Line and Form (1900) Part 10

[Ill.u.s.tration (f097a): Relief by Adding Shading Lines to Outline.]

The rich effect of cl.u.s.tered apples growing among their leaves could hardly be suggested without the use of lines expressive of light and shade, the interstices of the deepest shade running into solid black (p.

178[f097a]). In adding lines in this kind of way to give relief or extra richness or force, the draughtsman is really designing a system of lines upon his outline basis, which may have quite as decorative a quality as the outline itself. At the same time nothing is more characteristic of the artist than the way in which such lines are used, and of course the choice of direction and arrangement of such lines will make all the difference in the effect of the drawing.

[Diagonal Shading]

Where the object is to express the figure in broad ma.s.ses of light and shade, the use of a series of diagonal lines is an effective, and probably the most ready and rapid, method when working with the pen (see p. 179[f097b]). This system of expressing the broad surfaces of shade was much used by the Italian masters of the Renaissance in their rapid pen sketches and studies of figures, and a certain breadth and style is given to their drawings owing in part to the simplicity of this linear treatment.

[Ill.u.s.tration (f097b): Relief of Form by Diagonal Shading.]

[Emphasis]

No doubt the simpler the system of line adopted in giving relief to figures the better, if the particular expression aimed at is accomplished, and, as a general rule, we should endeavour to get the necessary force and depth without the use of cross-line, or many different directions of line in shading a figure: but, given any power of draughtsmanship, the individuality of the artist is bound to come in, and it is not likely, nor is it to be desired, that any two artists in line should give exactly the same account of natural fact, or reproduce the images in their minds in the same forms, any more than we should expect two writers to express their ideas in the same terms.

The kind and degree of emphasis upon different parts, the selection of moment or fact, would all naturally make considerable differences in the treatment. The three sketches of the skirt dancer are given as instances of the different effects and expression to be obtained in rendering the same subject (p. 181[f098]).

[Ill.u.s.tration (f098): Different Method and Different Emphasis in Relieving Form by Shading Lines.[A, B, C]]

In A the broad relief of the white dress against the tones of the floor and background, and the darker note of the hair, are the facts chiefly dwelt upon. In B the form of the figure is brought out in broad light and shade and cast shadow, and the dress relieved by radiating folds. In C quicker movement is given, the lines of the successive wave-shaped folds radiating spirally from the shoulders being the chief means of conveying this, while the head and arms are thrown into strong relief against a dark background, the cast shadow being of a lighter tone.

The direction of line used in relieving forms, and expressing modelling and details, must depend much upon individual taste and feeling as well as knowledge of form. The element of beauty of design also comes in, and the question between this and force or literalness--the difference between a study or direct transcript from nature, and a design with a purely ornamental aim, or a composition directed mainly to the expression of a particular idea or emotion.

Such considerations will ultimately determine the choice and use of line, the degree of relief and emphasis, for these and the direction of the line itself are the syllables and the words which will convey the purport of the work to the mind of the beholder.

Study of the masters of line--Durer, t.i.tian, Mantegna, Holbein--will inform us as to its capacities and limitations. The limitations, too, of method and material will be a powerful factor in the determination of style in the use of line and in the economy of its use.

The bold firm line suitable to the facsimile woodcut, the broad and simple treatment of line with solid black useful in the plank-cut line block to be used with colour blocks, the comparatively free and unconditioned pen-drawing for the surface-printed process block--all these will finally give a certain character to our work beyond our own idiosyncrasies in the use of the pen or the brush.

[Ill.u.s.tration (f099): Albert Durer's Principle in the Treatment of Drapery: From the Woodcut in the "Life of the Virgin" Series.]

Useful things may be learned by the way, such as Albert Durer's principle of giving substance to his figures and details, more especially seen in his treatment of drapery, when the lines run into solid black and express the deeper folds and give emphasis and solidity to the figure (p. 183[f099]). The reproductions here given of sketches of drapery by Filippino Lippi and Raphael also show the same principle.

[Ill.u.s.tration (f100): Albert Durer: Pen-Drawing.]

A figure or object of any kind, seen in full light and shade, is relieved at any of its edges either as dark against light, or as light against dark, and we recognize it as a solid form in this way; the boundaries of natural light and shade defining it, and projecting it from the background upon the vision. There may be infinite modulations, of course, between the light part, the half-tones, and the darkest parts; but this broad principle governs all work representing light and shade.

[Ill.u.s.tration (f101): Filippino Lippi: Study of Drapery.]

It is, in fact, _the principle of the relief of form_ represented upon a plane surface.

[Ill.u.s.tration (f102): Raphael: Studies of Drapery.]

[Relief by Light and Shade Alone]

If the draughtsman's object be to represent the _appearance_ of a figure or any object in full natural light and shade with the pen or other point, he could do so without using outline at all, but by simply observing this principle and defining the boundaries of light on dark or half-tone in their proper ma.s.ses and relations. The pen sketch of the man with the hoe (p. 188[f103a]) is intended to ill.u.s.trate this method.

[Ill.u.s.tration (f103a): Relief by Means of Light and Shade Alone, in Pen-drawing Without Outline.]

There is also the method of representing form in relief by means of working with white line only upon a dark ground, the modelling and planes of surface being entirely expressed in this way (as in A, p.

189[f103b]). This may be termed drawing by means of _light_, and may be contrasted with the opposite method of working by means of black line only on a light ground, or drawing by means of _shade_ (as in B, p.

189[f103b]).

[Ill.u.s.tration (f103b): Relief of Form: (A) By White Line Only on Dark Ground, and (B) By Black Line Only on Light Ground.]

Yet another method, and one in which the effect of relief can be obtained more readily and rapidly, perhaps, is by working on a half-toned paper, drawing in the form with pencil, chalk, or brush, blocking in the darker shadows and heightening the highest lights with touches of white. These white touches, however, should be strictly limited to the highest lights. This method is represented by the half-tone blocks used in this book, those which were taken from drawings made on brown paper and touched with white.

[The Principle of the Photograph]

The definition of form by means of light is strictly the principle of the photograph, which comprehends and ill.u.s.trates its complementary of relief by means of shade, and I think it is due to the influence of the photograph that modern black-and-white artists have so often worked on these principles. The drawings of Frederick Walker and Charles Keene may be referred to as examples. I shall, however, hope to return to this branch of the subject later.

[Relief in Architectural Mouldings]

So far we have been considering the relief of form by means of line. We now come to what may be termed the relief of form by actual form and plane, or modelling in actual light and shade, as in architecture and sculptors' and carvers' work. Then relief is gained by the contrast of actually different planes, forms, surfaces, and textures. The simplest ill.u.s.trations of the principles of modelled relief are to be found in architectural mouldings, by means of which buildings are relieved and enriched, and important structural or functional parts are emphasized, as in cornices and ribs of vaults, arches, and openings.

Place a concave moulding side by side with a convex one either horizontally or vertically, and a certain pleasant effect of contrasting light and shade is the result, reminding one of the recurring concave and convex of the rolling waves of the sea (A, p. 191[f104]).

A series of flat planes of different widths and at different levels also produces a pleasant kind of relief useful in a picture frame or the jamb of a door (B).

All architectural mouldings might be said to be modifications or combinations of the principles ill.u.s.trated by these two.

Very different feeling may be expressed in mouldings, and if we compare the two types, the cla.s.sical and the Gothic, the comparatively broad and simple effect of the former (C, D, E, F, G) contrasts with the richness and variety and the stronger effect of light and shade, produced by deep undercutting, in the latter (H, I, J, K).

[Ill.u.s.tration (f104): Relief in Architectural Mouldings.]

The Romans, however, produced rich and highly ornate effects in the use of these types of mouldings, as they reappeared in the Corinthian order, the ovolo cut into the egg and dart, with the Astralagus beneath, the Cyma recta above the brackets of the cornice casting a bold shadow, and both in the cornice and the hollow beneath the dentils enriched with carving, as seen in the splendid fragment of the Forum of Nerva.

[Ill.u.s.tration (f105): Roman Treatment of Corinthian Order, Forum of Nerva, Rome.]

When we pa.s.s to the more complex problems of figure modelling and sculpture, it is but carrying on and developing the same principle of the contrast of planes, of the relief of plane upon plane, of forms upon one plane, to forms upon forms in many planes. From the contrast of bead and hollow we come to consider the contrast between the rounded limb and the sinuous folds of drapery; from the rhythm of the acanthus scroll we turn to the less obvious but none the less existing rhythm of the sculptural frieze.

Line, we may say, controls the modeller's and sculptor's composition, but form and its treatment in light and shade give him his means of ornament. The delicate contours of faces and limbs contrasted with the spiral and radiating folds of drapery, or rich cl.u.s.ters of leaves and fruits, the forms of animals and the wings of birds--these are his decorative resources.

[Egyptian Reliefs]

The early stages of sculpture in relief may be seen in the monumental work of ancient Egypt.

Simple incised work appears to have been the first stage, and the forms afterwards slightly modelled or rounded at the edges into the hollow of the sunk outline.

Large figures and tables of hieroglyphic inscription were thus cut upon vast mural surfaces, and carried across the joints of the masonry, without disturbing the flatness and repose of the wall surface (p.

195[f106]). The Egyptians, indeed, seem to have treated their walls more as if they were books for record and statement, symbol and hieroglyphic.

[Ill.u.s.tration (f106): Egyptian System of Sculptured Relief: Thebes.]

Messrs. Perrot and Chipiez, in their "History of Ancient Art in Egypt,"

speak of three processes in the treatment of Egyptian reliefs (vol. ii., p. 284):

1. That followed by the Greeks, in which the figures are left standing out from a smooth bed, sometimes slightly hollowed near the contours (see ill.u.s.tration, p. 196[fig106]).

2. Where the figures are modelled in relief in a sunk hollow, from an inch to one and a half inch deep.