Part 3 (1/2)

Let us take another exa 37 shows a moat-house in Norerated by the camera, the conditions are practically those which ould have to consider ea sketch on the spot

First of all, then, does the subject, froraph is taken, compose well? It cannot be said that it does The vertical lines made by the ters are unpleasantly emphasized by the trees behind theht and placed soht, so that the top should fill out the aard angles of the roof for The trees on the right ht be lowered also, but otherwise perrowth of ivy on the tower takes an ugly outline, and ular in form

[Footnote : The student is advised to consult ”Composition,” by Arthur W Dow [New York, 1898]]

[Illustration: FIG 37 FROM A PHOTOGRAPH]

The next consideration is the disposition of the values In the photograph the whites are confined to the roadway of the bridge and the bottom of the tower This is evidently due, however, to local color rather than to the direction of the light, which strikes the nearer tower fro in shadow While the black areas of the picture are large enough to carry athe sunny look, such a scheme would be likely to produce a labored effect Two alternative scheest themselves: First, to ht, with a light half-tone for the roof, and a darker effect for the trees on the right Or, second, to ested by the photograph, allowing theray of the roof and the ivy of the tower This latter sche 38

[Illustration: FIG 38 C D M]

It will be noticed that the trees are not nearly so dark as in the photograph If they were, they would be overpowering in so large an area of white It was thought better, also, to change the direction of the light, so that the dark ivy, instead of acting contradictorily to the effect, ht lend character to the shaded side The lower portion of the nearer toas toned in, partly to qualify the vertical line of the tohich would have been unpleasant if the shading were uniforray around to the entrance It was thought advisable, also, to cut fro the upper lily (It is far from my intention, however, to convey the impression that any liberties may be taken with a subject in order to persuade it into a particular scheme of corapher could probably have discovered a position for his cae whatever;--a nearer view of the building, for one thing, would have considerably lowered the trees)

[Illustration: FIG 39 FROM A PHOTOGRAPH]

[Side note: _Third Probleraph, Fig 39, shows a street in Holland In this case, the first thing we have to determine is where the interest of the subject centres In such a perspective the salient point of the picture often lies in a foreground building; or, if the street befor the representation of soures

In either case the eround, the distant vanishi+ng lines of the street being rendered uely In the present subject, however, the converging sky and street lines are broken by the quaint clock-tower This and the buildings underneath it appeal to us at once as the s present nothing intrinsically interesting, and therefore serve no better purpose than to lead the eye to the centre of interest Whatever actual values these inters have that will hinder their usefulness in this regard can, therefore, be changed or actually ignored without affecting the integrity of the sketch or causing any pangs of conscience

The building on the extre contrasts of color in the black shadow of the eaves and of the shop-front below

These contrasts, coe of the picture, are bad They would act like a showy fra the eye from the real subject It may be objected, however, that it is natural that the contrasts should be stronger in the foreground Yes; but in looking straight at the clock-tower one does not see any such dark shadow at the top of the very uninteresting building in the left foreground The camera saw it, because the ca, and does not interest itself about any one thing in particular Besides, if the keeper of the shop had the bad taste to paint it dark we are not bound to make a record of the fact; nor need we assuard to the pictorial possibilities of the street We decide, therefore, to render, as faithfully as we may, the values of the clock-tower and its iard the discordant ele for principal e 40, the shadow under the projecting building This dark accent will count brilliantly against the foreground and the walls of the buildings, which ill treat broadly as if white, ignoring the slight differences in value shown in the photograph We retain, however, the literal values of the clock-tower and the buildings underneath it, and express as nearly as we can their interesting variations of texture

The buildings on the right are too black in the photograph, and these, as well as the shadow thrown across the street, ill considerably lighten After so on the extreme left is a nuisance, and we omit it Even then, the one with the balcony next to it requires to be toned down in its strong values, and so the shadows here arekept white It will be found that anything like a strong e would detract from the effect of the tower, so that the shadow under the eaves is, therefore, raph, while that of the balcony below is htened at the edge of the drawing to throw the emphasis toward the centre

[Illustration: FIG 40 C D M]

To add interest to the picture, and ures are introduced It will be noticed that the cart is inserted at the focal point of the drawing to better assist the perspective

CHAPTER VI

ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING

It is but a few years since architects' perspectives were ”built up” (it would be apen; and if architectural drawing has not quite kept pace with that for general illustration since, a backward glance over the professionalof coh a standard or so artistic a character is not observable in architectural as in general illustration is, I think, not difficult to explain Very few of the clever architectural draughtsmen are illustrators by profession

Few, even of those who are generally known as illustrators, are anything_less_--than versatile architects; and yet Mr Pennell, ould appear to assu, that the point of view of the architect is normally pictorial, seems at a loss to explain why Mr Robert Blum, for instance, can illustrate an architectural subject hts his premises, it is re its members in this country such men as Mr B

G Goodhue and Mr Wilson Eyre, Jr, and in England such thorough artists as Mr Prentice and Mr Ernest George-- lines of purely architectural practice, yet any one of ould, I venture to say, cause considerable displaceazine illustrators Moreover (and the suggestion is not unkindly offered), were the architects and the illustrators to change places architecture would suffer most by the process

[Side note: _The Architects' Case_]

That the average architect should be incapable of artistically illustrating his own design, ought, I think, to be less an occasion for surprise than that few painters, whose point of view is essentially pictorial, can make even a tolerable interpretation in line of their own paintings Be it remembered that the pictures made by the architect are seldos themselves are merely conteeometrical elevations in the office, very, very far from Nature

Moreover, the subjects are not infrequently such as lend therace to picturesque illustration The structure to be depicted may, for instance, be a heavy cubicalsky-line; or it , impossible to reconcile with natural accessories either in pictorial scale or in cohtsraph album, evolve out of his inner consciousness When it is further considered that such structures, even when actualities, are unco absolutely none of those interesting accidents so dear to the artist, and perhaps with nothing whatever about theestion, we have a probleous to that presented by the sculpturesque possibilities of ”fashi+onable trousering” That, with such uninspiring conditions, architectural illustration does not develop so interesting a character nor attain to so high a standard as distinguishes general illustration is not to be wondered at It is rather an occasion for surprise that it exhibits so little of the artificiality of the fashi+on-plate after all, and that the better part of it, at least, is not ure illustration would be were it denied the invaluable aid of the living y

[Side note: _The Architects' Point of View_]

The architectural perspective, however, is not to be regarded purely from the pictorial point of view It is an illustration first, a picture afterwards, and al, which is the essential subject This building cannot, therefore, be”picturesqueries,”