The Art of Illustration Part 2

A. Standpoint. B. Point of Sight. C. Horizontal line. D. Vanis.h.i.+ng lines. E. Point of distance. F. Vanis.h.i.+ng lines of distance. G. Line of sight.]

1. The education of hand and eye and a knowledge of perspective, to be imparted to every schoolboy, no matter what his profession or occupation is likely to be.

2. The education of the public to read aright this new language (new to most people), the "shorthand of pictorial art."

The popular theory amongst editors and publishers is that the public would not care for information presented to them in this way--that they "would not understand it and would not buy it." Sketches of the kind indicated have never been fairly tried in England; but they are increasing in number every day, and the time is not far distant when we shall look back upon the present system with considerable amus.e.m.e.nt and on a book or a newspaper which is not ill.u.s.trated as an incomplete production. The number of ill.u.s.trations produced and consumed daily in the printing press is enormous; but they are too much of one pattern, and, as a rule, too elaborate.

In the ill.u.s.tration of books of all kinds there should be a more general use of diagrams and plans to elucidate the text. No new building of importance should be described anywhere without an indication of the elevation, if not also of the ground plan; and, as a rule, no picture should be described without a sketch to indicate the composition. In history words so often fail to give the correct _locale_ that it seems wonderful we have no better method in common use. The following rough plan will ill.u.s.trate one of the simplest ways of making a description clear to the reader. Take the verbal one first:--

"The young Bretonne stood under the doorway of the house, sheltered from the rain which came with the soft west wind. From her point of vantage on the 'Place' she commanded a view of the whole village, and could see down the four streets of which it was princ.i.p.ally composed."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

In this instance a writer was at some pains to describe (and failed to describe in three pages) the exact position of the streets near where the girl stood; and it was a situation in which photography could hardly help him.

It may seem strange at first sight to occupy the pages of a book on art with diagrams and elementary outlines, but it must be remembered that plans and diagrams are at the basis of a system of ill.u.s.tration which will one day become general. The reason, as already pointed out, for drawing attention to the subject now, is that it is only lately that systems have been perfected for reproducing lines on the printed page almost as rapidly as setting up the type. Thus a new era, so to speak, in the art of expressing ourselves pictorially as well as verbally has commenced: the means of reproduction are to hand; the blocks can be made, if necessary, in less than three hours, and copies can be printed on revolving cylinders at the rate of 10,000 an hour.

The advance in scientific discovery by means of subtle instruments brings the surgeon sometimes to the knowledge of facts which, in the interests of science, he requires to demonstrate graphically, objects which it would often be impossible to have photographed. With a rudimentary knowledge of drawing and perspective, the surgeon and the astronomer would both be better equipped. At the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, where the majority of students are intended for the medical profession, this subject is considered of high importance, and the student in America is learning to express himself in a language that can be understood.

In architecture it is often necessary, in order to understand the description of a building, to indicate in a few lines not only the general plan and elevation, but also its position in perspective in a landscape or street. Few architects can do this if called upon at a moment's notice in a Parliamentary committee room. And yet it is a necessary part of the language of an architect.[6]

These remarks apply with great force to books of travel, where an author should be able to take part in the drawing of his ill.u.s.trations, at least to the extent of being able to explain his meaning and ensure topographical accuracy.

A curious experiment was made lately with some students in an Art school, to prove the fallacy of the accepted system of describing landscapes, buildings, and the like in words. A page or two from one of the Waverley novels (a description of a castle and the heights of mountainous land, with a river winding in the valley towards the sea, and cl.u.s.ters of houses and trees on the right hand) was read slowly and repeated before a number of students, three of whom, standing apart from each other by pre-arrangement, proceeded to indicate on blackboards before an audience the leading lines of the picture as the words had presented it to their minds. It is needless to say that the results, highly skilful in one case, were all different, and _all wrong_; and that in particular the horizon line of the sea (so easy to indicate with any clue, and so important to the composition) was hopelessly out of place. Thus we describe day by day, and the pictures formed in the mind are erroneous, for the imagination of the reader is at work at once, and requires simple guidance. The exhibition was, I need hardly say, highly stimulating and suggestive.

Many arguments might be used for the subst.i.tution of pictorial for verbal methods of expression, which apply to books as well as periodicals. Two may be mentioned of a purely topical kind.

1. In June, 1893, when the strife of political parties ran high in England, and anything like a _rapprochement_ between their leaders seemed impossible, Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Balfour were seen in apparently friendly conversation behind the Speaker's chair in the House of Commons. A newspaper reporter in one of the galleries, observing the interesting situation, does not say in so many words, that "Mr. G. was seen talking to Mr. B.," but makes, or has made for him, a sketch (without caricature) of the two figures standing talking together, and writes under it, "_Amenities behind the Speaker's chair_." Here it will be seen that the subject is approached with more delicacy, and the position indicated with greater force through the pictorial method.

2. The second modern instance of the power--the eloquence, so to speak, of the pictorial method--appeared in the pages of _Punch_ on the occasion of the visit of the Russian sailors to Paris in October, 1893.

A rollicking, dancing Russian bear, with the words "_Vive la Republique_"

wound round his head, hit the situation as no words could have done, especially when exposed for sale in the kiosques of the Paris boulevards. The picture required no translation into the languages of Europe.

It may be said that there is nothing new here--that the political cartoon is everywhere--that it has existed always, that it flourished in Athens and Rome, that all history teems with it, that it comes down to us on English soil through Gillray, Rowlandson, Hogarth, Blake, and many distinguished names. I draw attention to these things because the town is laden with newspapers and ill.u.s.trated sheets. The tendency of the time seems to be to read less and less, and to depend more upon pictorial records of events. There are underlying reasons for this on which we must not dwell; the point of importance to ill.u.s.trators is the fact that there is an insatiable demand for "pictures" which tell us something quickly and accurately, in a language which every nation can understand.

Another example of the use of pictorial expression to aid the verbal. A traveller in the Harz Mountains finds himself on the Zeigenkop, near Blankenberg, on a clear summer's day, and thus describes it in words:--

"We are now on the heights above Blankenberg, a promontory 1,360 feet above the plains, with an almost uninterrupted view of distant country looking northward and eastward. The plateau of mountains on which we have been travelling here ends abruptly. It is the end of the upper world, but the plains seem illimitable. There is nothing between us and our homes in Berlin--nothing to impede the view which it is almost impossible to describe in words. The setting sun has pierced the veil of mist, and a map of Northern Germany seems unrolled before us, distant cities coming into view one by one. First, we see Halberstadt with its spires, then Magdeburg, then another city, and another.

"We have been so occupied with the distant prospect, and with the objects of interest which give character to it, that we had almost overlooked the charming composition and suggestive lines of this wonderful view. There is an ancient castle on the heights, the town of Blankenberg at our feet, a strange wall of perpendicular rocks in the middle distance; there are the curves of the valleys, flat pastures, undulating woods, and roads winding away across the plains. The central point of interest is the church spire with its cl.u.s.ter of houses spreading upwards towards the chateau, with its ma.s.sive terraces fringed with trees, &c., &c."

This was all very well in word-painting, but what a veil is lifted from the reader's eyes by some such sketch as the one below.

[Ill.u.s.tration: VIEW ABOVE BLANKENBERG, HARZ MOUNTAINS.]

It should be mentioned that three photographic prints joined together would hardly have given the picture, owing to the vast extent of this inland view, and the varying atmospheric effects.

The last instance I can give here is an engraving from _Ca.s.sell's Popular Educator_, where a picture is used to demonstrate the curvature of the world's surface; thus imprinting, for once, and for always, on the young reader's mind a fact which words fail to describe adequately.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CURVATURE OF THE WORLDS SURFACE.]

This is "The Art of Ill.u.s.tration" in the true sense of the word.

FOOTNOTES:

[3] The quotations are from a paper by the present writer, read before the Society of Arts in March, 1875.

[4] This system of reporting rifle contests is now almost universal in England.

[5] It seems strange that enterprising newspapers, with capital at command, such as the _New York Herald_, _Daily Telegraph_, and _Pall Mall Gazette_, should not have developed so obvious a method of transmitting information. The _Pall Mall Gazette_ has been the most active in this direction, but might do much more.

[6] It has been well said that if a building can be described in words, it is not worth describing at all!

CHAPTER III.

ARTISTIC ILl.u.s.tRATIONS.

In referring now to more artistic ill.u.s.trations, we should notice first, some of the changes which have taken place (since the meeting referred to in the last chapter), and, bridging over a distance of nearly twenty years, consider the work of the ill.u.s.trator, the photographer, and the maker of process blocks, as presented in books and newspapers in 1894; speaking princ.i.p.ally of topical ill.u.s.trations, on which so many thousand people are now engaged.

It may seem strange at first sight to include "newspapers" in a chapter on art ill.u.s.trations, but the fact is that the weekly newspapers, with their new appliances for printing, and in consequence of the cheapness of good paper, are now competing with books and magazines in the production of ill.u.s.trations which a few years ago were only to be found in books. The ill.u.s.trated newspaper is one of the great employers of labour in this field and distributor of the work of the artist in black and white, and in this connection must by no means be ignored. The Post-office carries a volume of 164 pages (each 22 by 16 inches), weighing from two to three pounds, for a half-penny. It is called a "weekly newspaper," but it contains, sometimes, 100 ill.u.s.trations, and competes seriously with the production of ill.u.s.trated books.

Further on we shall see how the ill.u.s.trations of one number of a weekly newspaper are produced--what part the original artist has in it, what part the engraver and the photographer. These are things with which all students should be acquainted.

The first stage of ill.u.s.tration, where little more than a plan or elevation of a building is aimed at (as suggested in the last chapter), and where an author, with little artistic knowledge, is yet enabled to explain himself, is comparatively easy; it is when we approach the hazardous domain of art that the real difficulties begin.

As matters stand at present, it is scarcely too much to say that the majority of art students and the younger school of draughtsmen in this country are "all abroad" in the matter of drawing for the press, lacking, not industry, not capacity, but method. That they do good work in abundance is not denied, but it is not exactly the kind of work required--in short, they are not taught at the outset the _value of a line_. That greater skill and certainty of drawing can be attained by our younger draughtsmen is unquestionable, and, bearing in mind that _nearly every book and newspaper in the future will be ill.u.s.trated_, the importance of study in this direction is much greater than may appear at first sight.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. IV.

"_Tiresome Dog_," by E. K. JOHNSON.

This example of pen-and-ink work has been reproduced by the gelatine relief process. The drawing, which has been greatly reduced in reproduction, was made by Mr. Johnson for an Ill.u.s.trated Catalogue of the Royal Water-Colour Society, of which he is a member.

It is instructive as showing the possibilities and limitations of relief process-work in good hands. The gradation of tone is all obtained in pure black, or dotted lines. Mr. Dawson has aided the effect by "rouletting" on the block on the more delicate parts; but most of the examples in this book are untouched by the engraver.

(_See Appendix._)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: "FRUSTRATED." (FROM THE PAINTING BY WALTER HUNT.)

(_Royal Academy_, 1891.)]

Referring to the evident want of training amongst our younger draughtsmen, the question was put very bluntly in the _Athenaeum_ some years ago, thus:--