mulus of nature
before him it was difficult to preserve the "dither" in the drawing, and
the life has escaped. This is the great difficulty of working from
studies; it is so easy to lose those little points in your drawing that
make for vitality of expression, in the process of copying in cold
blood.

[Illustration: Plate XV.

FROM A PENCIL DRAWING BY INGRES

_Photo Bulloz_]

The fact is: it is only the academic that can be taught. And it is no
small thing if this is well done in a school. The qualities that give
vitality and distinction to drawing must be appreciated by the student
himself, and may often assert themselves in his drawing without his
being aware that he is doing aught but honestly copying. And if he has
trained himself thoroughly he will not find much difficulty when he is
moved to vital expression. All the master can do is to stand by and
encourage whenever he sees evidence of the real thing. But there is
undoubtedly this danger of the school studies becoming the end instead
of the means.

A drawing is not necessarily academic because it is thorough, but only
because it is dead. Neither is a drawing necessarily academic because
it is done in what is called a conventional style, any more than it is
good because it is done in an unconventional style. The test is whether
it has life and conveys genuine feeling.

* * * * *

There is much foolish talk about conventional art, as if art could ever
get away from conventions, if it would. The convention will be more
natural or more abstract according to the nature of the thing to be
conveyed and the medium employed to express it. But naturalism is just
as much a convention as any of the other isms that art has lately been
so assailed with. For a really unconventional art there is Madame
Tussaud's Waxworks. There, even the convention of a frame and flat
surface are done away with, besides the painted symbols to represent
things. They have real natural chairs, tables, and floors, real clothes,
and even real hair. Realism everywhere, but no life. And we all know the
result. There is more expression of life in a few lines scribbled on
paper by a good artist than in all the reality of the popular show.

It would seem that, after a certain point, the nearer your picture
approaches the actual illusion of natural appearance, the further you
are from the expression of life. One can never hope to surpass the
illusionary appearance