Page:How to show pictures to children (IA howtoshowpictur00hurl).pdf/41

 drawing or painting in the form of a print is a marvel. We accept this as a matter of course, as we do all other manufactured articles. In this age of industrial miracles, we have no time to praise one above another. Behind the machinery is the artist with his simple tools, pencil, brush, and color. Here is the wizard performance by which a few dexterous strokes will transform a blank sheet into a living creature, or fill vacancy with a fairy world. Outwardly the success of his work depends upon his craftsmanship. He must be master of a thousand technical details. He must know anatomy, perspective, the values of light and shade, modeling, drawing, the mixing of colors, and whatever else has to do with the manipulation of the raw materials. Of all that makes up the so-called technique of art the ordinary layman has little inkling. Only one who has tried his own hand at it has any notion that what looks so easy is really so hard. And just as a few elementary lessons in the use of any musical instrument give the amateur some faint idea of the skill represented in a great orchestra, so the drawing lessons of the public school train the eye to discriminate between fine and faulty draughtsmanship. It is a fashion in certain social circles to frequent the haunts of artists and pick up some of the studio vernacular, but it is a question how far this goes towards raising art standards. What will really help us to a more intelligent appreciation of a picture is to understand its structure. For every noble work of art is based on principles as well defined as the laws of nature,—principles which are common to all