Line and Form (1900)

by Walter Crane

Conclusion

If anything I have said on the subject, or have been able to show by way of illustration, has served in any way to clear away obscurities, or to lighten the labours of students, or to suggest fresh ideas to the minds of any of my readers in the theory, history, or practice of art, I shall feel that my work has not been in vain, and, at all events, I can only say that I have endeavoured to give here the results of my own thoughts and experience in art.

Some may look upon art as a means of livelihood only, a handmaid of commerce, or as a branch of knowledge, to be acquired only so far as to enable one to impart it to others; others may regard it as a polite amusement; others, again, as an absorbing pursuit and passion, demanding the closest devotion: but from whatever point of view we may regard it, do not let us forget that the pursuit of beauty in art offers the best of educations for the faculties, that its interest continually increases, and its pleasures and successes are the most refined and satisfying.

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INDEX

• Adaptability in design, [124]-[126].
• Animal forms, use of in design, [106];
  • governed by inclosing boundaries, [104]-[106], [110]-[112].
• Architectural mouldings, relief in, [190].
• Architecture, spaces for sculpture in, [113]-[116].
• Ardebil, holy carpet of the mosque of, [f126].
• Athens, the Tower of the Winds, [115]-[116].

• Bari, [10];
  • the "Hundred Birds" of, [f044].
• Birds, Japanese drawing of, [68], [f044];
  • decorative treatment of, [f115].
• Blake's Book of Job, "The Morning Stars," [19], [f014], [152].
• Border motives, recurrence in, [f031], [f032], [f062].
• Book decoration, [58], [59], [62];
  • example of page treatment, [f041a].
• Botticelli, frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, [226];
  • rendering of the "Primavera" in tapestry, [240];
  • his "Nativity," [272]-[275];
  • "Madonna and Child," [275]-[276].
• Boundaries, definition of, [2], [3];
  • use of in designing sprays, [38], [f027];
  • in designing animal forms, [f063a];
  • influence of, [108];
  • relation of design to, [f064];
  • decorative spacing of figures in geometric, [f063b], [152]-[156].
• Brush-work, [65]-[68].

• Canterbury, St. Margaret Street, [f086].
• Ceiling decoration, [136].
• Charcoal drawing, [68], [70].
• Chartres, carving on the Cathedral, [197], [f108], [f109].
• Chiaroscuro, [267]-[269].
• Chinese porcelain, [101].
• Colour, effect of texture on, [244];
  • in stained glass, [252];
  • expression of relief in line and form by, [256], [258];
  • radiation of, [258];
  • complements in, [260];
  • harmony in, [261];
  • colour sense, [261], [262];
  • colour proportions, [262];
  • importance of pure colour, [263].
• Composition, formal, [152]-[156];
  • informal, [157]-[164].
• Constantine, Arch of, sketch of, [f069].
• Contrast in design, [101];
  • use of, in pattern design, [166], et seq.;
  • principles of, in black and white, [f111a].
• Corinthian order, Roman treatment of, [192], [f105].
• Counterbalance, [43], [44], [95], [f057], [f058], [130].
• Counterchange, in heraldry, [171]-[174].
• Crivelli, "The Annunciation," [276]-[278].
• Cube, the, [73];
  • use of in architecture, [f045b], [77], [f048a];
  • in nature, [76].

• Dado, use of the, [234].
• De Hooghe, Peter, [267].
• Desiderio di Settignano, relief work of, [202];
  • "Madonna and Child," at South Kensington, by, [202].
• Design, linear basis of, [35];
  • technical influence on, [58], [59], [62];
  • beauty in, [62], [63];
  • influence of material on, [64];
  • quantities in, [96]-[101];
  • contrast in, [101];
  • living tradition in, [126];
  • adaptability in, [124]-[126];
  • extension in, [126]-[131];
  • geometric structural plans in, [130];
  • essentials of, [138]-[139].
• De Wint, brush-work of, [68].
• Diaper, use of in Middle Ages, [171], [174]-[175].
• Donatello, relief work of, [202].
• Drapery, treatment of by the old masters, [f099]-[186].
• Drawing in line, methods of, [6], [7];
  • calligraphic method, [8];
  • tentative method, [9];
  • Japanese method, [10];
  • oval and rectangular methods, [f008], [12].
• Dürer, Albert, his "Geometrica," [5];
  • roofs in his engravings, [148];
  • "The Prodigal Son," [f083];
  • "St. Anthony," [f084];
  • principle in the treatment of drapery, [f099], [f100].