Right & Left

In 1907 William Hurd Lawrence was a successful right-handed illustrator. In 1927 he is a successful left-handed painter. In 1937, he hopes to be a successful ambidextrous illustrator & painter. This evolution resulted from an accident that occurred 20 years ago. Then Mr. Lawrence illustrated for Harper's Weekly. His wife took sick, so he was forced to concentrate upon illustration almost to the exclusion of his first love, water color. His sketches demanded travel--Europe, the West Indies, South America. It was on a South American tour that the sun beat him into partial paralysis. His right hand hung disabled.

It was pain for Artist Lawrence to look upon purple and blue landscapes then for they served only to remind him that his talent was lodged with him useless. But he bore in mind the image of Daniel Vierge, the Spanish painter, who refused to be cheated of his brush by a failing hand. Vierge had learned to paint over again with his left hand. Mr. Lawrence determined to do likewise. This was no easy task for a man past youth to set himself. Yet it was accomplished. Six months after his misfortune, he had attained sufficient skill to have occasional works again accepted by Harper's. Now that a full score of years has passed, he is able to exhibit water colors painted with his left hand better than illustrations painted with his right.

Ironically enough, now that the left hand has learned the cunning that was lost by the right, the right shows symptoms of returning to health. "See," says Artist Lawrence, slowly lifting his paralyzed arm, "I will soon be able to use them both."