Part 3 (1/2)

Why is not drawing in line with pen and ink taught in our own Government schools of art? The present syste of as little use to the student as possible, for he has no soonerin outline from the flat with a lead pencil, than he has chalk put into his hand, ahis knowledge of drawing to practical account The readier reat service as a preparatory stage to wood drawing, but unfortunately drawing is taught in h the student intended only to become a painter

Since these lines ritten, efforts have beenfor illustrators, and instruction is also given in wood engraving, which every draughtsman should learn; but up to the present ti applicable to the various processes, for the reason that _the majority of art masters do not understand them_

[Illustration: ”ON THE RIVIERA” (ELLEN MONTALBA)]

The art of expression in line, or of expressing the effect of a picture or a landscape fro lines (not necessarily outline) is little understood in this country; and if such study, as the _Athenaeuhts for reproduction by photo- thenorant of the principles of this art and of the si can now be reproduced In the course of twenty years of editing the _Acadee facts have come to the writer's notice as to the powerlessness of some painters to express the _motif_ of a picture in a few lines; also as to how far we are behind our continental neighbours in this respect

[Illustration: ”A LIGHT OF LAUGHING FLOWERS ALONG THE GRass IS SPREAD” (M RIDLEY CORBET)]

[Illustration: No V

H S MARKS

An exa out,” by the well-known Royal Academician

Mr Marks and Sir John Gilbert (_see frontispiece_) were the first painters to explain the co lines of their pictures in the _Acadeht and shade and the character of his picture in a few skilful lines Sir John Gilbert's pen-and-ink drawing is also full of force and individuality These drawings reproduce well by any of the processes]

[Illustration: ”A SELECT COMMITTEE” (FROM THE PAINTING BY H S

MARKS, RA)

(_Royal Acade to note here the firmness of line and clearness of reproduction by the co s by professional illustrators The reason is not far to seek; the painter knows his picture and how to give the effect of it in black and white, in a few lines; and, in the case of Mr

Corbet and Miss Montalba, they havefor the Press There are htsrained paper, &c, but first as to line drawing, because _it is the only means by which certain results can be obtained_, and it is the one which, for practical reasons, should be first s are now reproduced on zinc blocks fitted for the type press at a cost of less than sixpence the square inch for large blocks; the processes of reproduction will be explained further on

It cannot be sufficiently borne innow to students who are not intimate with the subject--that to produce with pure black lines the quality and effect of lines in which there is soradation of tone, is no easy raver as the interpreter of their work Sir John Tenniel, M du Maurier, and Mr Sambourne, not to mention others on the _Punch_ staff, have been accusto, and would probably still prefer this method to any other

[Illustration: ”THE ROSE QUEEN” (G D LESLIE, RA) (_Fro illustrator has to learn the newer raving What s interspersed through these pages, also in the illustrations which are appearing every day in our newspapers, azines, and books--especially those which are well printed and on good paper Mr George Leslie's pretty line drawing froestion for illustrative purposes

But let us glance first at the ordinary hand-book teaching, and see how far it is useful to the illustrator of to-day The rules laid down as to the methods of line work, the direction of lines for the expression of certain textures, ”cross-hatching,” &c, are, if followed too closely, apt to lead to hardness andartist, which he ith difficulty shake off On these points, Mr Robertson, the well-known painter and etcher, writing seven years ago, says well:--

”The mental properties of every line draith pen and ink should be original and personalthis strong point is sure to be attained unconsciously, if an artist's work is simple and sincere, and _not the imitation of another man's style_”[7]

When the question arises as to what exainner should copy ishes to practise the art of pen-and-ink drawing, the difficulty will be to select froreat and varied stores of material that are everywhere to his hand All steel and copper-plate engravings that have been executed in line, and all wood engravings, are within the possible range of pen-and-ink drawing I hold, however, thatof prints: only, indeed, so ement of lines the different textures and qualities of objects hly, twoeffect with a pen--one by few lines, laid slowly, and the other by many lines, draith rapidity If the intention is to see what effect may be obtained with comparatively few lines deliberately drae may refer to the woodcuts after Albert Durer and Holbein, and the line engraving of Marc Antonio

The engraved plates by Durer furnish excellent examples of work, with more and finer lines than his woodcuts [but many of the latter were not done by his hand] ”Sos of Rembrandt are examples of what may be fairly reproduced in pen and ink, but in them we find the effect to depend upon innumerable lines in all directions In the matter of landscape the etched plates by Claude and Ruysdael are good examples for study, and in animal life the work of Paul Potter and Dujardin”

Thus, for style, for o back to the old enerally in a reposeful life, to which the younger generation are strangers But theof otherthe principles of the art of line drawing The skilful copies, the fac-sis drawn in pen and ink, which are the ad artist's friends, are of little or no value in deciding the aptitude of the student The folloords are worth placing on the walls of every art school:--

”Proficiency in copying engravings in fac-si promise of distinction in the profession of art, plainly _marks a tendency to mechanical pursuits_, and is not likely to be acquired by anyone with n” There is ht in this remark

[Illustration: ”THE FINDING OF THE INFANT ST GEORGE” (CHARLES M

GERE) (_Fro in the New Gallery, 1893_)]

In line work, as now understood, we are going back, in a measure, to the point of view of the ht of the possibilities of reproduction, produced ement of line alone (I refer to the parts of his work in which the effect was produced by black and white) No aht, and labour was spared for this one copy What would he have said if told that in centuries to cority, with the possibility of the artist's own lines being reproduced 100,000 times, at the rate of several thousand an hour And ould he have thought if told that, out of thousands of students in centuries to coe; and that few could be brought to realise that a hich was to be repeated, say a thousand tiave to a single copy!

On the principle that ”everything worth doing is worth doing well,” and on the assumption that the processes in common use--[I purposely o on transfer paper, and drawing on waxed plates, without the aid of photography, which have been dealt with in previous books]--are worth all the care and artistic knowledge which can be bestowed upon the artists especially, the importance of study and experiment in this direction As there is no question that ”the handwork of the artist” can be seen h wood engraving, it behoves hi process blocks for wood engraving in every direction, so we should take over soiven to book illustrations