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If asked why she devotes her considerable
talent exclusively to painting children, Lucelle
Raad is quick to reply, "There is more character,"
she says, "in an offhand gesture by a small child,
than in all the posturings of our adult world. And
I paint character!"
A passing glance at the dozen or so acrylics
propped in her lakeside studio confirms the point.
Born and educated in Great Britain, Raad,
largely self-taught, has absorbed Europe's
ageless concern with human form and given it a
distinctly American perspective. In one painting,
a child struggles to stand erect on her first pair of
ice-skates. In another, two fledgling artists work
to perfect their masterpieces in chalk on
pavement. In a third, a boy in shorts and t-shirt,
prepares to brighten his mother's day, a rose
hidden at his back.
One is touched by Raad's blending of the
commonplace and sublime. The hopeful
innocence of her children conveys in each case
a new awakening of the American dream.
Meanwhile, America fulfills this artist's dream
every time one of her youthful figures ventures
forth into the grown-up world.
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