Arizona republican., 1904-01-15
SCHOOL OF DRAWING
An Art Enterprise; FIattering to the
Wild and Woolly West.

In T. Z. Bottoms school of drawing
/ Phoenix has an enterprise that if it
proves successful, will be a credit to
the city, for il is yet something of an
experiment but one that is flattering
10 the higher culture Of the city. 1t is
also something of novelty for it is the
first time a studio has been opened
| here for the teaching of art in all
its higher forms. There have been art
I lists here from time to time of rare ac-
I cOmDlis2ments but they have worked
along special lines and their teaching
has been liz particular branches.
Mr.. Bottoms enterprise is essentially
! a school rather than a gallery for the
painting Of pictures to command Won
, derful prices. For that reason his pu-
pills ali begin with the alphabet of the
business, whether they be children
holding the crayOn for the first time or
veterans with the brush. He is him
self a pupil of Pape, one of the most
famous of artists. He had d successful
school in Massachusetts, sold it and
came here for the purpose of opening
this school He hopes to succeed for
the sake OF the artistic spirit Of the
west. but in the event he does not he
will return to Boston.
Mr.. Bottoms methods are after the
Partisan masters and are those intro
duced into this country only in recent
Years and now accepted as the better
methods of instruction. The ordinary
way is painting from still life, grasping
the brush, or whatever line the
pupil prefers. and beginning to daub
paint f*om the start. His school will
embrace various classes any class in
fact desirable; crayon, water color, oil,
etc. but for those who have the real
art instinct and desire to make it
profession there is but one course of
study. 1t begins with crayon work,
for it is Mr.. Bottoms idea that every
artist must be able to draw before he
can paint. That is why he calls ii a
school of drawing. The studies are
first in thc nude, professional models
being available. This is in order that
the student may acquire a knowledge
of the figure. Cast models are less de-
sirable for the reason that, even if the
form were perfect, they are necessarily
STILL While the living model with the
slightest movement changes the shad-
ing; creates the lighter and darker
shadows. There is. therefore, in the
same subject a constantly changing
inquire showing Just the dltterence De
tween still life and real life, which is
after all, the difference between a pic
ture made by machinery and one paint
ed by an artist. When the pupils have
rea ched a proper stage in their instruc-
ton they are given a title, for instance
'The Campers" and are told to make
a group picture with certain num-
per OF figures, designing the poses
in their own minds nearest suited to
the title. That develops the art in
stinct or the lima gination, as it were.
When these are submitted they are
all criticised, the best of them selected
and from the ideas are worked out orig
inal compositions.
Having secured the proper concep-
ton of the human figure, the next step
is the painting from models In costume
the draping of the picture. Then fol-
low studies in still life, the use of the
brush, colors, etc.
The virtue of this method of instruc-
ton is that the fundamental principles
are acquired before the decorative
touches are needed The theory of the
nude is to learn the figure first, then
drape it. BY the old method there was