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184 Pages·2014·13.4 MB·English

by  Arthur Dow

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Title: Composition
Author: Arthur Dow
Release Date: April 15, 2014 [Ebook 45410]
Language: English
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK
COMPOSITION***

Composition
A series of exercises in art structure for the use of
students and teachers
ByArthurWesleyDow
ProfessorofFineArtsinTeachersCollege,Columbia
UniversityNewYorkCity
FormerlyInstructorinArtatthePrattInstitute
AuthorofTheoryandPracticeofTeachingArtandTheIpswich
Prints
NINTHEDITION—REVISEDANDENLARGEDWITH
NEWILLUSTRATIONSANDCOLORPLATES
Garden City, New York
DOUBLEDAY,PAGE&COMPANY
1914

Contents
BEGINNINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
THETHREEELEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
I.LINE—NOTAN—COLOR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
LINEDRAWING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
II.—JAPANESEMATERIALSANDBRUSHPRAC-
TICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
PRINCIPLESOFCOMPOSITION . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
III.—WAYSOFCREATINGHARMONY . . . . . . 25
LINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
IV.—COMPOSITIONINSQUARESANDCIRCLES 41
V.—COMPOSITION IN
RECTANGLES—VARIATION . . . . . . . . . 47
VI.—LANDSCAPECOMPOSITION . . . . . . . . . 57
VII.—COMPOSITIONINREPRESENTATION . . . 65
NOTAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
VIII.—HARMONY-BUILDING WITH DARK-
AND-LIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
IX.—TWOVALUES—VARIATIONS—DESIGN . . 79
X.—TWOVALUES—LANDSCAPEANDPICTURES 91
XI.—TWO VALUES—GOTHIC SCULPTURE
JAPANESE DESIGN BOOKS. APPLICA-
TIONSOFTWOVALUES. . . . . . . . . . . . 97
XII.—THREEVALUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
XIII.—MORETHANTHREEVALUES . . . . . . . 113
COLOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
XIV.—COLORTHEORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
XV.—COLORDERIVEDFROMNOTAN . . . . . . 139
XVI.—COLOR SCHEMES FROM JAPANESE
PRINTSANDFROMTEXTILES . . . . . . . . 145
vi Composition
COMPOSITION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
XVII.—INDESIGNANDPAINTING . . . . . . . . . 149
CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Note.—Theauthorgratefullyacknowledgesthecourtesyofthose
namedbelowinaccordinghimpermissiontousephotographsof
certainpaintingsandobjectsofartasillustrationsforthisbook.
MuseumofFineArts,Boston
MetropolitanMuseum,NewYork
TheNationalGallery,London
MuséedeCluny.Paris(J.Leroy,photographer)
MuséedeSculptureComparée.Paris
Dr.WilliamSturgisBigelow,Boston(permissiontophoto-
graphJapanesepaintings)
Mr.FrederickW.Gookin(useofphotographsfromKenzan
and Kano Gyokuraku, made specially for Mr. Gookin,
BostonM.F.A.
GiacomoBrogi,Florence
FratelliAlinari.Florence
D.Anderson,Rome
W.A.Mansell&Co.,London
F.Rothier,Reims,France,and
Kaltenbacher,Amiens,France(theRuskinphotographer)
License to use photographs was also obtained from the Au-
totype Fine Art Company, Limited, London (the Michelangelo
drawing,page51),andfromBaldwinCoolidge,Boston.
viii Composition
BEGINNINGS
In writing this book my main purpose is to set forth a way of
thinkingaboutart. Themostthatsuchabookcandoistodirect
the thoughts, awaken a sense of power and point to ways of
controllingit.
Theprinciplesofartteachinghereoutlinedmightbeillustrat-
ed in other ways and with better examples. I hope the reader
will see how each chapter can be developed into many sets
of lessons. The progressions can be varied, materials changed,
lessonsamplifiedanddifferentdesignschosen,providingthereis
nosacrificeofessentials.Thebookisbaseduponmyexperience
in painting and teaching for more than twenty years. The first
edition of Composition was published in 1899. In this revision
I have made many additions and used new illustrations without
departing from theory or principles. Composition was chosen
as a title because that word expresses the idea upon which the
method here presented is founded—the “putting together” of
lines, masses and colors to make a harmony. Design, under-
stood in its broad sense, is a better word, but popular usage has
restrictedittodecoration.
Composition, building up of harmony, is the fundamental
process in all the fine arts. I hold that art should be approached
throughcompositionratherthanthroughimitativedrawing. The
manydifferentactsandprocessescombinedinaworkofartmay
beattackedandmasteredonebyone,andtherebyapowergained
tohandlethemunconsciouslywhentheymustbeusedtogether.
If a few elements can be united harmoniously, a step has been
taken toward further creation. Only through the appreciations
doesthecomposerrecognizeaharmony.Hencetheefforttofind
art-structure resolves itself into a development of appreciation.
2 Composition
This faculty is a common human possession but may remain
inactive. A way must be found to lay hold upon it and cause
it to grow. A natural method is that of exercises in progressive
order, first building up very simple harmonies, then proceeding
ontothehighestformsofcomposition. Suchamethodofstudy
includes all kinds of drawing, design and painting. It offers a
meansoftrainingforthecreativeartist,fortheteacherorforone
whostudiesartforthesakeofculture.
ThisapproachtoartthroughStructureisabsolutelyopposedto
the time-honored approach through Imitation. For a great while
we have been teaching art through imitation—of nature and the
“historic styles”—leaving structure to take care of itself; gath-
[4] ering knowledge of facts but acquiring little power to use them.
Thisiswhysomuchmodernpaintingisbutpicture-writing;only
story-telling, not art; and so much architecture and decoration
onlydeadcopiesofconventionalmotives.Gooddrawingresults
from trained judgment, not from the making of fac-similes or
maps. Train the judgment, and ability to draw grows naturally.
Schools that follow the imitative or academic way regard draw-
ing as a preparation for design, whereas the very opposite is the
logicalorder—designapreparationfordrawing.
Soon after the time of Leonardo da Vinci art education was
classified into Representative (imitative), and Decorative, with
separateschoolsforeach—aseriousmistakewhichhasresulted
in loss of public appreciation. Painting, which is essentially a
rhythmicharmonyofcoloredspaces,becamesculptural,animi-
tationofmodelling.Decorationbecametrivial,alifelesscopying
of styles. The true relation between design and representation
waslost.
Thiserrorislong-lived. Aninfiniteamountoftimeiswasted
in misdirected effort because tradition has a strong hold, and
because artists who have never made a study of education keep
tooldrutswhentheyteach.
Thisacademicsystemofart-studyignoresfundamentalstruc-