t the imitation of natural
form.

[Sidenote: _The Conventions of Line Drawing_]

Of the kindred arts which group themselves under the head of Painting,
none is based on such broad conventions as that with which we are
immediately concerned--the art of Pen Drawing. In this medium,
Nature's variety of color, when not positively ignored, is suggested
by means of sharp black lines, of varying thickness, placed more or
less closely together 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 ink
medium, however, does not provide a value corresponding to 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 becomes necessary, that light objects may
stand relieved against light. This outline is the most characteristic,
as it is the most indispensable, of the conventions of line drawing.
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 of method, lack some of the best characteristics of
pen drawing. More frequently, however, an elaborate color-scheme
is merely a straining at the technical limitations of the pen in
an effort to render the greatest 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 we will briefly consider.

[Side note: _What Constituted "Style"_]

It is a recognized principle that every medium of art expression
should be treated with due regard 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
another manner than that he would employ on an oil-painting of
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