Nobody remembers José Ruiz Y Blasco, but he must have been a good teacher. He was above average, at least, in all probability.

The 19th century Spanish artist was not particularly famed for his paintings or for any notable breakthroughs in artistic style. Born in Málaga, he became a teacher of drawing. He specialized in images of doves and pigeons.

Posterity can only surmise that Don José placed a great emphasis on the traditions and conventions of the art world — the techniques developed painstakingly over generations of master artists, handed down from teacher to student.

It's the only assumption to make. Ruiz Y Blasco's most famous student — his son, Pablo Picasso — had mastered the styles and techniques of virtually all the old European art movements at a young age.

Only after Picasso had demonstrated his prowess as a conventional classical painter of portraits, still lifes and landscapes — to the satisfaction of his father, among others — did Picasso feel motivated and qualified to take his art in a new direction. The result was cubism, one of the earlier, most influential and most enduring modern art movements of the 20th century.

Picasso became wildly famous and celebrated because he stepped outside of the convention and expressed himself in a new way, from a revolutionary perspective. But the immutable truth is that Picasso's clarity and vision would have been something entirely different without the formative influence of his father, José Ruiz Y Blasco.

Today's front page includes a story about three eighth-graders at Seneca Valley Middle School who challenged their classmates to consider their purpose in life. They installed a “before I die” wall, where the students write down their dreams and visions.

That's praiseworthy. Everyone should set high goals and standards. Everyone should employ their unique sets of gifts to achieve great things.

Of course, not every child will grow up to become a Pablo Picasso. But every kid has the right hold a paintbrush and palette. Every child should have a José Ruiz Y Blasco teaching him or her the fundamentals. Every kid should have an appreciation for the traditions and cultural heritage that produced and preceded them.

Maybe it is possible that every child could become a Picasso. That would be one wild world to survey. Then again, maybe it would be just fine if every kid grew up knowing the guiding, loving hand of a Don José. There will always be a demand for supporting cast members like a Picasso's father.

— TAH