LOOK WHAT THE CHILD CAN DO
When I was very young, because of the fact that my parents, students at the University of Vienna, had not been married when I was conceived, to shield the families from disgrace I was brought up from infancy living in my paternal Grandfather's study. It was lonesome, but nobody was ever mean to me. I was part of the situation, I guess, for better or for worse. When I must have been maybe four years old someone gave me a piece of paper and a pencil. I started to draw a man with a cane and Frieda, the maid, came, leaned over me and called to Lina, the cook: "Come and look what the child can do!" Whenever I sit down to draw or stand in front of an easel to paint it is with the feeling of pride: "Look what the child can do." That phrase has given me a wonderful feeling of power and serenity. Even eighty-five years later this phrase continues to be the source of my self-respect and joy to be alive. - Annemarie Mahler (age 89), 2015 |
- Annemarie Ettinger (age 10), 1936
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