1

n/U, ENCYCLOPEDIA
* DRAWING,
1

PAINTING,
and the GRAPHIC ARTS

A complete, fundamental book of instruction for

hobbyists, art students, and professional artists

by ARTHUR ZAIDENBERG
THIRD LARGE PRINTING

^ ENCYCLOPEDIA
0/ DRAWING,
PAINTING,
-J*. GRAPHIC ARTS
BY ARTHUR ZAIDENBERG
Here is a basic and complete book for the

hobbyist, the art student, and the profes-

sional artist, covering every important

aspect of the world of art.

Written in clear, concise terms and lav-

ishly illustrated, this volume deals with

almost every technical problem, in many

different media, which is likely to confront

the beginning or the advanced artist. Char-

coal, crayon, oils, water colors, linoleum
cutting, etching, and numerous other tech-

niques are explained simply, yet in full

detail.

The volume, arranged by easy-to-find

alphabetical subject listings, also includes

information about the methods and tech-
niques of all major schools of art, ancient

and modern, and about the kinds of art

found in different parts of the world.

The author, a well-known artist and

illustrator, has brought to the preparation
of this work many years of close associa-

tion with hundreds of contemporary artists

and considerable experience in all fields of

drawing, painting, and the graphic arts.

His form of presentation and instruction

is the same as that which he has used suc-

cessfully in teaching literally thousands of

art students.

Complete, concise, and authoritative, the

New Encyclopedia of Drawing, Painting,
and the Graphic Arts is an invaluable
guide for the beginner and an indispens-
able reference work for every "Sunday" or
professional painter.
Art, ENCYCLOPEDIA
• l
»/ DRAWING,
PAINTING,
and a. GRAPHIC ARTS
n/U, ENCYCLOPEDIA
11 *
DRAWING.
of

PAINTING,
and** GRAPHIC ARTS
A complete, fundamental book of instruction for
hobbyists, art students, and professional artists

by
ARTHUR ZAIDENBERG

A. S. BARNES & COMPANY, INC. • NEW YORK

THOMAS YOSELOFF LTD. • LONDON
© 1961 by A. S. Barnes & Company, Inc.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 60-9866

A. S. Barnes and Company, Inc.

8 East 36th Street
New York 16, New York

Thomas Yoseloff Ltd.

18Charing Cross Road
London W.C. 2, England

First printing July 1961

Second printing March 1962
Third printing January 1964

Printed in the United States of America

 1

CONTENTS

Introduction 7

Subject 1

Still Life and Landscape 115

Color 129

Equipment LSI

Media 138

Technique 163

Drawing 174

Reproduction 196

Style Through the Ages 207

 INTRODUCTION

The study of art is inevitably as wide as describes are not the only ones that can
the study of thought itself. be used successfully. There are innumera-
Each work of art is distinctive, and nei- ble private approaches to almost any paint-
ther psychiatrists, fellow artists, nor even ing or graphic problem, and in the last

the creator himself can trace all the ele- analysis each artist develops his own pro-
ments of which it is composed. cedures.
The artist, called upon to describe the There are, however, many basic aids to
exact train of thought that led to the in- help reach that point of ease with mate-
ception of his work, and then to follow the rials and methods which will allow for
steps he has taken in carrying out the com- relatively unhampered creative activity in
plete conception, will find that he must the many techniques available to the art-
leave large areas of the process unexplained ist. These we will explore in the limited
because of the great parts that accident area of this book.
and the unconscious have played. The pic- It is my earnest belief that too much
ture that is easily traceable from its birth knowledge of the chemistry of color pig-
is likely to be a plodding, uninspired thing. ments and scientific research into matters
How then is a book justified that de- of permanence, etc., are encumbrances to
scribes the mechanical methods involved the creative process, for which time is all
in the creative process? too short.
The answer, from this author's stand- That these pages will be of assistance
point, is that the technical problems must to the student is my confident opinion, but
be overcome at the same time as the in- just as the twenty-volume encyclopedias of
spirational ones, for inspiration will re- general knowledge serve only as introduc-
main unexpressed without technique. tions to be greatly supplemented by indi-

This book will deal with such areas of vidual effort, so this book will only have
the creative process as are known to the validity for the art student if he utilizes

author through research and his own ex- its information as a springboard for his
perience. The methods and materials he own flights of creative fancy.
nrt, ENCYCLOPEDIA
'' 4 DRAWING,
PAINTING,
-j*. GRAPHIC ARTS
 THE SUBJECT

\rP
Basic Anatomy addition, it is desirable to know the
general shape of the main muscles and of

It is important to understand the basic such close-to-the-surface forms as will be

skeleton in its general proportions and in vital to drawing a reasonable facsimile of

the range of its movement potential. In the human figure. The exhaustive study of
anatomy, which was a must for the art stu-

dent of past generations, is no longer very

pertinent, however.

lOClt

Good drawing or painting is not repro-

duction of nature in all its infinite detail,
but rather a statement of the artist's atti-
tude toward nature. Nonessentials are det-
rimental to that statement.
Study the forms shown here and con-
tinue your studies from life, but do not

allow anatomical data to encumber your

drawings beyond essentials.

13
Figure
The human figure, for all the ills it is
heir to, is a marvelous bit of engineering.
It is also enormously complicated, far too
much so for any artist, no matter how
skilled and painstaking he is in trying to
depict it in all its natural detail.
What must be done in depicting humans
is to make the drawing "live." Unless you
seek the "life" quality, you will be draw-
ing store-window dummies.
You must study structural elements, of
course. If you are so constituted, you may
learn, without wasting too much time, all
the bones and muscles by name and loca-
tion. Do not insist, however, on trying to
use all this knowledge in your drawing,
because you will surely overwhelm the all-

important life spark in doing so.

Observe the simplified forms of body

structure shown in these pages. Notice
how they approximate "real" figure forms
and how much has been left out for the
sake of strength and grace. Sketch the
movements of people about you and, above
all, capture the emotions involved in
these movements.
>N
 Classic Figure. As far as pure figure vis-
ualization is concerned, the art of the
Greek Golden Age excelled that of all pre-
vious periods by as great a margin as our
mechanical advances excel those of the
nineteenth century. In a sense the Greeks
were the first artists to actually "see" the
human figure, for theirs was the first civili-

zation in history to make a cult that in-

cluded amongmajor deities "beautiful"
its

physical specimens. Their concept of the

beautiful was not an unearthly super-speci-
men, as Michelangelo was later to con-
ceive, but the lithe, clean athlete, mod-
eled after their own well-trained youth.
The Athenian youth was not prepared
for ramrod military precision, for endur-
ance in brutal His physical ideal
conflict.
was a supple, strong, healthy body for its
own sake, and he transferred to the im-
ages of his gods his own high concept of
physical beauty— a beauty that was a virtue
distinctly possible of attainment.

The artists of the Golden Age of Greece,

affected as artists invariably are
by the phil-
osophical ideals of the period, formulated
almost ritualistic measurements and pro-
portions for the ideal figure and produced
an enduring school of art, which, avoiding
the emotional, humanized gods and deified
humans.
In these pages we will try to follow some
of the beautiful formalizations of the
Greek figure— both in sculpture and draw-
ing. As a basis for modern figure drawing,
the Greek proportions are perhaps too no-
ble; but it is of great instructional value to
trace these proportions, the finely con-
ceived relations of forms, and the compres-
sions of complicated anatomy into simple, Etruscan Dancing Girl 5th century
: B.C.

imaginative patterns of design that express

not too literally the character of muscle
and sinew.

16
 * °r '

% ^s vy

It was until very recent times the cus- plaster casts of classic Greek sculpture-
tom Europe and Amer-
of art academies in in order to recapture the classic concepts
ica to insist that each student devote at and musty Victorian insti-
re-create within
least two years to cast drawing— painstak- Golden Age.
tutions the culture of the
ingly reproducing in charcoal the dusty Valiant attempts were made to re-estab-

17
lish as a "way of art" the style and "man- ist, for during the course of a dance the

ner" of the Golden Age, disregarding the whole gamut of gestures the human body
fact that great art and good artists cannot is capable of will be run. If he cannot get
evade the compelling influences of the a nude model to pose in dance postures,
present, and that escape into the past can let him try them himself before a mirror

only produce sterile counterfeits. and then quickly sit down and draw them
Of course, we do not advocate that the from memory. Incidentally, this memory
student emulate the classic and draw his practice is invaluable. It is a procedure
figures in just that way; but it is undenia- that should not be neglected; for the mem-
ble that much can be learned about the ory economizes far better than the eye,
human form and the way to "see" its ar- and the salient features of a face will be
chitecture from looking at, sketching, and remembered long after the details of it

studying classic figures. have been forgotten.

The marvelous figures by Michelangelo
have been sources of study for countless art
Cast Drawing. Every student likes to students through the centuries. They are

copy works that he admires. Although there not "perfect form" studies of the ideal hu-

is no doubt that there are benefits to be

gained from this, there is a danger that in
copying drawings the student may fail to
arrive at the understanding of form that
man. Rather they are "inventions" of Mi-
chelangelo, who merely used the human
form in general to model his heroic con-
ceptions on. They are to be studied and

can only come from seeing the three-di- drawn as examples of magnificent styliza-
models are not tion to suit a purpose. Indeed, anatomy
mensional figure. Since al-

ways available, nor are they always as in-

was the blueprint from which Michelan-
structive as many of the classic pieces of
gelo made his architectural foundations

sculpture available for copying in museums

and art classes, drawing from sculpture
seems to us an excellent alternative.
Exact representation of the piece of
sculpture should not always be the objec-
tive in mind. Rather, as in the use of mod-
els, the student should work for contour,
shape, and bulk in an effort to achieve
form. Classic casts are available to him
everywhere— in museums, on public build-
ings, and, in miniature, in many homes;
they are unfailing sources for study of pro-
portion and beautifully simplified muscles
and forms.
He should study the fleeting gestures of
dancing figures. The dance has always been
an endless source of fascination for the art-
and then superimposed his powerful fig- manner of stressing and elimination, from
ure "stories." which evolved the most dramatic figures in
The student can learn much from his all art history.

v <"**»/

19
 Female Figure. The preponderance of well known.
female over male figures in art can be ac- The second reason is that women are
counted for in several ways. famous as the fair sex, and their subtle
First, of course, most artists of the past curves and graces have always challenged
were men and their interest in women is the skill of artists.
 Do not copy the female figures here in
order to draw them in the same way. If

you make drawings from these figures, do

so in order to study the form generaliza-
tions and the lighting and shading used
here.

21
1
y
--"'
s* I
Head and age, it is almost impossible to distin-

Throughout the ages great painters guish one woman from another or one man
have strived to capture the essence of a from another with face and head con-
man by analyzing and depicting his face cealed. Hut two litads, even oi the same age
and head. Given the same height, weight, and with the same coloring, are readily
identifiable.

The and contour

slight variation in size
of hiads would be no more distinguishing
than the differences in bodies were it not
for the features, which, in endless subtle
ways, are different in shape, position, and
color from face to face. And every face is perbly. Even in reproductions we sense
capable of a variety of expressions. the mystery of the smile of the "Mona
The challenge of depicting these ex- Lisa," the exuberance of Frans Hals'
pressions has always been exciting to art- "Laughing Cavalier," the dignity and no-
ists, and many of them have met it su- bility of thought in portraits by Velazquez
and Rembrandt, the brooding souls of El
Greco's gaunt Spaniards.
But when you are beginning, these
you too much.
subtleties should not concern
The proper structure of the human head tablish the positions of the features in

is your first problem, although you must relation to each other within the oval. To
not be so coldly anatomical that your do this, begin at the exact center of the
drawings become so devoid of human emo- top of the oval, and draw a light perpen-
tion that they resemble a page from a bi- dicular line dividing the oval in two. Now
ology notebook. draw a horizontal line across the center of
Keeping this in mind, first draw an the vertical line. Then divide the lower
oval,and divide it into eight parts to es- half of the oval into three equal parts with

33
two more horizontal lines. (These lines, Cheeks. The shape of the cheeks will
being only indicators, must be very light vary depending on the shape of the cheek-
so you can erase them easily.) bone and the jawbone, as well as the mood
Now you are ready to lay out the fea- of the subject.

tures that will humanize this diagram. The movement of the mouth when it is
 m ^V\^\

$ V I

i^K-y '
smiling, eating, singing, talking, or cry- ture in as economical a fashion as possible
ing has a direct effect on the shape of the the emotions they betray.
cheeks. Ear. The ear is an organ whose visible
Shadows may be the result of sadness, parts have no bone structure and are so
or they may be due to prominent cheek- variable in shape as to make it difficult to
bones or excessive thinness. say when drawing, "This is an ear."
Close observation of these drawings of Draw many distinctive ears from obser-
cheek types will be helpful. vation, for the classic ear will rarely fit

Eye. For the artist the eye should not many faces.

merely be a physical structure to be stud- Study these generalizations and use them
ied as one would study the muscles or the as simple charts in the study of the innu-
teeth. For every emotion is mirrored in the merable "personalized" ears.

eye. One can stare, glance, ogle, leer, glare, Hair. Think of the hair as a form and
or smile with the eye. Fear and pleasure not as countless strands. Study the shapes
show in it in unmistakable terms. It clearly and directions of the individual masses so
registers weariness and anger. that you can portray the contours and

Observe the eye as a structure, but, modeling within the main outline.
more important, observe living eyes under Refrain from depicting hair by a child-
every possible condition and try to cap- ish scribble, even in a quick sketch. It will

not heighten your power of quick obser-

vation, but serve merely as a record of
carelessness.

Drawing the Features

To draw the features well it is not nec-
essary to be an expert anatomist. You must,
of course, know the basic geometric shapes
that make up the areas of the eyes, nose,
mouth, and ears.

You need never want for a model. Look

in the mirror, study the forms, draw what
you see. You will see more than anatomical
features. The eyes and mouth particularly
reveal emotional expression.
Special understanding of the subtle eye
qualities is of paramount importance to

the artist. You certainly cannot stop with

anatomical knowledge here. Get out your
mirror again. Scrutiny of the reflection of
your eyes will reveal more to you than any
other method of study. Begin to notice the
eyes of people around you. How swiftly
and delicately the eye can change the ex-

36
pression of the whole countenancel

The eyes that I have drawn here will

help you in a general way, but study all

the eye drawing in this book. Sometimes

the shadows around the eye reveal more
emotion than the eye itself. A dot or a
dash can sometimes express the peering or
squinting of an eye more than a detailed
rendering.

^V.

c\

37
 Having learned the shapes that make up drawings that the mouth is much more
the mouth, concentrate on its expressive than the form of the two lips. Study the
qualities. Notice what happens to a mouth relationship of the lips to the jaw line,

when it is speaking, kissing, or laughing, cheeks, and nose.

You will observe in the accompanying

^
JP
**Jk

-
<r
 The nose and ears are not as capable of of character and emotional qualities.
expressing emotion as the mouth and eyes, The ear is the most passive feature.
but the variation in their shapes enables Learn its basic shape and its relative posi-
the artist to portray an infinite variety of tion on the head. On a pretty girl, as a
human types. The most subtle differences small pink accessory it can be considered
in the size of the nose— a hair's breadth beautiful. As a general rule, however, it is
added from the
to the length or subtracted better not to overdraw the ear, but to let
width; the shape of the nostril— round or it remain relatively obscure.

oval, flared or pinched, will express traits

40
Portrait Shunning any temptation toward irrele-

Proficiency in getting a good likeness vant effects or pointless details, concentrate

does not depend on a special gift but rather on the features that are most striking to

on the artist's interest in people as indi- the eye or mind— no one can be confused
viduals—and on a great deal of practice. by incidentals if you leave them out.
First search the sitter's face carefully Make sure that your subject assumes as
and sympathetically for the predominant natural an expression as possible. If his

characteristics. face is not in repose, it can appear strained

Second, observe the proportions of the in a short while. Place him in a light that

whole face and head as well as the specific will remain constant.
features. Since a diffident approach results in a
Then make a simple, undetailed work- dull drawing, don't begin to draw until

ing drawing of these proportions. you have studied the face thoroughly and

11
feel that you know the person. Then make over a finished drawing, you would merely
several quick sketches so that you can ap- produce a tinted drawing, not a painting.)
proach your drawing with confidence.
final Do not be discouraged if your first at-

On canvas, prior to painting, your un- tempts do not succeed. Keen observation,
derdrawing should only establish boun- coupled with practice, will bring results.

daries and proportions, and indicate light

planes and shadow areas. Then your paint N.B. The sitter doesn't know what he
drawing takes over. (If you were to paint looks like— so don't let him tell you.

42
Hand most, use them with almost as much ex-
Next to the features of the face, the pressiveness as the tongue. We all use our
hands are the most expressive part of the hands expressively, even when not in con-
body. Latin people, less inhibited than nection with direct speech. We clench our

43
fists in anger and throw up our hands in These nervous, pliant, yet strong instru-
despair;we drop our hands in helplessness ments must be drawn with nervous emo-
and wring them in pain. tional lines and tones.

The gestures of the hands dictated by Study the diagrams of basic hands here
emotion are innumerable, and, efficient as and, using your own as models, draw them

they are as tools for our daily in every position, performing countless
life and
actions.
work, their emotional expressiveness must
appear in our drawings, or we have not
understood them.

45
 They are not difficult to draw well. It
merely takes respect and understanding to
give them life.

////M"
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//////'

46
A rm length, it may bulge or relax with flexing
The arm, suspended from its point of of muscles, but these movements are re-
juncture with the shoulder, may turn and stricted.The wrist allows for many hand
swivel only from that point and the elbow movements, but has very little effect on
point. At other points throughout its the position and movements of the arm.

SCAPULA

VU/-NA

49
 Roughly, for drawing purposes, the arm 2. The long tube of the upper arm to
may be divided into five geometric forms, the elbow
They are: 3. The tubular form from the elbow to
1. The hemisphere of the shoulder the widest part of the forearm muscle

50
 4. The wide point in the forearm muscle 5. The descent of the narrow tube of
narrowing, also in tube form, to the wrist the wrist to the juncture with the hand
tube
 This may sound like an oversimplifica- easily add such refinements as will bring it
tion of so graceful, mobile, and powerful to life and give it the grace, beauty, and
a thing as the human arm; but if you learn strength natural to it.

to draw these few basic forms, you can

'

y /

52
Breast challenging to translate to canvas.

The female breast is a palpitating hem- The and shape are sub-
breast's position
isphere -vibrant, living, and full of impli- ject to the effect of almost allmovements
that the artist cannot fail to find of the body, and study of the variation due
to these movements is necessary to obtain
the living semblance.

Study figures in repose and action. Un-

derstand what happens to the breast when
the arms are raised or extended. Study the
action of gravity upon it, as well as the
variance in its shape and size according to
the age and weight of the body.
Back A strong mans back will have muscular
The back is essentially oblong. When bulges, and the female's back will vary in

seen flatly, it is wide at the shoulders and delicacy of line, but the basic shape re-
narrow at the waist with few disturbances mains the same.
in its large planes except the center line The spine is the axis upon which the
division of the spine from the back of the back may swivel and bend, but the move-
neck to the small of the back.

ments are relatively restricted, as you will

seeif you bend and turn.

55
Leg shapely leg of the dancer are exquisite ex-
The human leg is a finely designed func- amples of excellent functional design.
tional apparatus. A sturdy part of the ped- As indicated in these drawings, the main
estal that supports the weight of the torso forms of the leg may be divided into a
as well as a powerful means of propulsion series of geometric designs which generalize
and a wiry spring for the body, it is also a their basic nature. Upon these designs may
beautifully formed and proportioned ob- be added the subtle curves and important
ject. muscular accents that will transform geo-
The muscular leg of the athlete and the metric form into human shapes.

^> 57
i?ftn
-

EllA

F\Q

L
Foot
The basic shape of the foot seen in pro-
file is triangular. This triangle is composed
of the relative Hat of the sole, the long line
from toes to ankle bone, and the slant
from ankle bone to heel.
Seen from the front view, the form is
composed of the flat line of the base of the
range of toes, with the two sides slanting
toward the narrow line at the ankle. From
the rear the shape is very similar to that
from the front.
These generalizations are, of course,
merely the solid pedestal that is the main
functional design.

'^?
63
 The foot has, however, many action po-
tentials, and these must be understood in
order to give life to the basic forms.
The toes must have in them the strength
and the spring of which they are capable:
the whole heavy body is raised by their curve is subtle, is also a beautiful and
powerful movements. The arch, while its strong instrument for locomotion.

64
 Remember that you are always available The traditional schedule for a model
as a model and are better, in this instance, consists of twenty-minute poses followed by
than someone else, because you can feel as ten-minute rest periods. If you are only
well as watch your movements. drawing and not painting, the model
Feel how your foot may swivel at the should change the pose every twenty min-
ankle bones, how you can flex your
far utes. Otherwise your drawings will be la-
arch or spread your toes, and you will bored. A series of five-minute poses is most
learn far more about the life possibilities beneficial, or, during a twenty-minute pose,
of your foot than anatomy can teach you. you can change your own position in rela-
tion to the model.
As a general rule only professional mod-
els will pose nude, but if they are not
Model
available in your area or arebeyond your
For painting, the model's pose should means, an amateur— even in a bathing suit
be planned to "live" in its surroundings.
(preferably a bikini)—can be a great help
Arrange screens, draperies, and other ob-
to you. Pretty girls are usually flattered
jects according to the dictates of your taste,
when asked to pose for an artist.
so thatyour model will be a part of the If there is a life-sketch class in your
whole of your picture. Remember, no one
neighborhood, by all means take advan-
lives in a vacuum.
tage of the opportunity it offers (without
You will be able to observe the pose instruction) for practice and stimulation.
much better if you place your model on a
low stand. A kitchen table cut down to Action
about twelve inches will serve very well,
A living, breathing body is always in
or, if a table is not available, a stand can
action.
easily be made.
Even when we sleep, the body is never
While you are setting up a pose, bear in
relaxed completely. Pulsating blood and
mind that no model can maintain absolute
unconscious tensions make the sleeping
rigidity. Make chalk marks of the position
figure quite different from the dead body.
of the feet on the stand. Also register on
It is part of an artist's job to give life
your paper or canvas, within the first few
to his figures. Seek out and study the life
minutes, the general intention of the pose;
spark that makes even the most relaxed
the placement of head, arms, hands, and
pose look so very different from death's
feet; the weight distribution; and the gen-
rigor.
eral direction ofmovement. It will help
The artist's problems with life and vio-
you and the model to resume the pose after
lent action also call for understanding and
rest periods.
study.
In planning a painting the pose should Drawing is We must
inevitably static.
not be too active, not merely out of con- capture in a an action that the liv-
"still"
sideration for the model (who must hold ing body has performed in a series of steps.
the pose for twenty minutes), but because The appearance of running, for instance,
you yourself cannot sustain the spontaneity in life, is conveyed to those who watch by
of quick action drawing while you paint. things other than actual muscular gestures.

65
Space is covered before your eyes; a pur-
pose is apparent.
In drawing such an action, no space is
covered; you need not turn your head to
follow the runner; you cannot feel the
wind stirred by his passage.

66
 Obviously you must find the essence of
an action and then exaggerate its intensity,
in order to convey the elements that are in-
evitably missing in the transference from
real life to paper.

67
 Knowledge of the exact muscles em- Feel them, don't copy them. Make innu-
ployed in an action will never help the merable sketches, eliminating all but the
artist convey that action, any more than essence of the movement, and you will
the knowledge of engine parts will help soon find yourself translating any action
him convey a moving vehicle. accurately and movingly to paper.

Observe every gesture and movement.

68
"^
"T.i-<
Emotion observations,and were all based not on
Emotion broadly defined includes every his knowledge of the personality of the
student but on his drawing.
human feeling and response, and its ex-
pression is definitely the province of the Another characteristic method of his
artist: not only the "inspired" and "crea- was to pounce upon some luckless student

tive" artist, but the student as well. In who sat drawing lackadaisically and me-
every drawing, indeed in every line, emo- chanically from the model and drive him

tion is inescapably present. from the room with the advice that he get
When a student in Paris many years ago, drunk or pick a fight or fall in love—do
I had an art teacher who would, in his pe- anything but draw when he was bored and
riodic criticism of the work drawn by stu- in no mood for the model. That a dull

dents from a model, characterize the mood approach to life and art makes for dull,
and personality of each from the type of stupid drawings was his contention, and

drawing he made at the time he made it. the truth of his opinions has been borne

Not always were his descriptions kind and out to me in many art classes since.

gentle; and his outspoken, uninhibited One must, at the outset of drawing, love

comments on the sex life, personal habits, or hate, be excited or revolted by, the ob-

upbringing, and hopes or frustrations of ject or person one chooses to draw— not
each pupil judged by his work were often approach it an exercise to be fin-
as a task,

shocking bits of snap-judgment psycho- ished, but as an experience to be lived.

analysis. But they were most often true This same teacher used to insist that we
draw everything we saw, even— or particu-
larly—the ugly things. If the model had a
boil or a scar and the student left it out
because of squeamishness, he would en-
counter the scorn of the old professor,
who would insist that the student capital-
ize on his own revulsion and so escape a
banal, pretty drawing. Not that beauty was
to be ignored; on the contrary, the model
was to be drawn beautifully if she was
beautiful, to be understood and loved in
any event.
Cezanne loved the apples he painted,
and you can be sure that his still-life ar-
rangements were emotional experiences
for him before he began to paint. Simi-
larly, Van Gogh invested great emotion in

a pair of shoes, which evidently revealed

to him a moving story ... or he would not
have painted them.
So begin your drawing only when you
Self-portrait : Van Gogh have decided, after a few moments of in-

84
tense contemplation of a person or object, inevitably appear in his work. A moody
what you see and what comments you wish man may draw a humorous figure, yet
to make. something of his moods will appear in the
Is it strength you see? Or do you see sor- most casual lines.

row or fear, peace or repose, or something

But in this section we are going to deal
else? Draw the "feel" you have of the es-
with the moods that appear on the human
sence of the object.
feature,and the problem of expressing
What was the intention of the model
them directly and intentionally in draw-
when she assumed Capture
a certain pose?
ing. The human feature is capable of an
that intention as well as the body forms
enormous range of emotion. The cartoon-
and light and shade, and you will have
ist and the caricaturist, with their privilege
made a living thing of your drawing.
to distort, oversimplify, and exaggerate, are
To do all this is not difficult, but it does
most suited to express this range. But the
require a few decisions on the part of the
serious artist should also be equipped to do
student. The calling of the artist requires
so,and by much subtler means. Great art-
no monastic vows or solemn oaths of fi-
istshave expressed, from time to time, the
delity to a cause. It does require, however,
essence of pathos in the way they shape a
ifgood work is to be done, that he be him-
hand or tilt a head, or have revealed, like
selfwhen he works, that he give his richest
Leonardo da Vinci, inscrutable mysteries
impulses and keenest responses to his every
in the twist of a mouth.
piece.
If you, as a student, begin to do that, Here we show the common charac-
will
you become automatically a creative artist, and forms display in
teristics that features

because in giving yourself to your work expressing an emotion. The amount of

you make it different in at least one respect stress that you give to each of them will

from anyone else's work—you will be in it. demonstrate the intensity of the emotion
involved. As an excellent exercise, draw a
Expression series of heads, each reflecting a shade in a
The range of human emotions expressi- common pattern of emotion, and try to
ble in art is unlimited. Very often the art- make every line, every shadow and move-
ist expresses moods that are not intrinsic ment, contribute to the full expression of
to the subject matter he is portraying; that emotion.
that is, his own character and emotions

83
Drawing Animals t jg er te n t h e story— not a chart of its bones
The habits and character of animals and muscles,
must be studied with even more attention \\ V have included pictures of a number
than their very complex anatomy. ol typical species of animals,drawn as
The great strength and speed, the nerv- simply as possible, yet showing the main
ous ferocity, the grace and agility of a characteristics of each animal.

/W7
I
*
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P
87
^
Drawing Birds The oft-repeated main theme of this
There are many spec ics of birds, each book is simplification and elimination of
so different in si/c and color and so varia- all nonessentials. Bird-drawing and -paint-
ble in nature and activity that it would ing calls for perhaps the most thorough ap-
be impossible to describe "birds" ade- plication of these principles.
quately in this limited space. Unless there exists an explicit reason for
Let us deal here with that general family, doing so, drawing a bird in painstaking de-
the warm-blooded, leathered, egg-laying tail, with photographic realism, eliminates
vertebrate, "the bird." the function of the artist. It is the artist's
Birds' flight is a fantastic thing. A body job, rather, to seek out the "birdlike"

soars in space, borne only by the air under characteristics and intensify them.

its wings and the propulsive power of Make your pencil fly with the bird and
those wings. your brush soar with its wings. Its nerv-

In drawing birds, the flight potential ous, sprightly movements, not its anatomy,
must be captured, or your drawing is earth- are your goal.
bound. Study its wings' characteristic structure

107
and their point of juncture with the body. your female friends. Unfortunately, the
Observe and understand the balancing preposterous bags that men wear hardly
purpose of its tail and the springy beauty accentuate the good points in their figures.
of its slender legs. Watch the vitality of However, clothes, even when they do not
the sparrow and the predatory swoop of follow the form's outline, can express char-
the hawk. Try to capture the nature of the acter—not only the character of the wearer,
bird and its action. but his economic position, his social status,
and his work. We are all familiar with the
expressions "He dresses like an artist" or
Clothes and Costume a "banker" or a "salesman" or, in the case

of women, "like a chorus girl" or a "duch-

Clothes, for the most part, are very ugly
ess" or a "private secretary." The expres-
things; but custom and morality as well
sion of these classifications refers not just
as climate demand their use. The tech-
to the cut of the clothes but to the way
nique of drawing clothes and costumes re-
they are worn and to all the subtle "char-
quires a study in itself; for clothes have a
acter" they suggest.
life sometimes very distinct from that of
An artist of my acquaintance studied the
their wearer, and a comment can be made
furniture styles of many periods so as to
in the drawing of a fold or the hang of a
be able to paint them with an inside knowl-
coat that is more revealing than a facial
edge. Clothes deserve equal attention from
feature.
the artist, for they are the source of the
Let us take the first drawing
step in the
first impressions of the characters we draw.
of the clothed figure. Although the body
Such understanding is indispensable to the
underneath is not visible, its shape con-
quick sketcher, who very often has no other
trols, to a large degree, the hang and the
source of characterization than facial fea-
movement of the clothes; thus an under-
tures and clothes.
standing of the nude figure is indispensable
Fortunately, clothed models are availa-
in drawing a clothed figure. Without that
ble in endless number: those that pose for
understanding, clothes look like lifeless,
you willingly, and those that you trap with
empty bags.
your pencil without their knowledge.
While it is not necessary to draw the
There follows a series of clothed-figure
nude and then superimpose clothes, it is
sketches.
desirable for the artist to observe in his
Costume. In a book on drawing and
clothed model what actions of the body
painting, the innumerable costumes of
cause stress and strain in the clothes and
each period are only of interest insofar as
why the hang of the clothes takes one di-
they communicate the flavor of that pe-
rection instead of another. The only things
riod.
aside from the body itself that can make
Study variations in shape and style of
the cloth move in one direction or another
costumes; practice drawing figures to cap-
are the pull of gravity and, perhaps, a high
ture the essential character of these fash-
wind. In drawing clothed figures, try
first
ions.
to draw simple form-fitting garments that
will enhance the charms of the figure. You The small sketches which accompany
will find plenty of models available among these compositions are "framework" for the
final They will express the basic
drawings. the facial expressions, and the decorative
Ktion. Upon them are "hung" the clothes, technique desired.

109
-Dr.
 From A Complete Shaketpeare, courtesy
Fine Edition* Club

in
 From A Complete Shaketpeare, courtesy
Fine Editions Club
%<^ From A Complete Shakespeare, courtwy
Pine Edition* Club
 From I Complete Shakeapt
Fine Editions Club
STILL LIFE AND LANDSCAPE

115
Still Life constancy that enable leisurely study.
The obvious advantage in working with In French it is called nature morte, i.e.,

the still life is that, true to the implication "dead nature." But both the English and
in its name, it affords a permanence and French terms are misnomers, for nothing

116
that exists in light and shade is either and light. Their lines and forms have
"still" or "dead" for the artist. All objects, dynamic "movement," which the artist
even inanimate ones, have vibrant quali- utilizes for his composition. It is the stu-
ties. Their surfaces are vital with color dent's task to seek out the vital character-
istics intrinsic in every still-life arrangement bined form and transfer that form dynami-
and to make them "live" on his canvas. cally toyour canvas to make your picture
Arrange simple groupings of two or three live. Find the most important masses and
uncomplicated objects. Study their com- the most insistent colors and stress them,

118
playing down or eliminating the irrelevant, adding your own enthusiasm and discrim-
Impart more viiality to your still life by ination to its life virtues.

if, -ii

119
Landscape
Painting landscapes or the sea or
has always fascinated artists, for it
the possibility of far greater freedom of ex-
pression than does painting people.
the artist can do with the human anatomy,
even with "modern" distortions, is little
compared to what he can do with nature
in its infinite variety of forms. Each artist,
then, rearranges nature's abstract shapes
and geometric forms to suit his own taste
and emotion.
Of course, the enormous profusion of ob-
held or even a bush makes elimination a
cities major project. That elimination must de-
allows pend upon the light or area of color or
series of forms that are of special interest to
What the artist.
Block off, mentally, or with a four-finger
frame, a portion of the panorama you see
before you. Decide upon the composition
you intend to paint. Half close your eyes
and reduce the vista you see to a few im-
portant forms and colors, to light and
shade. Roughly indicate those salient points
in as few lines and tones as you need to

jects in landscapes makes decisions as to contain your composition and tell your
emphasis a must. "Emphasis" implies sim- story. When you have "told" your story on

plification, which is generally desirable paper or canvas in this "shorthand," begin

and, in the case of landscapes, essential. to paint.

Obviously one cannot draw every blade of Remember that restraint and economy
grass or every leaf on a tree. The prodigious are all-important, but must be combined
quantity of objects in the smallest area of a with emotion.

120
 Tell your complete story, but no more.
You cannot compete with nature quanti-
tatively. l>ut you can artistically. That is

your job— and pleasure— as an artist.

Study these sketches and various stages

of landscape planning and, using your own
style and viewpoint, try similar areas of
landscape and cityscape painting.

121
/
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 COLOR

Colors Blue.
Ultramarine Of somewhat purplish tint.
There are colors that are basic necessities
It is used mostly in transparent glazing.
for agood limited palette. From these are
Quite permanent except when exposed
mixed a great variety of additional colors
to acids.
under a wide variety of names.
Cobalt Blue A deep permanent color.
RED Vermilion, Madder Lake, Iron Ox-
Cerulean Blue A somewhat greenish
light blue. Quite permanent.
ides (red)
Monastral Blue Made of synthetics. Deep
BLUE Cobalt, Paris Blue, Ultramarine
blue.
GREEX Chrome Green, Earth GTeen
Prussian Blue Iron derivative. Very
WHITE Zinc White, Chemnitz White
deep in hue.
BLACK Vine, Ivory
Yellow.
Primary Colors Cadmium A wide range of yellows from
The physiological or fundamental pri- lemon to near orange are among the cad-
mary colors (those diffracted when light is miums. Deep reds are among the cadmiums
passed through a glass prism) are Red, also. Very brilliant and quite permanent,

Green, and Blue. they are produced from cadmium sulfide,

The primaries in painting (pigments be- frequently co-precipitated with barium sul-
ing solids rather than light rays) are Red, fate.

Blue, and Yellow. Yellow Ocher.

Red. In association tests, when the word Chrome Yellow.
"color" is thrown at the person questioned,
his response is more frequently "red" than Complementary Colors
any other color. The complementary colors are:
It is a warm and justly popular color. Red and Green
There are innumerable shades of red, Blue and Orange
and the color-makers for the art-shop trade Yellow and Violet
have put hundreds in tubes for your choice.
Black
I have found that for the usual palette

Alizarin Crimson and Vermilion are in- Lamp Black A permanent deep black
dispensable. Others, however, are fre- color.

quently desirable, depending on your sub- Mars Black A relatively cool black. A
ject and moods. quick drier.
129
, ST
3LU£ SUN
GREEN ^
YELLOW^
;NGE
RED _

P S
Ivory Black A slow-drying, opaque black. there can be no set rule for the mixing of
Vine Blink Made from vine charcoal. A colors. The student must rely on that sub-
black with a brownish tinge. tle quality which, like the sense of taste,
Bone Black Derived from charred bone. is indefinable: the color sense. Each of us
Impermanent. A good deep black. has it in varying degrees; in each of us it

is unique.
Brown
These few axioms of mixing can be
The bases for most brown pigments are
raw and burnt sienna and raw and burnt
stated in a most general way. Mixed in
equal parts:
umber. These are natural colors of brown.
Browns of various hues may also be mixed Red and Blue make Purple.
by using combinations of black with reds Blue and Yellow make Green.
or orange. Yellow and Red make Orange.

Color Mixing A mixture of the three primary colors

Despite the vast array of commercially will produce a shade of brown, even when
prepared colors, the artist must mix his secondary colors are mixed in. Each of
own special hues, which are as subtly dif- these colors and their mixtures may be
ferent from those of other artists as are his changed in "value" or "tint" by adding
fingerprints. white. The greater the amount of white
The must hold the
palette of the artist added, the paler the color.
basic colors: primary and complementary. It is in the value variations made by ad-
These mixed together with varying quan- ditions of white and in the imbalance of
tities of white can produce literally thou- mixture of basic color that the vast range
sands of colors and innumerable values of of colors lies. Color mixing must be de-
those colors. veloped by experiment into which is
It is apparent that the color variations brought all your sense of play, taste, dis-

run into infinity. It is also obvious that crimination, and observation.

EQUIPMENT

You should choose your work area care- On the other hand, do not spend too
fully, since you will be spending a great long searching for an ideal romantic stu-
deal of time there. It would be a pity to dio of the "Bohemian" attic type. Your
spend it resenting your surroundings in- painting is more important.
stead of devoting it to solving the problem A well-lighted, fair-sized room where
of your painting. you can be assured privacy and quiet is
essential. It should be treated by you and some whittled pegs (to insert in holes

others as a studio, not used as a thorough- drilled at various levels to hold your can-

fare. vas)

A good window facing north gives the This has been a standard piece of studio
best light for painting— a light that stays equipment all over the world since the
constant throughout the day. If this is not origin of the easel-painting school.
possible, screens, curtains, or shades to This is in no sense to disparage the
block off the strong glare or to filter the manufactured easels, which adjust to dif-
light can be quite satisfactory. ferent heights and angles at the turn of a
You must have room enough to move crank and which roll about smoothly on
around. To get a fresh viewpoint on your bearing casters. Anything that adds to your
work, you should be able to step back to comfort and ease while you are painting
look at from different angles. You need
it is worth-while. If you can afford a manu-
space for a good-sized work table and stor- factured easel, by means get one.
all

age racks for paintings and drawings.

Canvas
You also must have an easel and a chair.
This is minimum. For many hundreds of years, artists have
Yards of different colored materials of used the pleasant surface of linen or cotton
different textures are useful for draperies, stretched on a wood frame and prepared
either in posing a model or in setting up with a surface of white casein paint.
a still life. So are a model stand, a still-life This taut yet yielding resilient surface
pedestal, and another table. seems to be more receptive to the brush
Pitchers, vases, bowls, and other objects than the ungiving surfaces of wood or
that appeal to you will gradually find their plaster,and therefore is more responsive to
way into your studio for use in various the sensitive hand of the painter.
compositions. Some storage area for them
There are many varieties of textured
must be provided.
cottons and linens sold in art-supply shops,
Painting is a painful process as well as
and the roughness or smoothness of the
an exciting one. But the hours you spend
surface is desirable in accordance with the
in your studio are always rewarding.
nature of the work to be painted.
Therefore respect it and keep it clean so
that it will always be inviting to you. A delicate, detailed work naturally is

better suited to a smooth surface. Vigorous,

violent brush strokes are more suitable to
Easel
rough-textured canvas.
Do not be disturbed if you cannot afford
the most expensive easel. Most students, Linen is more expensive and probably
and most professionals for that matter, more permanent, though cotton canvas
have small budgets that must be closely has been known to last hundreds of years.
watched. You can make your own tripod Canvas boards are now available in the
easel, if necessary, with the following in- shops. Many art students and professionals
expensive materials: prefer to use them because they are

three 6i/£-foot lengths of pine ly2 " x 3" cheaper and eliminate the laborious pro-
a hinge cedure of stretching.

132
Masonite brass kettles; therefore put only the colors

Musonite is a commercially prepared that you think you will need on the palette.
building board that many painters find to Having arranged all your colors on a
be an agreeable surface for oil or casein
work (able within easy reach, you must
paints.
decide what you are going to paint. This
will require some thought, but is nothing
It in several qualities and weights.
comes
I found the tempered, smooth,
have to be afraid of. You must ascertain your

lightweight board excellent and inexpen- mood and the mood that you wish to trans-
sive.
mit in your painting. Will you want to
paint a realistic facsimile of some object
Palette or an imaginative interpretation? Do you
It is of the utmost importance that you feel like painting delicately and softly

choose the colors for your palette accord- with pale colors or do you feel like piling
ing to your own taste and sense of adven- on thick paint in strong colors? Perhaps
ture. A teacher should never dictate the you will find an emotional outlet in som-
color range, and I hope that the colors ber, murky tones or in strident, brilliant,

suggested here will serve only as the most or gay colors.

general guide. At any rate, squeeze out very small

One specific bit of advice is not to crowd amounts of the colors that fit in with the
your palette with too many colors or to plan you have decided upon. Slightly
feel you have to use them all just because larger amounts of the predominant colors
they are there. may be squeezed onto the palette, but re-
An outdoor scene will require a different member that you can always add more as
palette from an indoor still life of, say, needed. There is no point in crowding
your palette needlessly.
While some artists mix their colors on
the palette with their brush tips, this can
be rather messy unless one is very dex-
terous. A neat way is to use a palette knife
to pick up small dabs of the colors and
place them in a clear space on your pal-
ette. In depositing each color in the clear
space, always wipe the blade of your pal-

ette knife before picking up the next dab.

Then use the flexible edge of the knife to
stir the colors together.
When your palette gets too crowded with
these secondary mixtures, you will have to
scrape off the excess and begin again;

therefore, I repeat, do not crowd your pal-

ette at the start with too many or too large

gobs of color. You should try to judge the
Palette amount closely enough so that each day

133
you can start with a clean palette without impossible with any other paint appli-

feeling too extravagant. With a little prac- cator.

tice you will soon develop this judgment. Acquire a range of painting knives in
Sometimes you may mix such a particu- various shapes and pliability, and experi-
larly satisfying color that you will wish to
ment until you find the ones most suited
keep it for use the next day. While it will
your temperament.
to
dry out overnight on a palette to some
extent and a skin may form, a little tur- Oil Cups. Double palette cups, which
pentine will bring it back to proper con- can be clipped to the edge of the palette,
sistency. The skin should first be cut with are most convenient. They should be filled
the palette knifeand every bit removed so with and/or turpentine. While some
oil

that no lumps will get on the canvas. Dust painters add varnish, the best and most
can also make lumps and are harmful to widely used oil is linseed, which does not
the colors, so be sure your palette is not darken with age as poppy oil does.

exposed to it.
Turpentine is absolutely necessary, not
Palette Knife. Painting with the palette
only for cleaning brushes and as a pure
knife is a rich experience, with surprising
diluter, but also to mix with linseed.
and often very gratifying results.
Keeping turpentine and rags handy will
Many amateurs who, through timidity or
make it easy for you to develop the habit,
because of the use of small brushes, have
as you work, of dipping a paint-filled brush
painted in a tight, restricted manner sud-
in turpentine and wiping it clean.
denly find liberation and vigor through
use of the palette knife. It is difficult to be
Oil
small and fussy in either concept or detail
when using it.
Stayid Oil. Raw linseed oil heated at a
very high temperature until it becomes
The artist may produce textures quite
thickened is called Stand Oil. It is used as

a glossy coat on a finished painting and is

•
quite successful in reviving colors that
fZT... ..
have become dull. It must be applied
smoothly and quickly or it will dry in thick
ridges. The addition of a little turpentine
will thin it.

Stand Oil can also be used as a mixer

in the palette cup.

Sun-Thickened Oil. This is linseed oil

thickened by exposure to the sun in shal-
low pans, instead of by cooking. Its uses
are much the same as those of Stand Oil.
It can be used as a medium in glazing or

as a mixer in the palette cup. An excellent

quick-drying protective film, it enhances

Palette knives the color values.

134
 Walnut Oil. This is ground into the Some painters like the brush strokes to
powder pigments and used by many fine show in their work, preferring the serrated
manufacturers in the production of the lines made by the firm bristles of brush.
best tube colors. Others prefer a smooth painted surface de-
void of all brush-stroke evidence.
Turpentine For water-color painting, only the sable,
Turpentine is a painting medium used badger, or camel's-hair brushes are suita-
to dissolve pigment and make it flow more ble. These are also manufactured in a very

easily from the brush. It is also an agent wide range of quality and shape, and it is

that merges with a pigment to add to its up to the individual to make his choices
quality and aid in drying. It is often used as he develops his style of painting.
in its pure state without mixture with oils, It has been said, with the usual sweep-
but most artists work out a satisfying mix- ing exaggeration of such sayings, "The
ture of turpentine and linseed oil or poppy smaller the brush, the smaller the artist."
oil as a liquefier for their tube paints. While this is amply disproved by many
Many varieties of turpentine are dis- great artists, notably Vermeer and Seurat,
tilled for the trade, and most of them are it is true that an oil painting executed
trustworthy. with small brushes often loses vigor unless
there is a valid reason for their use. Al-

Driers ways choose the tool best suited for your

creative purpose.
There are various siccatives or drying
oilson the market that many painters use
when they want their paintings to dry
faster than normally.
Siccatives, rather than linseed or turpen-
tine, are used with the pigments for glazes
or very thinly painted pictures.

Brush
An enormous variety of brushes are
manufactured for artists. These so range
in quality, price, and style that there is al-
ways a brush suitable for any painter's
pocket and whim.
For oil painting, bristle brushes are
the most popular, although camel's-hair
brushes of very fine textures are often de-
sirable for extremely delicate work.
The bristles are usually hogs' hair set in
metal grips attached to long wooden han-
dles.These are made in various lengths
and widths of hair, pointed or round, flat
and broad, or tapered and thin.

135
 1

jiiiiiiii

Brush Care. Do not allow paint to dry on

brushes after you have completed your day's /
painting. Even though paint remover and
Water-color brushes need especially
turpentine may clean the paint off, the bris-
tender care because of the delicate nature
tles will often break and twist in the proc-
of sable and camel's hair. Water-color
ess.
brushes are required to point, and dried
Squeeze all paint off the brush with a
paint can cause the hairs to spread.
paint rag, and then wash with soap and
water. Rinse off the soap well, because a Paint Rollers
residue of soap may injure the bristles.
The familiar paint roller of the house
painter has been used frequently with

V
(£>, fiV^T POLLER

GLASS p/\LETTE

136
telling effect by many modern painters Transparent white shellacs tend to
who work on a large scale. darken with time and should never be
The desired color is spread lavishly on a used in place of varnish.
smooth palette surface, usually glass, and Varnish may be mixed with the ordi-
the roller is passed back and forth until nary medium liquid in the
oil cup on the
saturated with the paint. It is then rolled palette. It pigment strengthener
acts as a
over the canvas. and binder. By mixing varnish the desired
A roller in a sensitive hand can be used gloss or mat quality can be achieved during
with as much subtlety as a brush, and the actual painting process instead of being
textural and blending effects may be ob- applied to the surface afterwards.
tained with a roller that are unobtainable
with any other applicator. Fixatives

It is a great pity that drawings and

Varnish paintings, being rather delicate, are so sub-
To bring out the true colors and values ject to the ravages of weather, time, and
of a picture, a coat of varnish is usually rough handling. No one can know how
necessary, particularly if the painting is many great works of art have been lost
very dark or if the pigment is very thick to posterity because they were not handled
on the canvas. properly.
This can be accomplished very success
fully with a high-gloss varnish; or if the
painter prefers a flat, non-glossy quality,
this can be achieved by using a mat var-
nish.
,
The artist who persists in preparing his
own varnishes seems overly careful. Most
paint stores carry ready-made glossy or
mat varnishes which I find quite satisfac-
tory. 1

While there are those who feel that a

painting should not be varnished until a
year after it is finished, most artists nowa-
days hope that their paintings will be in
other hands long before a year has passed.
In fact, more often than not, today's paint- This does not mean, however, that artists
ings arrive at shows fresh from the artist's in general and students in particular
easel, enough to handle, and,
barely dry should be so dazzled by their own work
once and wide.
sold, travel far that an onlooker cannot be allowed to

As soon as your picture is dry enough breathe in the sacred presence nor touch
not to be tacky, you should apply the var- the holy shrine. Very few works deserve
nish quickly and lightly so that you do not preservation for the benefit of mankind,
push into the paint surface with the var- but you should take good care of the pic-

nish brush. tures that command your own respect.

137
 This can be done in the case of charcoal, a blower, which often resulted in the art-

crayon, and pencil drawings on paper by ist's swallowing considerable quantities of

"fixing" with a thin film of protective fixative, and in addition did not produce
chemical. All hardware and paint stores very fine sprays.
sell pressurized cans containing plastic These transparent sprays also make excel-

sprays,which throw an even spray over the lent protective coatings for water colors and
surface of the drawing. This happily makes even oils. The hard coat is not glossy, and
unnecessary the old-fashioned system of the transparency is so perfect that the colors
blowing by mouth through a gadget called are not affected at all.

MEDIA

Airbrush the snobbishness of the purists. It is an

There prevails, among certain overpre-

instrument similar to a fountain pen in size

cious artists, a mistrust of modern mechan- and shape, attached to a tube through

ical aids. They look with disfavor upon which passes compressed air from a small
power tools for the sculptor and pressure tank. The compressed air forces a fine spray

sprayers for painters. Yet lithographers and of paint or ink from the pen, and it is with
this spray that a skilled artist can produce
etchers use complicated mechanical aids,
very effective work.
with which they create beautiful and sensi-

tive work. Some airbrush artists spray through sten-

The airbrush has been mostly relegated cils, which they cut themselves. Others

to the advertising-art field, probably due to

"block off" areas not to be sprayed with
baffles.

Casein
A water-soluble paint, casein is capable
of a splendid range of expression in the
hands of an artist who is aware of its pos-
sibilities.

When dry, it is no longer water-soluble

and may be painted over without "lifting."
It comes in tubes and jars and has the thick

consistency of oil paint. It can be used in

many ways: opaquely in its tube-thickness;
slightly diluted with water to make it more
CflMrRESSEb All- TANK
tractable; thinned with water to flow in

138
transparent washes; or as underpainting for is therefore fine for student drawing. High-
oil-paint glazes. There is a tendency for the lights may be picked out with a kneaded
colors to become somewhat lighter in value rubber, and a chamois cloth can wipe the
when dry. paper almost clean.
A remarkable degree of permanence may
be given to a charcoal drawing by blowing
fixative over it as a protective coating.

Collage
Modern artists have devised a unique art
form in collage, a medium that, if thought-
fully used, lends itself to daring conceptions
and striking statements.
"Collage" literally means "pasting,"
which is exactly what the process is.

Collage was first used by the Dadaists,

Casein who took special delight in the "fun" as-

pects of art. They glued wire, bits of hair,

sponges, and other incongruous objects to
Charcoal their canvases to produce astonishing and

Charcoal is, for obvious reasons, one of sometimes shocking effects.

the oldest drawing media. Early man prob- Collage has developed into a serious tech-

ably reached into the embers of his dinner nique. The textures of woven materials

fires to find a handy stick of charcoal for such as burlap and other textiles are com-
his doodlings. bined with leather scraps or any other ma-
Charcoal has many advantages as a draw- terials the artist thinks suitable; cutouts

ing instrument because its many degrees from prints or photographs are combined
of softness make possible an extremely wide with painted surfaces; newspaper clippings
range of tones, from the softest silver-gray are glued to oil-painted areas. All these

shading to the deepest dark of night shad- have produced interesting, vital surfaces.

ows. Crayon
It is simple to make corrections and era-
Crayons are, along with chalks, the first
sures in charcoal work, and this medium color tools used by children, and they are
not without their virtues for the grown-up
artist.

Wax crayons are somewhat crude for fine

work, but can be used with pen and ink or
water-color washes to obtain some very fine
effects.

Crayons lend themselves to vigorous ex-

pressionand can be used very effectively on
rough papers that have enough "tooth" to
Charcoal catch the greasy crayon.
"*
Conte Conte crayon
 Come" crayon is a crayon in name only.
It is, however, an excellent drawing me-
dium of most subtle potential and has far

less grease consistency than common wax

crayons.

Enamels
Many varieties of enamel are available to
artists.

The true enamel ist uses glazes melted on

the surface of plates of metal of various
sorts. The results are high glaze and great
permanence.
There are many enamel paints on the
market, and these are used extensively by
modern painters. Most have high gloss, but
some are "flat." All are durable, and dry to
a very hard surface.
Many mural artists find enamels excel-
lent for large surfaces.

Encaustic
Encaustic is a process of melting wax
colors on bone, ivory, or hard wood sur-
faces, in which heated iron tools fuse the

color with the surface and make distinctive,

permanent, highly decorative effects.

Fresco Painting
This is an ancient process still used by
many mural painters because it is not only
durable but has qualities particularly suited
to the architectural nature of their me-
dium.
The process consists of painting on the
wet surface of slaked lime, which binds the
paint within its hardening surface as it

dries.

Gesso
Gesso is generally used as a ground for
overpainting in casein or oil. It is a mixture Gouache
HI
of whiting and zinc powder in equal parts,
water, and glue.

Gouache
Gouache is a species of water-color paint
that has been mixed with rubber. It is

strictly an opaque painting material.

Gouache has a special quality of its own,
and its effects are quite different from those
of oils or tempera paints.
Good gouache paints are now available
in most well-stocked art-supply stores.

Oil Colors

Amateurs and professionals alike prefer

to use oils in painting pictures. Oils are
not nearly as difficult to use as the average
layman is inclined to think. Even a novice
finds oil paints very easy to use. One can Oil paints
add, scrape, change, and overpaint end-
lessly.

Transparent water colors, besides being

building board, plaster, and even paper
much more delicate than oil colors (paint-
and cardboard. The last two are less ad-
ings must be protected by glass), require
visable, however, since paper does not have
great precision and skill in application in
the permanence of the oil pigments them-
order to achieve the quality of spontaneity
selves.
and freshness so characteristic of the me-
dium.
The price range of oil paints is quite

On the other hand, opaque water colors

wide. Tubes of color may cost a few cents
each or several dollars, depending on their
are not so hard to handle. However, ca-
color, quality, and place of manufacture.
seins, poster colors, gouaches, and tem-
Anyone who is painting for posterity
peras are not as pliable and subtle as oils
and who worries about the durability of his
and are apt to fade and flake.
picture should buy the most expensive col-
Great painters over the ages have pre-
ors obtainable, colors that are guaranteed
ferred to use oil paints, and they are still
to keep their true brilliance for ever and
the first choice of most leading painters.
ever. (Consult the manufacturer as to who
It is of the utmost importance that oil collects and how if the picture fades after
paints be applied to an absolutely dry non- a hundred years.)
porous surface. Moisture attacking an oil For those who enjoy painting and do
painting from the under side is ruinous. not feel the need to go to the lengths de-
Any nonabsorbent, nonporous surface scribed above, there are reliable paint com-
may be used, such as wood, glass, metal, panies in the United States who manufac-
142
 painting surface most used by artists. It is

found and
in a great variety of qualities
textures, and while linen is the most dura-
ble, it is also the most expensive. Cotton
canvas is very adequate and is considerably
less expensive. Cardboard covered with

canvas (canvas panels) is easy to carry and

store and therefore quite popular, though

the surface is less resilient than the
stretched canvas. However, if canvas is too
expensive or not available, masonite or
wood panels prepared with a coat of shel-
lac or a foundation coat of ordinary white
paint will serve the purpose very well.

Your basic color list is as follows:

White. Since you will use more white

than anything else, get a large tube (one
pound). Mix it with other colors to reduce
the intensity. A little white worked into
the red on your palette— either with your
brush or palette knife— produces pink.
Keep adding white, and the pink gets
lighter.
Get either zinc white or flake white.
Titanium white is also very popular.
Black. While there is no such thing in
nature as pure black, it is a "color" that
you will find yourself using. "Modern
painting," with freedom from the rules
its

of the past, occasionally uses black to good

advantage. It is a color that can produce
ture excellent oil colors that may be bought dramatic and powerful effects.
for reasonable prices. Even though everything that we see in
The same may be said about brushes. nature as black is in reality grayed by the
Buy But
the best materials you can afford. intervening light, and though certainly no
do not be deterred from painting because impressionist painter ever would have used
of a limited budget. Great pictures have it, you had better get a half-pound tube of
been painted with brushes from the dime Ivory Black.
store. Red. You should start with at least four
Canvas, either linen or cotton, coated different reds. You won't use them all each
with suitable sizing preparation and time you paint, but it is best to have them
stretched taut on wooden frames, is the on hand. There are many types of red dis-

143
tinguished by different technical names. mer landscapes use a lot of green, but you
One each of Vermilion, Alizarin Crim- will be guided by your requirements and
son, Cadmium Red, and Indian Red would taste.

be a good choice to start. Yellow. You will need Yellow Ocher,

Blue. Get one each of Cerulean Blue, Cadmium Yellow, Chrome Yellow.
Cobalt Blue, and Ultramarine. Brown. Try Burnt Sienna. Naturally by
Green. Three greens. Viridian Green, mixing certain of the above colors you
Chrome Green (light), and Permanent produce other greens, oranges, purples,
Green should be a good beginning. Sum- violets, and browns.

144
(,,
Pastels Everyone is, of course, familiar with the
Pastels are fine chalks that are manufac- pen through everyday use in writing. For
tured in a great variety of colors and qual- drawing, however, a different approach is
ity.
required. You must try out different

French pastels are among the finest and weights to see which suits your particular

most expensive, but quite good ones are technique and then choose several differ-

made in the United States for considerably ent size pen points. Flexible drawing pens

less money. with varying degrees of thickness at the

point, which will be necessary for the finest
Almost any drawing paper is suitable for
and heaviest lines,may be found at any
pastels, but a number of "pastel papers"
art-supply store. The common pen point is
are sold. These are sometimes a variety of
allright for most drawing.
vellum, which some pastel artists find pleas-
Regular writing ink is too thin and
ant. There are also canvas panels suitable
watery to use for drawing. Besides, it fades
to pastel painting.
quickly. Higgins waterproof India inks,
There are many techniques of applica-
long familiar to most artists, are the kind
tion of pastels. Some artists like to work
to use.
with sharply pointed, relatively firm sticks
It is important to experiment with the
of pastel and use short strokes or a "poin-
many otherwise you may
tools available;
tillist"approach. Others like broad pastels,
never find the means of expression best
which they rub on the paper with their
suited to you. Try drawing exercises. Make
fingers to produce solid tones. Still others
some long unbroken lines, then a series of
deftly use a glazing method and thinly
short ones and curved ones. Then make
spread coat after coat to blend into a very
light dashes and heavy ones. This will help
colorful final surface.
you decide which pens you prefer for the
There is always a danger in "fixing" pas-
effect you wish to achieve. Shaky, wavering
tels with a sprayed "fixative" that the color
lines may be due to too fine a pen for the
freshness and surface quality will be in-
amount of pressure you exert; or, if your
jured.
touch is light and the points too heavy, you
Some pastel artists prefer to put a glass
will get a broken, irregular flow of ink,
and frame over unfixed pastel drawings.
which makes the work seem to lack ease and
There are, however, specially prepared
assurance.
pastel fixatives that will help preserve the
The same interruption in the flow of the
drawing without marring the quality very
linemay be caused by having to stop and
considerably.
dip the pen in the ink too often. Recently

Pen and Ink

drawing pens that hold Higgins India ink
have been developed and put on the mar-
Pen and ink drawing is not only beauti-
ket, and many artists have used them with
ful but, because of the intense quality of
delight and thanksgiving— no more spilled
black India ink, one of the best and most
bottles of ink on sketching trips!
inexpensive methods for "line cut" repro-
The pen is not generally used for filling
ductions. These drawings are also among
in large areas of solid black, but mostly for
the most permanent of the popular draw-
line drawing, the function for which it is
ing mediums.
150
so ideally suited. Lines are used for shading scratch pad until it is almost dry and then
and for tone areas in the form of cross- applying it to the drawing. The broken
hatching or very close parallels, or close gray brush strokes so obtained can be very
dots for stipple tones. There are many ton- pleasing to the eye.
ing techniques that are not difficult to To cover up blots or to correct mistakes
learn. in your pen and ink drawings you can use
Sable brushes that come to a fine point Chinese white water color, opaquely. Scrap-
are preferred by some artists for line draw- ing out lines and blots with a razor blade
ing. They can produce an even line with- is not recommended. Although some peo-
out danger of spattering. Heavier, round- ple are very skillful at doing this, it can too
tipped brushes, also of sable, fill in large easily cause scars on the paper.
black areas easily. Very fine drawings can also be made by
Some quite beautiful effects can be diluting India ink in a pan with water to
achieved with the "dry brush." This tech- the consistency of transparent water color.
nique consists in dipping the brush in India This mixture is then "washed" on the
ink. and then scrubbing it around on a paper, giving an even gray tone.

PEN *no INK crow qoiu- pew

Bt-ACK INDIA INK

WHITE wvreft- COLOR

WATER. COLOR. £RUSN ^POINTED)

151
«*
-V '-C r<" fa
Pencil
The most common and most versatile
drawing tool is the ubiquitous pencil.
Manufactured in a tremendously wide
range of leads, carbons, grease, and colors,
Hard-lead pencils may be used to pro-
duce beautiful silvery tones, and soft car-
bons to achieve deep velvety black tones.
Try many and combinations of several.
Drawing work with pencils is
of "finished"

pencils are available to suit the whim of and under-glass frames

increasingly popular,

any sketch artist.

give them permanence.
Secco and ink or brush and ink, which may be
The word "secco" means dry. used as they would be on an ordinary white
Secco painting, in contrast to fresco paint- drawing board.
ing, is done on dry plaster. To achieve the effect of a woodcut or
wood engraving you may scratch away any
Scratchboard part of the black-ink surface with a pocket
A smooth, hard surface can be produced knife or other hard, sharply pointed instru-
on a piece of cardboard by coating it evenly ment, thus revealing the white surface of
with white clay. This known as
is scratch- the board underneath. Extremely delicate
board and is an excellent medium for pen work has been done in this medium.

iNDIft
INK.

15G
 5CRATCHBOARO

BOOK PLATE
Water Color
If you use pigments of quality, water-
color paintings are as durable as oil paint-

ings, in spite of their apparent fragility.

Water color is not an "easy" medium.

Oil paints permit much more deliberation
because they dry slowly and may be scraped
off before they set, if you so desire. One

can paint over an unsatisfactory passage

without detriment to the ultimate results.
Not so with water-color painting. True
water color is transparent and is applied
in a series of washes either one over the
other or in single fresh washes of pure
color.
Water-color tubes

Water-color kit

Water-color brushes

159
 Water-color supplies

Spontaneity one of the great virtues

is other medium. Such quality requires con-
of such painting, and "washed over" areas siderable practice and experimentation.
lose their freshness and brilliance. Make any underdrawing in very fine pen-
Much of its freshness comes from the cil lines that will not show in the final stage
beautiful whiteness of the fine water-color of painting.
paper underneath. In oil painting only the Wash in the light areas of your painting
texture of the canvas adds to the painting. first in clean flows of well-diluted washes.
In water color the transparency allows for The darker areas are then added, also
the sparkle of white paper to play an im- flowed on, not daubed,
portant part. Try not to rely on corrections, though
The quality attainable in transparent an area may be sponged out without too
water-color painting is not possible in any much damage.
160
 TECHNIQUE
"Technique" will be own work, and
appropriate in your
which complement your own original
will
The method of applying pencil or any
other art medium to paper varies. No two
style. Do not merely copy someone else's
style.
people in the world use exactly the same
speed, pressure, and lengths in drawing a
line. The number of lines used and the Techniques
sensitivity with which they are applied are In this section of drawings and paints
part of the individual's personal style. This executed in various techniques, the aim is

personal style is what is called "technique." to demonstrate that "anything goes."

Artists of great individuality usually have This does not mean that any sloppy com-
a truly unique way of applying their tech- bination of materials haphazardly thrown
nique and often influence students in their together constitutes a legitimate technique:
choice of an approach. It is not wrong to quite the contrary. Since the creative state-
observe the technique of those artists whom ment is more important than the material
you admire, but in being influenced you used, it and man-
follows that the materials
should only be looking for qualities that ner of their employment should be suitable

163
to the statement, and not the reverse. It is conventional brush and paint application.
plain, moreover, that the slavish use of Sheets of celluloid have been used for etch-
conventional, tried and true materials and ing in place of the usual copper and zinc
methods is and stultifying.
restrictive plates, with quite interesting results.

Oil paints are splendid and wide in their "Duco" and other canned patent paints
expressive range, but they do not lend have been effectively used.
themselves to the same themes of expres- The use of these new materials has
sion as, for instance, transparent water changed, for better or worse depending
colors. Etching has special qualities that upon your tastes, the appearance of paint-
are not to be found in wood-block engrav- ing and the graphic arts.
ing. Inventiveness combined with discrimina-
With the advent of plastics and the mar- tion will always produce good results

velous chemical and synthetic discoveries whether in conventional or new techniques.

of our times, new materials with very ex- So try them all. Combine them or use them
citing possibilities have been made avail- individually. Experiment and improvise.
able to artists. There are no limits except those set by the
Spray enamels in a wide range of colors thoughtful, tasteful individual and creative
have been put into the paint-supply shops mind.
and have been used by mural artists and Alia Prima. Alia prima is a direct method
easel painters to telling effect, with very of painting without "building up" the
different results from those obtained by canvas with underpainting.

164
 Such a direct approach calls for bold whereby the liquid ink or paint is allowed
assurance and fluency. to become almost dry on the brush.

Broken Color. When a "vibrating" qual- When this happens the artist can brush
desired in an area of paint, it may be
ity is his paper or canvas and create some very

obtained by "breaking" flat color with dabs interesting effects.

of other colors. Drybrush painting allows for a great play

Chiaroscuro. This term is applied to the of chance,which the artist must first evalu-
technique of drawing and painting wherein ate and then take advantage of as his taste

shadings of light and tone, rather than line dictates.

and form, are emphasized. Glaze. Glazing is the process whereby a

Drip Painting. A number of modern completely dry painting is overlaid with a

painters, most notably Jackson Pollock, thin, transparent sheen of color that tints

have used the drip method of applying it but still permits the underpainting to
paint to canvas. show through.
The usual practice is to work on a large- A color diluted with enough oil and tur-
scale canvas lying flat on the floor. The pentine to make it flow on as a transparent
artist drips paint, usually directly from the veil is a glaze. It may be applied with a
can or tube, upon the canvas. With a par- broad clean brush or dabbed on with a

tially preconceived composition and color cloth saturated in the transparent paint.
scheme in mind, the accidents of texture The mixture must be free of particles of

and spatter of the drip are combined with paint or any undissolved substances. In
the controlled play of the artist's hand to order to mix this free-flowing liquid glaze,
produce many striking results. you cannot, of course, use your palette.
Do not disparage such free methods of Rather use a saucer or bowl, or best of all a
expression. The psychiatrists tell us that jar with a screw top, in the event that you

our unconscious assumes a great, if not the wish to utilize part of the glaze at a later
greatest, role in our art expressions, and date.

drip painting certainly gives considerable Different colored glazes can be used one
play to one's unconscious. on top of the other and blended while they
There are many modern artists who are still wet or, of course, each coat can be
throw paint at a canvas at a distance from left to dry completely before another is

the easel; there are others who, in an effort applied.

to escape the tyranny of the conventional A series of the glazes may be used to
brush, draw with the heavy stream of paint build up a complete painting in the man-
directly from the tube. ner of transparent water colors. The results,

The results in painting are far more im- however, are quite different from water

portant than the methods, and since it can- colors.

not be denied that many of the new ap- Silk Screen. This is a stencil process for

proaches have produced striking paintings reproducing prints in quantity.

of great emotional impact, it is very im- A wooden frame is made of light strip-

portant that we study and understand them. ping. Across it is stretched a closely woven
Drybrush. Drybrush is a technique of mesh silk, which is tacked tautly to the

painting, in ink or water or oil colors, rectangular sides of the frame.

166
 Areas on the silk not to be printed are a special tool called a "squeegee," the paint
"stopped out" with a substance that forms is forced through the fine mesh of the silk
a film over them. onto the surface of paper or cloth under-
When the parts of the drawing made on neath.
the silk with liquid paint are scraped with There are commercially prepared "stop-

168
A handout stencil acts as a baffle against a gray spray from a
commercial spray enamel
ping out" liquids (tusche and liquid latex the underpainting, while others like the
solutions), which may be applied with effects that can be gotten by the slight pick-
brush or ruling pens. up of underpaint by the glaze.
One may also buy ready-made stencil
Wash. Wash drawing is a method of
frames and the special color required. It is
flowing water-diluted India ink or black
recommended that the beginner buy a small
complete set for experimental purposes.
water color on paper. The drawing is done
by large hair brushes, heavily saturated
Underpainting. Underpainting refers to
with the premixed solution, which must be
the first layer of pigment put on before a
handled deftly and with "overworking."
series of glazes are applied.
Underpaint is usually opaque and is ap- Mix a few small paint cups with a wide
plied with a more or less quick drying me- range of depth and work on some relatively
dium so that there is not too long a wait simple theme until you develop enough as-

required before glazes are flowed. surance to use many subtle values of wash.
Some painters prefer absolute dryness of Keep your work spontaneous.

DRAWING

Sketching make with his drawing? Does he wish to be

One must love to draw to learn to draw. a skilled hack, or does he want to express

This is the only qualifying statement I himself freely to his own satisfaction?

would add to my already strongly expressed An honest answer to this last question is

belief that anyone can draw. the most important.

In spite of their naive and primitive

point of view, all children up to the age of
six or seven draw well because they love to
draw. After that they are apt to be beset by
distractions of various kinds.

Continued practice will eventually de-

velop great skill and dexterity. Long use of

the artist's tools will make them as familiar

and easily manipulated as knives and forks.
But how well drawing can be learned de-
pends on how much the student loves to
draw and on several other factors: namely,
is he willing to devote considerable time to
the study of drawing? Will he have the
necessary discipline to find out through
self-searching what statement he wishes to

174
 NURJ5>e.^

V/NE ClHARCOAi-
-^'NfiLE EDGE

czoNTfm' CR^Ycrv

t)fcfiu/fNG BCAFLb
Hydra Greece, 1960
% i
-
The Golden Horn, Istanbul
Line
A line drawn by a sensitive artist can say
far more than words. But we must differen-
tiate between the mechanical straight or
curved line of equal consistency through-
out, one that is drawn simply to get from
one spot to another, and the "feeling" line
drawn with understanding all the way and
intended to capture a characteristic note.
The first we "construction" and "di-
call

rection" lines. These are mechanical, pur-

poseful lines that are not intended as emo-
tional expression, but strictly as guides to
action, form, and structure. They are pri-
marily boundary lines for form; and in the
finished drawing they will be lost in the
application of light and shade, detail, and
outer curves and accents. The "feeling"
line, however, is an integral part of the
finished drawing.
In printers' terminology, "line reproduc-
tion" means the absence of half-tone, gray
values,and implies exclusive use of line to
express the whole drawing. This does not
mean that only the use of "outline" is per-
mitted in line drawing. Shading may also
be executed in line.

Variation in the pressure of your pencil

will achieve a vibrant line, and this varia-
tion is the key to expressive line drawing.
A "lost and found" quality in expressing
the subtle curves and contours of body
forms produces in line drawing the sug-
gestion of rounded, turning form and the
impression of weight.

183
 •

- '

* J

s / 1
a !

&
Varied pressure line Constant pressure Lost and found line
 Varied pressure

* 2 - ?
shaded

Shaded line— < ,

/ ,

constant pressure

Pure line
Perspective that light and shade strike them; their rela-

Perspective is, in a way, the very quin- tionship to other masses and structures sur-
tessence of the artist's approach to "seeing" rounding them.
and putting on paper what actually happens Obviously the artist must create an "illu-

before his eyes. It is "the art of delineating sion" of reality, since he is limited to one
solid objects on a flat surface so that they plane while nature is allowed three.
shall appear to the eye in relief, like the real He must simulate, create effects, fool the
objects." eye, and by any means available imply
That is the very nature of the job that what actually, physically cannot be repro-
the artist is confronted with when he be- duced on paper.
gins to draw anything. He starts with a He has at his command several simple
blank, flat, two-dimensional surface. On principles to aid him, all of which are de-
must attempt to portray the
that surface he rived from the science of optics, which
often opaque and solid three-dimensional treats of light, vision, and sight. These are
objects about him; their bulk, weight, perspective, foreshortening, and the appli-
movement back and forth in space; the way cation of light and shade.

187
Foreshortening press that movement. The form that is clos-

Foreshortening is the process by which est to you appears largest.

the artist expresses, in plausible variations You have often noticed that at a certain
of the size of his forms, the phenomena of angle and at a certain distance from a mir-
movement back and forth in space. Fore- ror you can hold up your finger in front of
shortening for perspective's sake can only your image and obscure totally. In draw-
it

be expressed in terms of mathematical law, ing, you are often called upon to draw
but foreshortening can also be done at the hands or fingers thrust forward in such a
discretion and taste of the artist. For the manner as to deceive the eye as to their

leg or the arm or another part of the body increased mass. Foreshortening is the proc-
that is supposed to be thrusting sharply ess of reducing this form so as to convey
forward in relation to other forms can ap- the impression of the thrust-forward gesture
pear to be a monstrous distortion unless the without making a monstrosity out of the
artist handles it compromise
in terms of a part. Here is an example of foreshortening.
best suited to please the eye and still ex-

190
Light and Shade When filling in shadows, it is most im-

A must be drawn between

distinction portant that the areas be homogeneous.
toning to give an illusion of three-dimen- Little irregularities entering a shaded area
sional volume and the shadows and high- without a valid reason may destroy the
lights produced by lacing or turning from effect of the entire shaded area.
the source of light. Do not try to capture every degree of
Where the source of light is strong from variation from light to shade. Find the im-
one single direction, the areas exposed di- portant contrasts and draw the shapes of
rectly to that light will, of course, be most the shadows in light outline, and then fill

brightly lighted. The areas from which the them carefully with the proper depth of
light is obstructed or partially obscured will gray or color value.
be shaded to various degrees of density.

193
 ','

111

1
•-

Shadow ,
obstructs the passage of light.
A shadow is thrown by an object that The depth or value of the shadow de-

195
pends on the amount of light that is ob- ing." Shading is not a means of decorating
structed. a picture, a superficial embroidery, but a
The darkest dark will always be closest necessary adjunct in carrying the illusion

to the lightest light. This is a result of of three dimensionality to your two-dimen-

sharp contrast. sional paper.

Twilight shadows are soft gray. Sunlight It is the most effective method for giving
shadows are dark. bulk and weight to a figure and for making
objects advance or recede in the composi-
Shadow and Shading tion. It helps model form and feature and,
All visible objects cast shadows and have when properly applied, lends a sculpted

shadows cast upon them in turn. No object quality.

is so transparent that it allows 100 per cent The proper our

application of shading is

of the light cast upon it to penetrate: some concern here. This depends good first on a

small changes in the "value" or intensity of judgment of the intensity of the light and
the light occur even when it passes through shade thrown on the figure you are drawing,
clean glass. On the other hand, a window and the transference of that judgment into
or tumbler that partially obstructs light will terms of "values"— i.e., the clear, homoge-
throw a faint shadow, while an opaque ob- neous, total expression of the strength of

ject obstructs light completely and will cast one tone relative to another.

a shadow of an intensity varying with the Before beginning to shade, the shapes of
intensity of light thrown on it. the shadows on and around your figure
must be determined. These shapes, once
The source of light will determine the
decided upon, should be either lightly out-
direction of the shadow thrown behind the
lined on your drawing if their boundaries
object.
are clear, or, if they are so subtle as to
Surfaces that present a flat plane, when merge with the next value in an indistinct
exposed to full light, will have very little
transition, they should be delineated with
variation in value, but every plane that precision.
turns even slightly away from the full force When one tone is general over a whole
of the light loses some of the brightness and surface, it should be applied in such a thor-
changes "value." ough "all over" manner
as to make a com-

The process of showing the effect of light plete statement, and not be allowed to be
and shadow on an object is called "shad- diffuse and vague anywhere on the surface.

REPRODUCTION

Etching zinc or copper plate that has been thinly

Etching is a method of drawing in which coated with varnish or wax.
a pointed instrument cuts a fine line on a The two great differences that set the

196
etching process apart from drawing with eling is what gives to each print its distinc-
pen and ink or pencil are (1) the multiple tive and familiar border.
copies that can be obtained and (2) the The plate is first cleaned with "whiting
special quality of the line. powder" and a soft cloth. Turpentine can
also be used to remove stains or finger-
prints. When the plate is thoroughly clean
and dry, it will present a high-gleaming,
polished surface on which to spread the
"ground" of wax or varnish. After it has
been slightly warmed over an electric hot
plate, it is ready to receive this ground.
Wax may be spread over the plate in an
even, thin, translucent coat by using a
chamois roller or a "dauber." If the ground
is to be a film of varnish, a roller is impreg-
nated with the liquid ground varnish and
rolled on the plate. Here, too, it is essential
to get a thin, even film on all parts of the
plate. Only continued practice will produce
flawless grounds every time; without such
grounds, however, many plates and draw-
ings can be ruined.

Once a perfect ground has been spread,

the plate is ready to receive an etching.
Fine steel-point tools or needles set in

Etching materials wood handles are the usual tools of the

etcher. These tools will not be required to
Etching is essentially a line-drawing penetrate the metal of the plate— merely the
technique, and the best etchings are those ground film—so that they need not be tem-
thatshow the most sensitive line-play. Al- pered steel of great strength.

though a fairly wide range of black, and As an aid to seeing the drawing lines on
white tones can be obtained, it is the fine- the plate, a coat of soot may be smoked on
ness of the line drawing that largely de- the ground surface with a taper or candle.
termines the effectiveness of an etching. The scraped lines will then gleam against
Here follows a description of the etching the black background. After the drawing
process: is scraped on the plate through the thin film
A special copper or zinc plate is pur- of the ground and the etcher feels he has
chased at an art-supply shop. (Copper plates all his preliminaries down, he gently washes
are more expensive than zinc, are capable the plate clean of soot, being very careful
of receiving a finer etched line, and provide not to injure the ground film.
more good prints.) The sharp edges of these The plate is now ready for the acid bath.
plates havebeen beveled to prevent their Its back and edges are "painted" with a
cutting the paper under pressure— this bev- thicker stop-out varnish to keep them from
197
being bitten by acid. thoroughly dried.
The acid bath consists of about four parts Next, the parts of the etching that are
of nitric acid diluted with six parts of water. to remain light and fine are covered with
Many etchers put this solution in one of a stop-out varnish applied with a fine brush,
the plastic or bakelite film-developing pans making them impervious to acid bite. The
that are available in most photo-supply plate is submerged in the bath for a second
shops. bite. The lines and scraped areas subjected

The time required for a plate to be "bit- to this second biting will print darker.
ten" by the chemical action of the acid, The process may be repeated several
which penetrates the scratched lines of the times in order to attain the range of shading
drawing while being resisted by the ground, desired. After the final bath, the plate is

is variable, depending on the depth of bite washed clean, the wax or varnish removed
desired. Actually only a very light bite is by a turpentine bath, and the stop-out var-
needed in order for the etched lines to nish taken off from the back and sides of
print. the plate.
After sufficient exposure to the acid, the The plate is now ready for inking. The
plate removed from the bath (here, rub-
is ink used for etchings comes in tubes and is

ber gloves and pliers are necessary to pre- the same that is used for fine work by com-
vent acid burns), rinsed in water, and mercial printers.

Adab is placed on a glass or porcelain

palette and a hard rubber roller is used to
attain good consistency and even, soft-print-
ing ink. The whole plate (usually warmed
over the hot plate) is covered with a few
even films of ink, after which its surface is

wiped with a cheesecloth or tarla-

carefully
tan rag to remove unwanted ink. Some-
times an ink-impregnated pad is used to
help stamp the remaining ink into the
bitten lines of the plate.
Although nearly all surface ink is wiped
off, a thin film of almost invisible ink is

deliberately allowed to remain. This will

result in the beautiful soft tone that is to

be found as a background in most good

etching.
The plate is now ready for the press.

Dampened clean white paper of some

tooth is placed carefully over the etching
plate as it rests on the "bed" of the press.

Flannel covers are put over the paper-cov-

ered plate to ease the pressure of the metal
'Siquebro el Cantaro" Goya
: rollers but still allow sufficient force to

198
drive the paper into the inked lines of the Celluloid sheets are soft enough to be
etched plate as the bed passes between roll- scratched by any needle point. A phono-
ers. After the rollers have done their work, graph needle set in a wooden handle is

the flannel pads arc removed and the paper excellent.

is lifted gently from the plate and put on a Drypoint. Drypoint is a method of etch-
flat surface to dry.
ing that is done by drawing with tools sharp
The etching has now been printed. . . .
enough to scratch the surface of a copper or
The plate is washed, the inking process re- zinc plate. The incised lines catch the print-
peated, and another print rolled. As many ing ink, which, under pressure of the roll-
as twenty-five good prints may be pulled ers of an etching press, prints on dampened
before the pressure begins to spoil the lines. paper.
Celluloid Etching. This is a drypoint
To aid in seeing the lines to be scratched
method of etching that allows for the mak-
on the burnished plate, the copper or zinc
ing of experimental prints of fair quality
is soot-blackened with a taper before the
with the use of relatively inexpensive ma-
scratch-drawing begins.
terials. It may be printed with a wash-
The scratched lines throw up a slight
wringer or even a rolling pin.
ridge, called a burr, which also catches ink
and produces the soft line effect character-

istic of a drypoint.

Should the burr not be desired, there

exist triangular-shaped scrapers that shave
off the surface ridge.

The inking process and printing method

are the same as employed for acid etching.

Soft Ground Etching. This is a method

of etching that, when printed, produces the
effect of a pencil drawing or crayon sketch.
The "ground" is similar to that of the line
etching, but it is softened by the addition
of about 30 to 50 per cent of tallow mixed
with the resin.

When the plate is thoroughly covered

with the softened ground, a thin sheet of
drawing paper is laid flat on the ground sur-
face. A drawing is then made on the paper

with a pencil, and the soft ground sticks to

the drawn lines because of the pressure of

the pencil. When the paper is lifted, the

drawing has been registered through the
soft ground, and the acid biting process

cuts it for printing.

Rembrandt
199
Aquatint technical problems in the process of crea-
tion.) But in lithography, as in etching, the
Aquatint etching produces an effect sim-
results justify the elaborate technical pro-
ilar to a water color or India-ink wash
cedure.
drawing. Prior tomodern reproduction
The classic lithography method is as fol-
methods it was used, more or less success-
lows: A limestone block is cut (by profes-
fully, as a means of reproducing works by
sional stonecutters) into a smooth-surfaced
the masters.
slab. The drawing surface is cleaned of all
In aquatint etching the copper plate is
impurities, and is grained by grinding
covered with a powdered resin of varying
with another stone, using a powder abrasive
degrees of fineness, depending on the qual-
and water. The grinding is done in a slow,
ity of the tone desired.
circular motion, and it takes considerable
The biting acid eats around the tiny
time and care to achieve a fine, highly pol-
grains of resinand produces a fine network
ished drawing surface.
of etched area on the plate.
The drawing to be reproduced is then
Line etching may be used with aquatint
made on the stone with grease crayons. The
etching to excellent effect. Some graphic
basic steps of the lithographing process have
artists also use drypoint in combination
now been taken.
with the mass-toning produced by aquatint
The printing process is more complicated
etching.
and highly mechanical. Very often the art-
ist, not wishing to struggle with the com-
Engraving
plexities of this process, gives the drawn
This is the same process as drypoint etch-
stone to a professional lithograph printer
ing, with the exception that the burr is
to make the "run" of prints.
never employed. The scraper removes all
The printer "etches" the stone with aci-
surface ridges, and the lines are clean-cut.
dated gum arabic, which makes the un-
Tone is governed by the closeness of the
drawn-upon areas immune to ink. After
engraved lines.
this "etching," the original drawing is
The copper or steel plate is inked in the
washed off with turpentine. Since grease is
same manner as used in inking etchings,
water repellent, when water is flowed over
but no thin film is allowed to remain, and
the stone surface, the drawing lines made
the point produced is strictly black and
with the grease crayon will reject it. Next
white.
a roller applies an oily ink, which only the
Lithography drawn surfaces will accept.

In 1798 Aloys Senefelder invented the Then a sheet of paper is placed on the
ingenious method of reproducing drawings inked stone and run through a lithograph
made on stone slabs. Based on the antipathy press under great pressure. The inked sur-
of water and grease, lithography is a most face transfersan exact replica (in reverse)
beautiful graphic medium, but unfortu- of the drawing on the stone.

nately calls for considerable know-how of Many lithographers now use metal sheets
mechanical techniques. (I say "unfortu- professionally grained beforehand. These
nately" because it is my belief that one sheets of aluminum or zinc are certainly
should not be encumbered by too many easier to handle and quite adequate, but

200
the drawing surface is not nearly as pleasant
as that of stone.

The lithograph process

201
 I Sketch for lithograph, Tommy Beere

Over-light copy, Tommy Beere

 ^OTW-IMW /1_1AA* i'i

Good lithograph, Tommy Beere, 1952

Monotypes
Monotypes are made by a very simple

process, yet their effects are often very

striking and quite unpredictable.
A painting is made on a hard, unresilient
surface. Itmay be made with oil paints or
any paint that does not dry instantly.
A sheet of paper is then carefully laid on
the wet surface and rubbed with a blunt
instrument. The painting is transferred to

the paper (in reverse, of course).

Several "prints" may be pulled, though
they are not likely to be identical.

Woodcut
Wood engraving is a very old method of
obtaining many reproductions of a draw-
ing, and it was widely used prior to the
invention of photoengraving.
It is far more than merely a
method of
reproduction of multiple prints. It is a

beautiful medium, distinctive and capable

of an expression uniquely its own.

The principle involved in making wood-

cuts is as follows:

A wood block (many different woods may

be used, but hard, non-splintering varieties
are most popular) with a planed, smooth
surface is the base for a drawing in brush
Woodcut supplies
and ink.

Tools of several varieties, gouges, plow-

shaped points, and curved cutters are used
all the
to cut away from the drawing lines
wood surface surrounding them. The cut-
ting is made to the depth of perhaps one-
drawn lines There are woodcut presses, but prints
sixteenth of an inch. All the
may be made by using any hard, rounded
are thereby thrown into relief.

inked with printers instrument (I use a spoon) as a pressure

When this relief is

ink on a roller, it is ready for printing. tool.

206
 Paper is placed over the inked surface
of the wood block. The paper is rubbed
Firmly with the spoon until the ink prints
from the block on the surface of the paper.
Color wood blocks are made using the
same principle. A separate block is required
for each color area, and they are superim-
posed, one upon the other, for printing.

Linoleum Cut
The same principle that is the basis of
woodcutting is used in the linoleum cut-
ting process.
All areas that are not to print are cut
away from the drawn lines.
Linoleum is very soft and will not splin-
ter; and a good quality linoleum block,

obtainable in most art-supply shops, will

produce results almost as sharp as those
attainable on wood. Linoleum printing materials

STYLE THROUGH THE AGES

Prehistoric Art
Prehistoric man seems to have been a ture comforts to warrant the supposition
most active artist, notwithstanding the that the artist was a leisure-class escapist.
many dangers and uncertainties that sur- The weapons of the Stone Age were too
rounded him. Perhaps the impressions we primitive for any security against the abun-
have gathered from the study of monstrous dant and voracious animal life. The ele-
prehistoric animals in museums and the ments were fierce and uncurbed, with the
stories we have read of the brutal competi- only refuge that afforded by crude shelters.
tion among men have distorted our judg- Man lived by hunting and
fishing, and his
ment of the prehistoric era: perhaps there fellow tribesmen would hardly have sup-
really was leisure enough for the prehistoric ported him because he had "talent." His
artist to lead an "ivory tower" life. was undoubtedly a hard life, and he spent
Scientific research fails, however, to un- most of his waking hours defending it. Yet
earth evidence of sufficient surplus in crea- there were artists, and we have a great

207
many examples of their works in our mu- walls and caves in Southern France and
seums. Why they drew and sculpted, and Spain force us to the conclusion that their
why in that particular manner, are fasci- art was also a means to express emotion, a

nating questions, whose answers will reveal personal response to their surroundings
the raisons d'etre of and of the art-
all art and an attempt to communicate this re-
ist's apparently unconquerable urge to ex- sponse. For their works were meant to be
press himself in graphic terms. seen by others. No artist produces only for
his own eyes, and every artist is innately an
exhibitionist. Primitive man was as vain
as we are and was proud to show how he
saw the things about him. he And felt he
saw them quite differently from his fel-

lows.
Here are some examples of how primitive
man "saw" the things about him. His fresh,
unschooled approach has been a source of
inspiration to sophisticated "modern" art-

ists who have sought to recapture some of

the unspoiled clarity of "seeing" that goes
-
naturally with the adult but uncultured
mind. He had none of the formal mental
training available to modern man through
schooling and the highly developed culture
^>- about him. Nevertheless, he was an adult
i
whose mind had matured relative to his
environment, and his art was not naive and
vague like a child's; but it was the simple,
mature observation, in graphic form, of
people, animals, and things that had defi-
nite meaning for him. The animals were
sources of food and conflict. The people
were enemies or sex partners, and the
foliage was edible or poisonous. Each thing
he saw registered in terms of a definite emo-
Hunting scenes, Altamira Caves tional response, hardly refined, but intense
and communicable none the less.

That art represented a language to them,

a means of communication when the spoken
African Art
word was probably in its most rudimentary When we speak of African art we might
stage, and when no written language other just as well speak of world art; every type
than pictures was in existence, is clear. But of civilization has flourished at one time or
the obvious care and pleasure they derived another on the African continent. Here we
from the creation of these pictures on the will discuss particularly the art of the

208
Congo Negro and similar tribal arts of Cen- enough to saturate the art of the period
ir.il African natives. It is highly important with a "style."
to examine how these natives visualize, Even in the Golden Age of Greek art,
draw, and sculpt the human figure, for they where the works of individual masters are
have had a powerful influence on European known to us, there were established art
and American artists, particularly in recent academies that produced countless minor
years. masters hardly distinguishable from their
The African native rarely will draw, as teachers.

we on a flat surface, because paper,

do, The Roman, Medieval European, Ren-
pencils, and brushes are not part of his aissance,and Victorian periods all carry the
essential equipment. Since he does use stamp of academies that strongly influenced
wood and stone and cutting implements, the nature of the work produced. Fortu-
his major creations have been in the form nately, during these sharply contrasting
of modeled or carved figures. style periods, splendid work was done, and
Whether a figure is sculpted or drawn, we are the heirs.

its conception, not the medium in which it Unfortunately, there was a stultifying

is made, is of primary importance to us. character to all academies, and surely many
Knowledge of how the figure is seen can thousands of potentially great artists were
contribute to our own understanding of engulfed by academic restrictions, which
drawing. Thus African Negro art has a were most pronounced in the late nine-
most important bearing on the seeing; teenth and early twentieth centuries. The
despite the African's primitive way of life, art academies, under the influence of un-
his lack of a "civilized" culture, he has imaginative men, required the submergence
evolved most beautiful and sensitive of virtually all daring and invention in the

"styles" of describing the human figure. His interest of "exact" reproduction of the hu-

"styles" are equivalent to highly conven- man form and natural objects.

tionalized patterns of the complex human Strict adherence to literal"realism" by

form seen through the unspoiled eyes of an way of surface simulation was demanded of
intelligence that has learned economy of all students.

line and intensity of expression, two qual- The Beaux Arts Academy in Paris and
ities whose recapture has been the obsession its counterparts in Munich, London, and
of many a modern artist. New York turned out in huge quantities
artists who were technically proficient re-
Academy producers of the nude figure. Departures
Academies of art have existed as long as from anatomical exactitude were frowned
there has been art history. upon, and daring or inventive students
In ancient Egypt the similarity of style were dismissed from the academies and
we find common to virtually all creative barred from Academy-controlled exhibi-
academy flour-
artists indicates that a rigid tions.
ished. Assyria and Babylon bequeathed us
a great amount of work in which it is al- Archaism
most impossible to distinguish individu- This is the name applied to a very early
ality; their academies were evidently strong stage in the development of an art.

209
 Archaic Greek art, for instance, was the

stage prior to the Golden Age period. Many

art lovers prefer the strong creative spirit
of such art to the more advanced stages.

Classic Schoo
The style of idealized realism of the
Golden Age of Greece and the best Roman
period is referred to as the Classic school.

210
East Indian Art
Remarkably clever stylization of action
figures was achieved by a school of Oriental
artistswho worked long ago in India,
Burma, and Indo-China. The humor and
charm of these figures are valuable studies
for the art student, and, along with their
simplicity and their integration with the

Mogul painting, Victoria and

Albert Museum

Despite their intricate symbolism, which

expresses the beliefs indigenous to that re-
mote period, these figures hold for modern
Rajput painting, Victoria and Occidental artists a more compelling inter-
Albert Museum est than do the stuffed-shirt concepts of
many of the academic human cameras of
design and decor of the buildings with the late nineteenth and early twentieth
which they are make them
encrusted, centuries.
unique. These seem to have seen the
artists

figure in very much the same design pattern Renaissance

in which they saw flowers and vegetation.
Such stylization should be studied, espe-
cially by those whose interest in the per-
sonal character of the figure is
their urge to create significant form.
During the Renaissance, brilliant and
artists began to add perspective
imaginative
and realism to the highly stylized naivete
second to of the primitive schools of painting, and
there emerged figures of unsurpassed
211
beauty, which embodied not only the great Primitive

concepts of the artists of the time but also The term "primitive" has two mean-
the respect for craftsmanship and the love ings. It is used to refer to painters of the
of the human figure that were part of the Romanesque period and the early Renais-
classic tradition. sance, painters of religious subjects. They
Botticelli, Titian, Correggio, and many were very often monks or nonprofessional
others created figures that are still among artists, whose work was naive in its pictur-

the noblest conceptions of the human body. ing of the miraculous myths of the Bible
and the lives of the saints. The figures were
Realism static, their gestures stilted expressions of
In art, "realistic painting" has become grief, passion, or joy. Proportions were usu-
the appellation for a certain superficial ally quite inaccurate, for the science of
photographic reproduction-in-paint of ex- perspective was not then in use.
ternal appearances of things and people. In these respects their works were simple;
The term "academic" is also applied in but they also were gorgeously ornate in
the same sense. detail of costume and in color. They were

Bombois primitive
212
undoubtedly calculated to inspire awe of, among them arc some of the greatest artists
and to inculcate religious fervor and deep of all time.
respect for, the grandeur of the saints and Modern "primitives" are usually more
the biblical characters. calculated in their simplicity. Henri Rous-
The term "primitive" may also refer to seau is a notable example.
men in all periods, even in our own time,
who draw in a certain manner: that is, men Impressionism
who with great simplicity and feeling draw The word "Impressionism" does not ex-
with a naive spontaneity and innocence press the exact nature of that school of
completely free of academic, second-hand painting. Every artist paints his "impres-
wisdom. Only recently have critics and art sion" of a scene.
lovers begun to appreciate the merit of The Impressionists tried to paint the
these "amateurs," and to recognize that object or scene as it was affected by the

Rousseau primitive
213
atmosphere and light. They frequently master of Impressionism, actually painted
painted the same subject matter at various one view at seven different hours of the
times of the day in order to capture the day.
variations in light. Claude Monet, the great

Bonnard

214
Pointillism (ion is mil iu In' minimized, though to some
their Bearch '"' l,,nn seems at times to re "
Pointillism is the technique of painting
a myriad of tiny dots of pure color to create
slllt in chaos '
Ullile there were man y
a si int. Hating effect. The probable inventor among the Cubists, Cubism pro-
P oseurs
and certainly the most famous exponent of duced man Y tru| y beautiful and original
this school of painting was George Seurat.
interpretations of form.

Pointillist George Seurat

Cubism
The Cubists saw in the human form
neither the calm architectural balance that
was part of the Greek interpretation and
was appropriated by successive academic
schools as the ideal, nor the fleshy roman-
ticism that characterized the late Renais-
sance and the romantic period of the mid-
dle nineteenth century. Instead they appro-
priated the human figure as a convenient
Picasso
source of significant form not to be treated
as essentially different from, or more im-
portant than, the objects about them in
architecture and nature. They utilized the Cezanne, Paul (1839-1906)
human form to emphasize their "feeling" In a book on techniques of painting and
for the proper relation of masses and shapes drawing, the inclusion of Paul Cezanne as
in ordered arrangement. In so doing, they a category is inevitable.
abandoned the pretty and subtle outline in He created the step from Impressionism
favor of the cube. to Cubism that was the basis of modern art,

Braque and Picasso, co-fathers of Cubism, and his influence was a source of inspiration
were followed by a host of total and partial to all the important artists and "schools"
Cubists. The importance of their contribu- that followed. His preoccupation with sur-

2i;
faces and planes gave to the formless Im-
pressionist school a structural vitality that
has permeated modern painting ever since.

"Village of Gardanne" : Paul Cezanne

Expressionism artists that is steadily increasing in num-

The Expressionists are artists whose chief bers; for the honesty of their work is not
concern emotion. Their figure drawings
is subject to challenge, and the richness of its

forgo everything that does not contribute emotional content is striking to any of us

to intense, concentrated emotion, and to the who are able to respond. The inclusion here
sensation of drama. To achieve these, the of their work is calculated not only to aid
Expressionists do not rely on the dramatic the student in understanding an important
gesture or the physical action of their fig- expression of modern art but also to pro-
ures, but rather on the intensity with which vide an object lesson in concentration that
the figureis drawn. will help him find in himself equally in-
Great exponents of intense emotional tense and honest emotion to add warmth
expression are Gromaire and Rouault. and strength to his figure drawing.
They have a loyal following among modern
216
"Christ Mocked by Soldiers." 1932. Oil on canvas, 36^ x 2814".
The Museum of Modern Art, given anonymously.
Futurism tasy, symbolism, the workings of the uncon-
This is the name given to a school of scious and the conscious.
painting that attempted to convey the qual- Hieronymus Bosch combined satire and
ity of movement of a body in space. Marcel wit with a weird concept of horror that

Duchamp was the father of this school. His clearly had unconscious sources.
"Nude Descending a Staircase" is the fa-
mous example of that school. Abstraction
Nature and natural things are the sources
Surrealism of all form, and it is quite impossible to
Fantasy is as old as man's thinking. create shapes that do not partake of some
Dreams have always interested artists, and of the elemental geometric forms in nature.
they have been depicted in art through the The word "abstract" means, among other
ages. things, "to take form." In art, "abstract" is

Surrealism is a mixture of dreams, fan- used to describe a school of painting that

218
uses the natural object, not as a recogniz- berment, and their parts to use wherever
able thing, but as a form pertinent to the the abstract design calls for them. Distor-
emotional composition to be constructed tion to the point of nonrecognition is per-
by the painter. missible if it accomplishes a desirable end.
Natural objects are subject to dismem-

219
220
Abstract Art stractionists will "break up" the figure into
Although true abstract art is nonobjec- rhythmic patterns or deliberately discord-
tive, the abstract artist often arrives at his ant notes so as to retain some of the ele-
creations through the use of the human ments that make the figure recognizable,
figure, "abstracting" from it such emotional yet leave it far from lifelike in the academic
designs and rhythms as he considers neces- sense.

sary for the particular problem at hand.

Its adherents, like those of other schools
do not follow one set pattern, and
of art,
some do not seek the completely nonob-
jective in their abstractions, but are far
more and emotional
interested in design
response to form than in any realistic de-
lineation of objects or figures. These ab-

'With the Setting Sun" Paul Klee

:

Mondrian abstract
'Uncompassed Objects in Space'
Paul Klee
221
 The intelligent student cannot neglect and understand, will be the student's loss.

any manifestation in art history, and im-

patience at and scorn for the things he
does not understand will limit his art ex-
perience and his work. Among the artists
of these abstract schools, even themost ex-
treme are sincere searchers; and a patroniz-
ing attitude, rather than an effort to study
Nonobjective
A painting that is nonobjective is one in
which the artist arranges forms and color
in a rhythmic order to evoke an emotional
response in no way related to the subject
matter, whether story or "natural" form.

Nonobjective Leger

222
 The Encyclopedia of Drawing,
Painting, and the Graphic Arts

Partial List of Subjects Coverei

abstract art

action drawing
African art

anatomy
birds

brushes

casein

charcoal

chiaroscuro

composition

crayon

cubism
design

dogs
East Indian art

etching

eye

female figure

gouache
horses

impressionism

line drawing
linoleum cutting

lithography

male figure

mouth
oil painting

palette

pen and ink

shadows and shading
still life

trees

varnishes

water color

woodcuts

and many others

 —

THE AUTHOR
Arthur Zaidenberg is widely recognized as a leading artist
both in the United States and Europe, and a number of
his works are on permanent exhibition at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York City. He is a former instructor
of drawing at New York University and has also taught
drawing through his three previous books Anyone Can
Draw! (which has sold over one half million copies),
Studies in Figure Drawing, and The Joy of Painting. He is
well known, too, as an illustrator of fine books.

Rnoks-Art/Mus/Craft

CO
CO
to mm*
Books-Blue
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New York: A. S. BARNES AND COMPANY INC.

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