ooks effective there.

[Illustration: FIG. 70 EDWARD PENFIELD]

[Side note: _Modern Decorative Draughtsmen_]

A word or two, in conclusion, concerning some of the modern decorative
draughtsmen. Of those who work in the sixteenth century manner,
Mr. Howard Pyle is unquestionably the superior technician. His
line, masterly in its sureness, is rich and charged with feeling.
Mr. H. Ospovat, one of the younger group of English decorators,
has also a charming technique, rather freer than that of Mr. Pyle,
and yet reminding one of it. Mr. Louis Rhead is another of the same
school, whose designs are deserving of study. The example of his
work shown in Fig. 71--excellent both in color and in drawing--is
one of his earlier designs. Mr. J. W. Simpson, in the book-plate,
Fig. 72, shows the broadest possible decorative method; a method
which, while too broad for anything but a poster or a book-label,
is just what the student should aim at being able to attain.

[Illustration: FIG. 71 LOUIS J. RHEAD]

[Illustration: FIG. 72 J. W. SIMPSON]

Some of those decorators whose work shows a Japanese influence have
a most exquisite method. Of these, that remarkable draughtsman, M.
Boutet de Monvel, easily takes the first place. Those who have had
the good fortune to see his original drawings will not easily forget
the delicate beauty of outline nor the wonderfully tender coloring
which distinguishes them. Mr. Maxfield Parrish is another masterly
decorator who is noted for his free use of Japanese precedent as
well as for the resourcefulness of his technique. The drawings
of Mr. Henry McCarter, too, executed as they are in pure line, are
especially valuable to the student of the pen. In respect both of
the design and treatment of decorative subjects, the work of the
late Aubrey Beardsley is more individual than that of any other
modern draughtsman. That of our own clever and eccentric Bradley,
while very clearly confessing its obligations, has yet a distinctive
character of its own. The work of the two latter draughts men,
however, is not to be recommended to the unsophisticated beginner
for imitation, for it is likely to be more harmful than otherwise.
Nevertheless, by steering clear of the grotesque conventions with
which they treat the human figure, by carefully avoiding the intense
blacks in which a great deal of their work abounds, and by generally
maintaining a healthy condition of mind, much is to be learned
from a study of thei