inue to put forth, which cannot find a place in
the categories of Art, it would seem that these preachments have been
unheeded, or were not sufficiently clear to afford practical guidance for
whom they were intended. Mr. P. H. Robinson(14)declares most strenuously
for composition. "It is my contention," he says, "that one of the first
things an artist should learn is the _construction_ of a picture." On a
par with this is the opinion of Mr. Arthur Dow, the artist, who declares
that "art education _should begin_ at composition."

It is for lack of this that the searcher for the picturesque so frequently
returns empty handed.

PART II - THE AESTHETICS OF COMPOSITION

CHAPTER XII - BREADTH VERSUS DETAIL

Subjectively the painter and the photographer stretch after the same goal.

Technically they approach it from opposite directions.

The painter starts with a bare surface and creates detail, the
photographer is supplied therewith.

Art lies somewhere between these starting points; for art is a reflection
of an idea and ideas may or may not have to do with detail.

According to the subject then is the matter of detail to serve us. In the
expression of character a certain amount of detail is indispensable; by
the painter to be produced, by the photographer saved. But detail is
often so beautiful in itself! and is not art a presentation of the
beautiful, pleads the photographer. And the reply in the Socratic method
is: "Look at the _whole_ subject: does the idea of it demand this detail?"

The untutored mind always sees detail. For this reason most education is
inductive, but though the process is inductive, the goal is the eternal
synthesis. It is the reporter who gathers the facts: the editor winnows
therefrom the moral.

The artist must--in time--get on top and take this survey. Looking at any
subject with eyes half closed enables him to see it without detail, and
later, with eyes slowly opening, admitting that much only which is
necessary to character.

The expression of character by masses of black and white proves this.
Bishop Potter is unmistakable, his features bounded by their shadows.
From such a start then it is a question of procedure cautiously to that
point where the greatest character lies, but beyond which point detail
becomes unnecessary to character.

[Bishop Potter]

The pen portrait of Thackeray by Robt. Blum is a careful delineation of
the