This typescript is based on a lecture Vida Lahey delivered in the University of Queensland Duhig lecture which explains her views on the philosophy of a universal language of art. A philosophy she applied in her children's art classes established at the Queensland Art Gallery in 1941.

Written, arranged and bound by Vida Lahey, lettering by R.J. Pring. At head of title page.: A record of the second lecture in a series of lectures on art, sponsored by Professor J.V. Duhig for the University of Queensland. Text is typed on white foolscap sheets which have been pasted on the brown sheet forming the volume. Accompanying illustrations, both reproductions and originals have also been pasted in. Hand decorated covers. 9 unnumbered blank pages of brown paper.

At the bottom of the title page: The contention put forward in this address is that deeper comprehension and greater enjoyment would be derived from art, if it was regarded primarily as a visual language operating through shapes and colours, rather than through subject matter only. This language comprises an alphabet and roots, grammar and syntax, principles of composition, dialect and styles.