement to an intense hatred. Some express an authentic criticism of the art and others only the prejudices of those who have not really looked.This entirely unique exhibition, and this book, are offered as a strange but revealing mirror of the art which hangs in our galleries and in other museums of modern art throughout the world.Norman Reid, Director

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 1973

About the author

Alan George Heywood Melly was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer, and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973 he was a film and television critic for The Observer; he also lectured on art history, with an emphasis on surrealism.

Reviews

[Sleepless Dreamer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really neat. I don't have much to say other than that. It's so interesting. I love how people don't change, how the view of art stays the same when art continues to rebel against everyone and everything.

what I'm taking with me
• Seeing the world differently is a blessing.
• 100 years and humans are exactly the same.
• Cartoons take inspiration from each other, thus creating a new style.