Part 11 (2/2)

How far, then, may the author be said to be responsible for the state of things just quoted? Theoretically, he is the man of taste and culture _par excellence_; he is, or should be, in most cases, the arbiter, the dictator to his publisher, the chooser of style The book is his, and it is his business to decide in what for his judg out details How co anything that the hand can put upon paper, the latter-day nineteenth-century author is so much in the hands of others as to the appearance of his book? It is because the so-called educated ht to use his hands as the ht themselves to use theirs The e of ”advanced civilisation,” when the only ers” The child of ten years old, whose eye wasin unconsciously the facts of perspective and the like, had a pencil tied with string to his two first fingers until he had mastered the ups and downs, crosses and dashes, of reat, as well as the little, ones of the earth, as the best s; and so, regardless of style, character, or picturesqueness, he scribbles away! Sostyle of penmanshi+p

There is no doubt that the author of the future will have to come more into personal contact with the artist than he has been in the habit of doing, and that the distinction I referred to in the first chapter, between illustrations which are to be (1) records of facts, and (2) works of art, will have to be st the needs in the community of book producers is one that I only touch upon because it affects the illustrator:--That there should be an expert in every publishi+ng house to deter is suitable for publication; and (2) by what means it should be reproduced

The resources of an establishement; but the editors and publishers who are inforuished by the quality of their publications By the substitution of process blocks for wood engravings in books, publishers are deprived to a great extent of the fostering care of the raver, to which they have been accusto the illustrator, none, I venture to say, are more prejudicial than the acceptance by editors and publishers of inartistic drawings

It would be difficult, I think, to point to a period when so much bad as produced as at present The causes have already been pointed out, the beautiful processes for the reproduction of drawings are scarcely understood by the majority of artists, publishers, authors, or critics It is the _ging our national reputation in thethe student

The modern publisher, it may be said without offence, understands the manufacture and the commerce of a book better than the art in it And how should it be otherwise? The best books that were ever produced, froned by students of art and letters, men removed from the commercial scra unknown! The ordinary art education of a publisher, and the enerally, for the task of deciding whether an illustration is good or bad, or how far--when he cheapens the production of his book by using photographic illustrations (”snap-shots” fro them ”art” The deterioration in the character of book illustration in England is a serious matter, and public attention may well be drawn to it

Here we look for the active co-operation of the author The far-reaching spread of education--especially technical art education--is tending to bring together, as they were never brought before in this century, the author and the illustrator The author of a book will give es, to the decorative character of type and ornae artist will be better educated from a literary point of view; and, to use a French word for which there is no equivalent, will be more _en rapport_ with both author and publisher

For the illustrator by profession there see properly in this connection

”It is a poor career, Blackburn,” said a well-knospaper illustrator to me lately (an artist of distinction and success in his profession who has practised it for twenty years), ”you seldoive satisfaction--not even to yourself”

”It is an _ideal career_,” says another, a younger ue to-day--and with the incoain to the question in the _Athenaeuht in our Government schools of art?” I think the principal reasons why the art of illustration by the processes is not generally taught in art schools are--

(1) drawing for reproduction requiresthan is possible in art classes in public schools; (2) the art hout the country, with very few exceptions, _do not understand the new processes_--which is not to be wondered at

It is not the fault of the ht in most cases as if they were to become painters, when the only possible career for the n The masters are, for the roundwork of knowledge to every student, as to drawing for the press There is no question that the best preparation for this work is the _best general art teaching that can be obtained_ The student must have drawn from the antique and fron; have studied froht and shade, aerial perspective and the like; in short, have followed the routine study for a painter whose first aim should be to be a master ofillustrator by process will require to know, he needs personal help He will have a multitude of questions to ask ”so; _for what style of process work he is by touch and temperament best fitted_, and so on All this has to be considered if we are to keep a good standard of art teaching for illustration

The fact that _a pen-and-ink drahich looks well scarcely ever reproduces well_, s for process, con, will not reproduce as expected, for want of exact knowledge of the require by a trained hand will often _look better in the reproduction_ These ren, to architectural drawings and the like

The topical illustrator and sketcher in weekly prints has, of course, more licence, and it matters less what becoh the press Still the illustrator, of whatever rank or style, has a right to co is reproduced on a scale not intended by him, or by a process for which it is not fitted, or if printed badly, and with bad materials

But the sketchy style of illustration see tolerable only when allied to great ability--remains consequently in the hands of a few There is plenty of talent in this country which is wasted for want of control It plays about us like su ant the precision and accuracy of the telegraph

The art of colour printing (whether it be by the intaglio processes, or by chroraphy, or on relief blocks) has arrived at such proficiency and has become such an important industry that it should be mentioned here By its means, a beautiful child-face, by Millais, is scattered over the world by hundreds of thousands; and the reputation of a young artist, like Kate Greenaway, e and success to the colour-printer Adrace, taste, and invention of Kate Greenaway as an illustrator, there is little doubt that, without the wood engraver and the example and sympathetic aid of such artists as H S Marks, RA, Walter Crane, and the late Randolph Caldecott, she would never have received the praise bestowed upon her by M Ernest Chesneau, or Mr Ruskin These things sho intimately the arts of reproduction affect reputations, and how important it is that more sympathy and communication should exist between all producers In thefrom the press the expert can discern clearly where this sye exist, and where ability, on the part of the artist, has been allied to practical knowledge of the requirements of illustration

The business ofof pictures and designs to be multiplied in the press; and, in order to learn the technique and obtain e pupils have to fall into the ways of the producers of cheap illustrations, Christe of thepressed forward in technical schools) is leading to disastrous consequences, as dom

In the ”book of the future” we hope to see less of the ”lath and plaster” style of illustration, produced fros by the cheap processes; fewer of the blots upon the page, which the modern reader seems to take as a matter of course In books, as in periodicals, the illustrator by process will have to divest himself, as far as possible, of that tendency to scratchiness and exaggeration that injures so many process illustrations In short, heof his lines and washes, and to the adequate expression of textures

There is a great deal yet to learn, for neither artists nor writers have mastered the subject Few of our best illustrators have the tiards criticism, it is hardly to be expected that a revieho has a pile of illustrated books to pronounce upon, should know the reason of the failures that he sees before him Thus the public is often uides as to the value and importance of the new systems of illustration[24]

In conclusion, let us remember that everyone who cultivates a taste for artistic beauty in books, be he author, artist, or artificer,the monotony and confusion in style, which pervades the outward aspect of so many books It is a far cry froes of awhich was shown in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in the production of books, exists in the nineteenth, under difficult conditions

In the ”book of the future” the author will help personally, ested The subject is not half-ventilated yet, nor can I touch upon it further, but the day is not far distant when the power of the hand of the author will be tested to the utmost, and lines of all kinds will appear in the text There is really no limit to what may be done with ence

Two questions, however, ree and history, we are co information to each other much better than the ancients did in cuneiform inscriptions, on stones and monuments (2) Whether, as athe best use of modern appliances

Let us, then, cultivatefor the press, and treat it as a worthy profession Let it not be said again, as it was to me lately by one who has devoted half a lifetis, ”The processes of reproduction are to hand, but where are our artists?” Let it not be said that the chariot-wheels of the press move too fast for us--that chemistry and the sun's rays have been utilised too soon--that, in short, the processes of reproduction have been perfected before their time! I think not, and that an art--the art of pictorial expression--which has existed for ages and is now best understood by the japanese, st us to a more practical end