OLOR, HARMONY, TONE

In viewing a picture exhibition the average man, woman and child would be
attracted by different aspects of it; the man by the tone of the pictures,
the woman by their color, the child almost wholly by the form or subject.
The distinction is of course epigrammatic, but there is a basis for it in
the daily associations of each of the three, the man with the conventional
appointments of his dress and his business equipment, the woman with her
gowns, her house decorations and flowers, the child with the world of
imagination and fancy in which he dwells.

The distinction has much to do with the method and the degree of one's
aesthetic development. That a picture must have a subject is the first
pons asinorum to be crossed, the child usually preferring to remain on the
farther side. The delight in color belongs to the lighter, freer or more
barbaric part of the race. Tone best fits the sobriety of man.

The distinction is the difference in preference for an oak leaf as it
turns to bronze, and a maple as it exchanges its greens for yellow and
scarlet.

In the latter case two primaries are evolved from a secondary color and in
the other a tertiary from a secondary. In the case of the oak bronze
there is more harmony, for the three primaries are present.

In the case of the yellow and red, there is contrast and effect, but less
harmony, since but two primaries appear.

As the walls are studied that sort of color art is found to be most
conspicuously prominent which is in the minority and probably one's
unsophisticated choice, from the point of view of color, would be that
which has the distinction of rarity, as the red haired woman is at a
premium in the South Sea isles. If, however, the tonal and the coloresque
art were in even interchange, the former would have much of its strength
robbed, to the degree of the excessive color of its neighbors. If,
however, the pictures of tone and of color, instead of being hung together
were placed apart, it would be found that the former expressed the greater
unity and presented a front of composure and dignity and that the varied
color combinations would as likely quarrel among themselves as with their
former neighbors.

That a just distinction may be had between tonal and coloresque and
impressionist art, the purpose of each must be stated. The "tonist" aims
primarily at unified color, to secure which he elects a tone to be
followed, which shall domi