Part 1 (1/2)

Pen Drawing

by Charles Maginnis

CHAPTER I

STYLE IN PEN DRAWING

Art, with its finite means, cannot hope to record the infinite variety and complexity of Nature, and so contents itself with a partial stateination for the full and perfectThis inadequation, and the artificial adjustht of what is known as artistic convention; and as each art has its own particular limitations, so each has its own particular conventions Sculpture reproduces the forms of Nature, but discards the color without any shock to our ideas of verity; Painting gives us the color, but not the third dimension, and we are satisfied; and Architecture is _purely_ conventional, since it does not even aim at the imitation of natural for_]

Of the kindred arts which group the, none is based on such broad conventions as that hich we are i In this nored, is suggested bythickness, placed ether upon white paper; while natural form depends primarily for its representation upon arbitrary boundary lines

There is, of course, no authority in Nature for a positive outline: we see objects only by the difference in color of the other objects behind and around them The technical capacity of the pen and inkto every natural one, so that a broad interpretation has to be adopted which eliminates the less positive values; and, that form may not likewise be sacrificed, the outline becoainst light This outline is the most characteristic, as it is the

To seek to abolish it only involves a resort to expedients no less artificial, and the results of all such attempts, dependent as they necessarily are upon elaboration of color, and a general indirectness ofMore frequently, however, an elaborate color-sche at the technical lireatest possible number of values

It may be worth while to inquire whether excellence in pen drawing consists in thus dispensing with its recognized conventions, or in otherwise taxing the technical resources of the instrument

This involves the question of Style,--of what characteristic pen methods are,--a question which ill briefly consider

[Side note: _What Constituted ”Style”_]

It is a recognized principle that every ard to its nature and properties

The sculptor varies his technique according as he works in wood, granite, or marble; the painter handles his water-color in quite anotherof the same subject; and the architect, with the subtle sense of the craftsman, carries this principle to such a fine issue as to impart an individual expression even to particular woods He knows that what n when executed in brass ht-iron and is sure to be an absurdity in wood An artistic ly for pottery or cut-glass, and so on There is a genius, born of its particular properties, in every medium, which demands individual expression Observe, therefore, that Art is not satisfied with mere unrelated beauty of form or color It requires that the result confess some sensible relation to the means by which it has been obtained; and in proportion as it does this, it may claim to possess that individual and distinctive charm which we call ”Style” It may be said, therefore, that the technical liht properly be called natural conventions; and while uided ambition may set these conventions aside to ha medium, the triumph is only mechanical; Art does not lie that way

[Side note: _The Province of the Pen_]

Ought the pen, then, to be persuaded into the province of the brush?

Since the natures of the two means differ, it does not stultify the water-color that it cannot run the deep garandest and most comprehensive of musical instruments we may still be permitted to cherish our piano Each has its own sphere, its own reason for being So of the pen,--the piccolo flute of the artistic orchestra Let it pipe its high treble asthe bassoon

[Illustration: FIG 1 JOSEPH PENNELL]

Pen drawing is ins to assu, such as an elaborate eneral indirectness of method A painter once told me that he was almost afraid to handle the pen,--”It is so fearfully direct,” he said He understood the instrument, certainly, for if there is one characteristic uish pen methods it is Directness

The nature of the pen see out the really vital features of a subject Pen drawing has been aptly terenius of the pen-point is essentially epitome

If we turn to the brush, we find its capacity such that a high light ht down to a minute fraction of an inch with a feift strokes of it; whereas the tedious labor, not to speak of the actual technical difficulties, encountered in atte such an effect of color with pen and ink, indicates that we are forcing the medium Moreover, it is technically impossible to reproduce with the pen the low values which may be obtained with the brush; and it is unwise to attempt it The way, for example, in which Mr Joseph Pennell handles his pen as compared with that in which he handles his brush iswhat I have been h key,--brilliant blacks and large light areas, with often just enough half-tone to soften the effect His wash-drawings, on the contrary, are so utterly different in uished as they are by s 1 and 5 Observe that there is no straining at the technical capacity of the pen or of the brush; no attempt to obtain an effect in one medium which seems to be more naturally adapted to the other Individuality is ienius

[Illustration: FIG 2 MAXIME LALANNE]

[Side note: _Examples of Good Style_]

I have said that the chief characteristic of pen methods is Directness

I think I may now say that the chief ele by M Maxi 2 is an excellent example of this economy carried to its extreme Not a stroke could be spared, so direct and sienous that nothing could be added to make it more so The architecture is left without color, and yet we are estion of low color being obtained by a careful avoidance of any strong black notes in the rendering, which would have intensified the whites and lighted up the picture Fig 3, by the same artist, is even more notable by reason of the masterly breadth which characterizes the treatment of aof the Restoration House, at Rochester, England, Fig

4, is instructive In the latter theof the effect is obtained by suggestion The technique is varied and interesting, but the whole drawing lacks that individual sos we see foliage convincingly represented by means of the mere outlines and a few subtle strokes of the pen There is no atte of natural objects in detail, all is accoestion: and while I do not wish to be understood as insisting upon such a severely simple style, much less upon the purist theory that the function of the pen is concerned with form alone, I would impress upon the student that Lalanne's is incomparably the finer manner of the two