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226 sarily omitted. Nothing is given that in any way interferes with the central thought. Reduced thus to its simplest elements, his art calls for the utmost harmony in all that enters into it, and first of all for perfect composition of line, mass, and vacant space. Scarcely less important is color arrangement, including the balancing of light and dark as factors in the result. A high degree of technical skill is also requisite, for the poetry would be lost should the execution seem labored. The greatest works are, in appearance at least, spontaneous to an astonishing degree. Wonderful indeed are the possibilities of a single brush stroke in the hands of a master. The effects produced range from almost microscopic realism to the broadest impressionism, the latter quality being predominant in the works of some of the most eminent artists.

So far as it is possible to sum them up in a brief statement, the distinguishing characteristics of Japanese painting are these:—

1. Excellence of composition. 2. Subtlety and beauty of line. 3. Remarkable command of the brush, and directness of method in its use. 4. Simplicity of treatment, and rigid exclusion of non-essentials. 5. Absence of chiaroscuro, and the employment of notan, or contrast between light and dark. 6. Skilful generalization of forms. 7. Poetical conception. 8. High development of the sense of harmony in color.