GOETHE’S MOTHER. Old-fashioned silhouette. See chapter on wood engraving.
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION TO PART II.
INSTRUCTION IN DRAWING ABANDONED AND DESIGN CONSIDERED — THIS INSTRUCTION LESS ABSOLUTE THAN INSTRUCTION IN DRAWING — THE PRINTER TO USE AS MUCH OF THE SUBSEQUENT MATTER AS SERVES HIS PURPOSE — IN THE STUDY OF LETTERING ALL STYLES HAVE TO BE COVERED, THOUGH ONLY ONE OR TWO MAY BE OF VALUE TO THE PRINTER — WOOD ENGRAVING VALUABLE BECAUSE IT TEACHES CONCENTRATION AND ECONOMY OF LINE — THE PRINTER IN AMERICA NOT ABLE TO BE ALWAYS ARTISTIC, BUT MUST INTRODUCE ART FROM TIME TO TIME AS OPPORTUNITY ARISES.
THE READER is asked to view this second part of “Drawing for Printers” differently from the first part. In the first part the writer aimed at establishing {154} recognized rules for drawing rather than giving his individual opinions.
He thinks that very little of the first part of the book can be questioned. For example, it is not a matter of personal opinion that the horizon line is on a level with the spectator’s eyes, or that a mantelshelf on such a level should be drawn with a straight line; it is a matter of fact, which he merely reiterates as the writer of a grammar reiterates the indisputable facts of a language, that a noun is a name word, a verb an action word, an adverb a word which qualifies a verb. But when the writer of a literary text-book has exhausted his rules of grammar and takes up the subject of rhetoric, although he endeavors to give only such examples of writing as are excellent, still his own personal taste is apt to guide him in his selections, and he may claim as admirable that which is to be criticised. A rhetoric of the eighteenth century would necessarily contain much artificial, sentimental and Latinized English which a teacher of today would not put before his students.
So it is that in the following chapters I may advocate,
- (1) That which may not meet with the approval of my readers.
- (2) That which may not suit my readers’ customers, and even
- (3) That which is wrong.
You therefore may use as much of my advice as you find practical in your daily work, and discard that which is impractical. {155}
But do not forget that that which may be impractical today may come in handy some time next year!
That there will be much that you will find impractical goes without saying. It is absolutely necessary that the student of the arts (as the writer of these papers) acquaint himself with that which is classical; he then becomes fascinated with it and recommends it. But the classical covers an immense field, embracing that which is best in many ages and in many different lands, and it is utterly impossible that the practical worker in the arts should utilize all the classical styles at one time. Hence only a fragment of any text-book built upon the study of the classic can be practical at any given time.