Art: Turkish Delight

One of the most admired painters in Turkey these days is a ten-year-old boy named Hasan Kaptan. Boosters see in his work something of Picasso's lively lines and Matisse's blazing colors. For those not impressed by those qualities alone, his boosters can point to a large one-boy show in Paris last year, where the critics were enthusiastic, and to the fact that in three years young Hasan has sold some 55 of his button-bright pictures and earned more than $2,000.

The son of an artist father, Hasan started smearing paint on doors and walls as a toddler. Daytimes, he called for paints...