Arts Academy Chooses Child’s Work for Show

The Manchester Academy of Fine Arts chose an abstract watercolor to hang in its annual show, unaware that it was painted by a 4-year-old.

Free-lance artist Helen Johnson said she entered “Rhythm of the Trees,” by her daughter, Carly, as a joke.

“It proves anybody can do modern art,” she told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Academy President Glenys Latham defended the judges’ selection of the painting, which was sold for $420, saying that “often technical skill can get in the way of instinctive response.”