Durango semi-weekly herald., 1907-02-04
ART EDUCATION.
By Mrs. Rosepha c. Pulford.

Professor French Of the Academy
OF Design, Chicago. gave the teachers
at the state association some valuable
hints on the teaching of drawing or
rather the art education Of children.
His talk on the unity OF arts was
plain enough for the eighth grade boy
or girl to appreciate.
First he gave ten principles that
underlie all art; whether OF line, color,
tone or motion.
He drew a parallel between Poe's
Raven and one OF Loudeur's pictures
that made his point wonderfully clear.
The first OF these art principles is
principally. In the Monarch of the
Glen,' our eye is at once caught by
the wonderfully portrayed head of the
stag, in the poem the sable raven
rivets the attention and impresses It.
self upon the mind 1t seems that
Poe first thought OF a parrot but his
suggestion.
The second principle, Balance. is
felt in every good picture. in every
perfect poem. The human face is
the most wonderful example OF bal
ance. Bi-lateral symmetry is necessary
to the perfect face. We know at once
that crooked nose, or face where
one eye is higher than the osher Of
fends our artistic instinct but it is
hard to tell why.
Curvitude is next The curved line
is so much more pleasing than the
straight line.
Nature seldom draws a straight line
1t is difficult to find even a blade of
glass with ruler edge. The human
figure, Natures most perfect work Of
art, has no straight lines and the Zine
of beauty" is shown in the curve Of
the upper lip.
Continuity: We do not hang our
fruit piece" in the parlor. We would
not paint cabbages for the background
of picture of the Empress Josephine.
Look at the picture Of Milai's AN
gelus." every clod of earth. the basket
Of potatoes. the steeple in the dis
tance. the bowed figures are all parts
OF one perfect whole; as much 80 as
the notes of the Moonlight sonata, or
the verses of The Raven"
Repetition: In THE Raven" this
principle Is emphasized and the allit-
erations are as pleasing to our ear
as reiterated figures in bit of Gobe
lin tapestry.
You hay have heard Of the old lady
who was too poor to buy a flag and
SO concluded to make one. When 1t
was raised on the glorious fourth her
neighbors remarked something odd
about it, WELL" said the old lady,
II got so tired of sewing all those
points on the stars that l made the
rest hearts and rounds.
Contrast: Henry Hunt says: 1.-THE
true artist must take a lesson from
the New Testament and learn to dis
sAh6uioh h6hl lIOh udl hucbb. Ia
THE Raven" the yoem Is filled with
these contrasts, the bleak December"
and the fire-lighted room, the black
raven and the "pallid bust of Pallas."
1t was told of the great colorist
Turner. that after one Of his pictures
was hung. 1t did not please him. The
mtgfS tho hc
hung too low. Suddenly he took a
brush OF crimson paint and threw at
the picture; instantly the beauty Of
the stormy sea was Increased ten-fold.
Afterward he took his brush and fash
ioned the daub into d buoy. but the
one touch OF color had given the pic
ture what 1t needed.
Simplicity: Prof. French said that
seldom had one seen simplicity car
ried So far" as in THE Raven" the
choice OF words. the short sentences
are as perfect as mission furniture
or simplifed spelling.
Harmony: In color nature never
errs. We never see blue roses nor
red violets. In the poem the one
word SO oft repeated "Neyermore" is
suited exactly to the sense. A GER
tain Italian said he was surprised to
ind how many beautiful words we
have in English; he said he had just
found such a musical word. though he
didn't yet know what It meant. 1t
was cellar door,"
Interchange and radiation are the
two last principles
The former IL most perfectly exem-
plifed in music. the latter In the use
Of geometrioal figures.
And 30 with all Of these funda-
mentals In every work Of art we will
find one or the other made prominent
but all are used In all the arts and
we feel that truly the muses. are sis
tsrs.