These books were planned in a series of conferences and consultations with leading art teachers and educators, among whom were the following:

Miss Bonnie E. Snow, Formerly Director of Art, Public Schools, Minneapolis, Minn.

Miss Wilhelmina Seegmiller, Director of Art, Public Schools, Indianapolis, Ind.

Miss Harriette L. Rice, Director of Art, Public Schools, Providence, R. I.

Mr. Walter Scott Perry, Director of the Art Department, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Mrs. M. E. Riley, Director of Art, Public Schools, St. Louis, Mo.

Dr. Hugo Münsterberg, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University.

Mrs. Alice W. Cooley, Department of Education, University of North Dakota.

Mr. John S. Clark, Boston, Mass.

TEXT BOOKS OF
ART EDUCATION
BOOK IV. FOURTH YEAR

BY

HUGO B. FROEHLICH

FORMERLY INSTRUCTOR IN PRATT INSTITUTE
BROOKLYN, N.Y.

AND

BONNIE E. SNOW

FORMERLY SUPERVISOR OF DRAWING IN THE
PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.

THE PRANG EDUCATIONAL COMPANY

NEW YORK      BOSTON      CHICAGO

Copyright, 1904, By
THE PRANG EDUCATIONAL COMPANY

Copyright, 1906, By
THE PRANG EDUCATIONAL COMPANY

Preface.

In presenting to the public the series of Text Books of Art Education, of which this volume is a part, it is desired to state briefly the aims and purposes of the plan upon which the series is based.

It is not necessary to review the history of art education in public schools, nor to present argument for the introduction or retention of drawing as an important study. These questions have been exhaustively treated, and need no fresh discussion. The school that does not offer to its community some kind of systematic art instruction is today an exception.

Education along specific lines should conform to the philosophy which is accepted as fundamental in general educational work. The educational principles adhered to in these books are, therefore, in accord with the psychological laws of child development which are endorsed by the leading educators of the present time, and the effort has been made to work out in these books a series of lessons that shall be not only educationally sound and artistically correct, but at the same time adapted in the different stages to the child's ability to comprehend and his power to express.

With this end in view, the lessons in the Text Books of Art Education have been divided into three groups which may be known as the Observational or Objective Group, in which the study of things is the aim; the Subjective Group, in which the study of principles or laws of beauty is the aim; and the Creative Group, in which the application of accumulated knowledge and ability is the aim. In furthering the work of the first group, the topics so familiar to the art teacher of our modern schools are treated—landscape, plants, life, and still life. In the second group are presented the principles of perspective, of industrial drawing, of color harmony, and most important of all, the principles of pure design. In the third group are placed creative exercises in composition, in decorative design, and in many forms of manual training. While the same division of work is kept throughout the course, the manner of presentation differs greatly in the different years. In the primary grades, the work is largely objective in its character. Children are taught to see and to do. In the intermediate grades, the children are introduced to the principles of arrangement, Balance, Rhythm, and Harmony, which have been adopted as the working basis of this series of books, and in the light of which the subjective and creative work of the upper grades is planned. As the work progresses through the different years, the subjective and creative sides are more and more emphasized, and the study of objects is felt to be merely a means necessary to an end.

All through the series, there is a definite, logical progression, so that in schools where these ideas are put into practice, there should be no ground for the complaint that the work of the intermediate and grammar grades falls below the work of the primary grades, in general excellence.

These books are the outgrowth of years of experience in practical fields of work. They have been prepared with a keen appreciation of the obstacles which have confronted the art teacher in public education, and with an intimate knowledge of the child mind, in its various stages of development. Never before has an attempt been made to put into the hands of children a text of lessons in art. The illustrations serve the double purpose of illuminating the text and of furnishing the children with standards of work in the various mediums.

For the Theory of Color Relations used in these books, special acknowledgment is due to Dr. Denman W. Ross, of Harvard University. The lessons in design are preparatory to the fuller exposition in the upper books of Dr. Ross's principles of arrangement—Balance, Rhythm, and Harmony.

We are indebted to Messrs. Little, Brown, and Company, for permission to use Miss Dickinson's poem, "The Railway Train," on page 58, and to Mr. Charles G. Blanden for the lines from his poem, "Plea of the Poets," used on the page facing page 1. The lines used on page 16 are from James Russell Lowell's "Epistle to George William Curtis," and the verses on page 30 are from "A Boy's Song," by James Hogg.

Contents

OUT OF DOORS

The Out-of-Door World in Autumn.

Have you ever been in the country, or in a city park, after the green of the maple-trees has turned to scarlet and gold? If you have noticed the trees in their gorgeous hues, you have probably found that the grass, also, shows patches of color not seen in the summer-time. The sky is often very blue, and its color is reflected in the quiet water of a lake or pool, or in a gently flowing stream. A smoky haze hangs over the distant trees, and softens, though it does not hide, their brilliant coloring.

Study the sketch on this page. Then paint an autumn picture. Show a bright blue sky, a field or hillside,—once green, but now touched with russet and brown,—a path or a pool of water, distant foliage, and one large tree. Save your picture to use in another lesson.

Making and Using a Finder.

If you look on page 4 you will see three little pictures that seem quite complete in themselves, and yet look like parts of the picture on page 2. The upper sketch shows the same big tree by the stream, and the lower right sketch has been taken from the left side of the large picture. A small part near the middle of the large picture was then selected, and this part was enlarged to make the third sketch shown.

You can often find some parts of your large sketches that are more interesting than others. On this page are some drawings of a little device which will help you to do this. It is called a finder, and is simply an oblong opening cut from a piece of paper so as to leave all around it a margin an inch or two wide. It looks like a little mat for a picture, or like a window-frame. Two square corners or L-shaped pieces of paper can be placed together so that the size of the opening can be changed by pushing the uprights nearer together or by pulling them farther apart. An adjustable finder like this (shown in the right sketch) can be used in a number of ways.

Draw on a sheet of 9 × 12 paper, an oblong seven inches high and three, four, or five inches wide. Around the oblong, which is to be cut out, leave a margin of at least an inch. Slip this large finder over the autumn sketch you made in the lesson on page 2, until you have found the part you like best. Cut this part out, and mount it on a large sheet of fresh paper, leaving a pleasing margin. The class sketches will make a fine exhibition.

Shapes and Growth of Trees.

No one can study out-of-door pictures without wishing to know how to draw trees. This can best be done by observing from a distance some tree as it grows.

The pictures on this page tell you plainly that the willow and the sycamore, or buttonwood tree, were chosen for the sketches, yet not a single leaf is shown as you would see it if you held it in your hand. What is it, then, that tells the story? It is the truthful drawing of the big things—the shape of the mass of foliage, the height and width of the trunk below the boughs, the size and direction of the branches, and the way they grow from the trunk.

In the sketch of the willow, the many small branches are plainly seen, and you can easily understand why it is that the willow bends and sways so gracefully in the wind. The brush strokes show something of the slender, pointed character of the leaves.

The sycamore is not round and regular like the willow, but shows patches of foliage and stretches of bare branches in a ragged and uneven way. Its shape is very different from the shape of the willow.

Make a large drawing with ink or crayon, from some tree out of doors.

Shapes of Bare Trees.

Winter is the best time in all the year to study the growth of trees. Although the leaves are gone and the branches are bare, the trees themselves are beautiful.

It is well to study a tree that is at some distance from you, so that its dark branches may be seen against the light sky. The willow and the sycamore are shown without their leaves on this page, and their shapes stand out clearly. You can see the strong trunk, and the branches that spring from it. The trunk of the sycamore becomes smaller as it throws off its boughs, and all the branches and twigs taper at the end.

Measure the height of the sycamore tree in the sketch,—from the topmost twig to the ground,—and see what part of the whole height the trunk below the foliage measures. Is it half as high, or only a fourth or a third? Notice trees out of doors and see how much of their height is above the trunk. Children sometimes draw trees with tall, stiff trunks and short, stunted tops.

Study and draw a beautiful tree without leaves. Make it of large size and use brush or crayon. Try to tell in your picture just what tree you studied.

What fun it is to gather nuts in the fall!

See the children in the picture. One boy "clubs" the tree until the nuts come rattling down and are half hidden in the grass and dry leaves.

Recall some pleasant time you have had gathering nuts or apples. Draw a picture showing where you were, what you gathered, and the kind of a tree on which the fruit grew. Show distant bushes and trees, and place the main tree so that its branches rise against the sky.

Make your picture tell an interesting story.

Sunset in Winter.

When you painted autumn landscapes, you thought, no doubt, that the world was more beautiful in October than at any other season. Perhaps it seemed to you that the cold, snow-covered earth could never be so interesting to paint.

Look at this winter picture. The sky is bright and the distant trees look violet. Did you ever notice that the snow at sunset does not seem to be white as you look across it to the horizon? If you hold a sheet of white paper in your hand and glance from that across the snow-covered fields at sunset, you will see that the whiteness of the snow has changed to violet-gray. Sometimes, too, the snow seems to be tinted by the rosy light of the sunset. As you study out-of-door objects, you will find that their colors appear different at different times of the day, or as they are near you or far away.

Paint a winter sunset. Try to see and to paint truthfully the color of distant trees, snow-covered ground, a far-off steeple or tower, or a tree near at hand.

A Sunset Picture in Values.

We can show with black crayons, with charcoal, or with brush and ink many pictures of out-of-doors that are rich in color. Even a sunset sky can be shown in grays, so that we will think of the lovely colors that the grays, or values, express.

Here is our winter sunset, shown in values. You will remember that by values we mean the different degrees of light and dark used to express color. Compare the two sunset pictures. The light gray-violet of the snow is shown in a light gray or neutral value in the picture on this page. The trees are very much darker, and the sky is neither as light as the snow nor as dark as the trees. The little rabbit makes a dark spot in the snow, and the foreground—that part of the picture that seems to be nearest—is white. You see that it has taken about four values to express the colors seen.

Draw in values the sunset picture you painted in the lesson on page 8. Which of all the colors used do you think should be shown in darkest value? Which in lightest? Make your picture large, and use charcoal, crayon, or brush and ink. Then with your finder select that part of your picture which you like best. Cut out this part, and mount it neatly.

A Different Arrangement of Values.

When you are out of doors or are looking through a window at some of nature's pictures, think how you would paint or draw in values the different things you see. Notice which objects appear darkest, which lightest, and which might be expressed by a "half-way" gray, or middle value. If you learn to see these light and dark effects in the world about you, pictures, photographs, and out-of-door scenes will become matters of great interest to you.

On this page is the same little piece of the world we saw under sunset skies. The sun has gone to rest, and the bright colors in the sky have given place to darkness. But in the midst of the darkness the moon rises, and sheds its white light over the sleeping world. How beautiful "out-of-doors" is now!

See the darker value of the sky at night, and the pleasing contrast made by the big white moon. A soft gray shadow is over all the snow. The moonlight on the snow does not dazzle our eyes, as the sunshine does by day.

Paint with ink or draw with crayon a moonlight picture.

A Beautiful Composition.

In painting or drawing a picture, it is not enough to put down a number of shapes or lines without regard to their relation to each other. We must arrange or compose them, just as we arrange furniture in a room. We must study to place things where they will best satisfy our idea of beauty.

In the picture on this page, painted by Alexander Harrison, an American artist, the horizon line is placed above the middle, so that the artist might show how the waves broke on the shore, and sent rippling, flowing lines of water along the shining sand. The motion of the water is as regular as if it were keeping time to music. Can you see how the big curves seem to mark the beats?

Notice, too, the arrangement of values—the light foam, the darker sky and ocean, the wet sand, and the solid mainland. Only four things are shown—sky, moon, sea, and shore—but they are so drawn as to give the necessary variety.

Pictures from Our Own Surroundings.

Out of Doors in the City. If all the beauty of out-of-doors were in the country, what a sad thing it would be for the boys and girls who spend their lives in cities and towns! It is true that we think of the country when we speak of the landscape, and many artists go there when they wish to gather material for pictures. But often the things you see out of doors in a city or town are as interesting to sketch as country landscapes.

Keeping a Journal. Did you ever hear of a person who kept a journal, and wrote in it the interesting things that happened from day to day? Have you ever tried it yourself? You need not think your life dull because you do not take journeys or see great sights or do unusual deeds. Some of the best journals we know about have been kept by people who lived quiet lives. They wrote about the little things they saw and heard and did. It was the way in which they told these things that made their journals as interesting as storybooks.

An Artist's Journal. Artists and people who love to make pictures keep a kind of journal that they call a sketch-book. They are always on the lookout for material for pictures. They see much more than people do who are not trained to observe.

Some Leaves from a Sketch-book. Look at the sketches on page 13. They are leaves from an artist's sketch-book. He tells of a shady road winding by a little church in a village; of freight-boats on a canal or river; of a view from a high window in a city office building; of a fine stone arch, and beyond it a bridge with a railroad train rushing across it; of a fountain in a city park, and of a grimy, noisy factory, with its long low roofs, its smoke-stacks, and its line of waiting cars. Have you thought of looking for pictures in places like these?

Pictures in Your Own Town. Where are the interesting places in the town in which you live? Is the town near the water? Then there are boats and bridges. Is there a machine shop, a mill, or a quarry? Then you will find something to draw, as interesting as the factory in the artist's sketch. Does a railroad run through the place? There is the station, the switch tower, the engines and the freight cars. Or, perhaps there is a blacksmith shop or a trolley car. Keep your eyes open, and find the things in your town that show the life of the people. Tomorrow, bring a sketch showing some picture you have seen in the place where you live.

The Colors of Springtime.

One of the earliest shrubs that blossoms in the springtime is the forsythia. Its blossoms cover the whole bush before the leaves come, making a mass of yellow in the midst of the green grass. Yellow and green are favorite colors of springtime.

Choose some flowering tree or shrub to paint in a picture. In painting a landscape like the one on this page, one good way is first to draw with a brush line and very light violet color, the shapes that must be carefully placed. Then add the sky and foreground washes and drop on the damp paper the colors you see in the bush or tree. Draw the trunk of the tree, or the branches of the shrub, in dark gray-violet. A path or road may be wiped out of the foreground with the nearly dry brush, and a little red and yellow added to give the color of sandy ground.

Paint a spring landscape, not like the one in the book.

Home Exercises.

1. Draw an elm-tree as it looks in winter.
2. Paint a maple-tree as it looks in October.
3. Use a large finder on one or both of your tree sketches. Decide in which space the tree looks best. Then cut out this selection and mount your picture neatly.
4. Show a snow man in a winter landscape.
5. Paint a sunset on the lake or river.
6. Show in a picture the time of year you like best.
7. Make a brush drawing to illustrate:

Green Things Growing.

Brush Studies of Grasses.

Grasses and sedges are some of the "green things" that need but little encouragement. In fact, they grow to greatest size in some neglected fence corner or in places so wet that other plants do not flourish. Grasses lack the bright colors of flowers, but they are fine studies to draw, because of their simple, direct growth and the interesting shapes of their leaves and heads.

You will enjoy brush drawings, using color or ink, of different kinds of grasses. Select three or four of large size and place them in a bottle. They will then fall gracefully into a natural position. Behind the bottle place a tall background of some kind, so that the shapes of the grasses will be clearly seen. Use paper large enough to show in life size the grass heads and part of the leaves and stems. Before beginning the study, practice drawing grass leaves with one stroke of the brush, without first outlining their shapes. Then draw from the arrangement before you, working freely with the brush. In studying the leaves, notice where the greatest width is seen. Observe the size and direction of the stems, and draw them so that they express the upright growth and the grace of the plant. Grass stems are not like the stems of flowering plants or vines. Try to see and express the difference.

Selecting with a Finder the Most Interesting Part of a Sketch.

Do you see what has been done with the drawing of grasses? A finder was moved about on the sketch until a pleasing arrangement of shapes appeared within the opening. You will notice it was not necessary to show the whole of each leaf and head. The sketch on this page would be quite satisfactory, if it were cut out along the inner edges of the finder and mounted upon another sheet of paper.

Brush drawings of grasses and common weeds are beautiful when drawn in color upon a tinted background. You can tint paper with water-color in much the same way that you put on landscape washes. Dampen a sheet of paper, and then apply a very little red, blue, and yellow, washing the three colors down the sheet. A little practice will teach you how to use the color to get a green-gray, a yellow-gray, or a blue-gray tint. Tint several sheets at one lesson.

Using a sheet of your tinted paper, make a brush drawing in color, from a growth of grass or sedge. Draw in large size, and make a "finder" picture from your sketch.

Autumn Leaves and Berries.

If you have never seen the bitter-sweet vine growing over a dead tree, you have missed a beautiful sight. In the fall its bright berries hang in graceful clusters, and stay on the vine long after its leaves have fallen. The real berry is held in the close grasp of a several-parted case until a sharp frost bursts the outer covering and shows the scarlet fruit within.

The sketch on this page is from a spray of bittersweet before the leaves have dropped.

You can see that in the leaves more yellow than is usual was used, because their color is decidedly yellow-green. Most of the berries are shown, still held in their orange-colored cases. Can you tell what two colors were used in painting the berries?

Sometimes yellow and green alone do not give you the green you may desire; if you add a little red it will soften, or make gray, a green that seems too bright.

Choose a bright spray of autumn leaves and place it against a background. Study the growth, the different shapes of leaves and berries, and the color. Paint in life size just what you see.

A Flower and Its Growth Expressed in Color.

Members of the iris family are found in many places. The dwarf garden iris blossoms very early in the spring, and has short, stout stems, bearing several flowers. The common blue flag found in wet places is a country cousin of the garden iris. Both are related to the flower-de-luce, the stately lily of France. They are unlike other flowers in shape, and are beautiful in color, with sword-shaped leaves.

The sketch on this page shows two different colors of the iris. If you cannot find flowers like them, choose a stalk of blue flag or early garden iris. Flowers of all kinds must be painted with fresh, clean colors, used directly from the box. Do not mix or stir color in the palette. Colors that are "handled" too much become muddy and dead. One color may be dropped in another, allowing them to blend on the paper. You have made stained glass effects in this way. Sometimes two colors may be taken in the brush at once. They will flow together as you draw. For instance, if you fill your brush with yellow and dip it lightly in blue, you can make a brush stroke of green. In painting the violet iris, red may be dropped in blue. Before painting your flower study, practice drawing leaves and large petals in this direct way.

A Flower in Different Positions.

Suppose that in the sketch on page 20, each leaf had been of the same size and shape. Would you have liked the picture as well? Plants that are regular in their growth, like the fern or the ivy, are seldom chosen for sketches. We like to see a variety of shapes and sizes. Even when the leaves of a plant have the same general shape, their positions make their shapes appear unlike.

So it is with flowers. On this page are three different drawings of the same flower. Can you tell why they are not alike? It is because the flower was held in three different positions. When the flower-head is turned toward you, as in the first sketch, its shape is quite like a circle. In the second sketch, the shape is much narrower from front to back, and some of the petals appear shorter. Can you tell how it was held? The third sketch shows the back or under side of the flower, and the shape is again different. You see, then, that every flower you draw must be studied carefully, to find the shape as it really appears to you.

Take a large flower, like the brown-eyed Susan or the sunflower, and draw it in different positions. Use brush or crayon for your sketches.