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APPLICATION OF FIRST PRINCIPLES.

The rudiments or grammar of the art, furnishing the first training of the eye, should be well understood, and the examples, by frequent repetition, be readily imitated, before the further employment and practical application of the principles can be advantageously attempted. Although the young student may be impatient to advance to the delineation of pictorial objects, this is not the immediate purpose of our studies, and even if it were, it could not be so soon and so perfectly accomplished by any other process. To see and to draw correctly and with facility demands constantly renewed attention to the rules of art, and frequent attempts to ascertain and show that they are correctly understood.

It does not surprise any one that in other studies it is necessary to become familiar with the first principles, and to advance by regular progressive steps; nor should it be deemed less necessary in the art of drawing. Every art requires this preparatory knowledge and elementary practice; but practice not founded on rule only confirms ill habits, which it is better not to acquire than to be obliged to change and reform. It is a good maxim to do one thing at a time, and to do each thing well.

Objections to this apparently slow but sure process have been sometimes urged by young persons who have, they say, already learned to draw. If they have really learned to draw, it cannot be a difficult task to show their proficiency by rapidly, yet correctly, going through this course. If this cannot readily and easily be done, it is a proof that they have not learned to draw with sufficient correctness, and are embarrassed by habits of inattention and inaccuracy, arising from the want of system in their previous studies. In such cases it has appeared that when the student, convinced of his former error, has accomplished the regular course of these studies, he is surprised that he could have been contented with drawings in which if anything was correct it was only by accident, or because it was deceptively retouched by the teacher, leaving him no practical advantage from an art which he had not mastered, and could not apply to any specific and useful purpose. (Pages 40-43.)

PUBLIC SCHOOLS PREFERABLE TO PRIVATE TEACHERS FOR THIS STUDY.

However competent to effect its purpose be this or any other system of graphics, when studied with regularity and attention, this is seldom done in individual and private cases, because the lessons are impatiently hurried through, or the elementary ones neglected for those which are too much in advance to be fully understood. Hence the advantange of making drawing an early and necessary branch of education, especially in the public schools, and to require of the scholar to advance, as he does in other studies, according to the regular system which is prescribed, and even then, from carelessness, or relying too much on his own genius, he will sometimes be disposed to disregard a duty so advantageous to him.

Simple and few as the rules of drawing are now shown to be, yet as they require to be applied to an infinite variety of objects, they must be remembered at every operation of the art, to be taken up as the workman's instruments, and applied to ascertain whether the hand is performing its duty; which cannot be expected if the eye relaxes in its vigilance and the mind is otherwise occupied.

The young student is apt to forget or neglect them, and consequently falls into frequent errors, which are difficult or unpleasant to correct; but when, by the force of practice, the mind, the eye, and the hand all concur in one simultaneous act, the pencil then performs the duty assigned it, with a facility which may be compared with the performance of a piece of music, which seems to proceed spontaneously from the fingers-the result of principle and practice--and with an accuracy without which no beauty of execution can be a sufficient qualification; besides, the teacher cannot know when the eye of the scholar is sufficiently accurate until he is assured by repeated and varied demonstrations. (Pages 53, 54.)

THIRD BOOK OF DRAWING.

INFLUENCE OF THE ARTS.

The progress of refinement is necessarily connected with the prosperity of a civilized country. Let a community rise but a little above the level of the mere savage in a wigwam or hut, constructed by his degraded wife; or that of the wandering Arab, sheltered by no habitation but his tent, with no better friend than his horse in his career of robbery; let society advance but a little beyond these conditions, and the fine arts have their commencement. The permanent cottage becomes decorated

with a portico of rustic columns, and its furniture of useful articles gradually assume elegance under the improving eye of taste.

Who shall take upon him to limit the cultivation of taste and the useful applications which may be made of the art of drawing?

It was under their influence that Wedgewood invested his porcelain ware with such beautiful forms and ornaments, borrowed from the classic taste of Greece, as not only to enrich himself, but to give celebrity to his country.*

We shall draw the line of distinction between the useful arts and what are called the fine arts, which lend their aid to render every useful art more exact in its operation and more agreeable to that taste which is in the constitution of man, who is capable of admiring the order, variety, grace, and beauty in the works of his Creator, which, in their design, color, light, and shade, are perceived as perfect pictures in the human eye. It is a natural instinct to imitate these pictures. They are the language of the eye, and they become the medium of universal communication. (Pages 63, 64.)

THE FEATURES.

REASONS FOR DRAWING THE HUMAN FORM.

It is agreed among all professors of drawing that the human features afford the most instructive lessons for obtaining accuracy in the practise of the art, because they comprise the greatest variety of curves, and, being well-known objects, they admit of instantaneous judgment on the correctness or defects in the imitation of them. This opinion is so well established that even in the education of engineers their study of drawing comprises a full course of the human features and figure as the most certain means of attaining excellence, even when their purpose is never to draw anything but machinery. (Page 70.)

FOURTH BOOK OF DRAWING.

DRAWING FROM PATTERNS AS PREPARATORY TO DRAWING FROM SOLID OBJECTS.

Whatever to a casual observer may seem to be the advantage in learning the art of drawing by beginning from solid objects, it is a delusion to suppose that this can be effectual unless the eye and hand of the student be first trained to discriminate between the apparent direction of those lines which constitute the outer and inner forms of objects.

If solid quadrangles are placed square before him, and at the elevation of the eye, it is true he may soon learn to imitate the lines which are perpendicular and horizontal; but the moment the objects or blocks are placed obliquely below or above the eye, then the perspective of their boundary lines, to be properly imitated, require an eye and a hand that has been previously cultivated to extreme accuracy in the direction of lines and their analysis by triangular proportion upon the same principles as those which are employed in surveying, because the objects must be thus surveyed on a plane as if traced upon a perpendicular sheet of glass held at right angles between the objects and the spectator.

Besides, in examining the necessarily imperfect attempts of beginners from solid blocks, when seen in perspective, the eye of the accomplished teacher must be brought down to the exact station from which each pupil has viewed them, in order that he may compare the copy with the model, and "keep up a careful watch, examining the performances at every stage, that there should be no carelessness." Unless he does, his commendation may only confirm error.

Whatever success in drawing from solid objects a teacher may display in his private school-room, suitably lighted, provided with every requisite, and with a few pupils at a time for hours together, the case is different when multitudes of scholars are to be instructed in short periods, and without conveniences; besides, it would require in every teacher more practical knowledge than could be readily procured or economically paid for in this country.

It does not admit of doubt that the eye and hand should be first trained to do what the eye and hand of some one has previously done, before it be required to produce original drawings from nature, any more than that an excellent style of writing can be acquired without copying what has already been written.

To derive the greatest benefit from what has been drawn by another as a pattern, it must be placed so as to be seen in the same direction as the objects were which it represents.

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The common practise of laying the drawing or print to be copied flat upon the table, is, therefore, disadvantageous to the young student. It is seen in a false angle, and is liable to frequent change. The only position in which it can be correctly viewed is erect, exactly in front, and still better, if it be fixed as high as the eye; as it then most perfectly occupies the place of the object which it represents, and must, obviously, be imitated, or copied, with the same observances in regard to the direction and character of lines, as if it was a solid object at a distance from the eye.

Without touching the pattern, the student may move his pencil in the air in front of the drawing or print, exactly as he would in pointing to, in tracing or imitating the direction of lines or parts, and the contour of curves in the solid or distant object itself; and thus learn how to produce similar movements and marks on his paper. Thus real objects, viewed through a sheet of glass, may be accurately traced on it, and may, of course, be imitated on paper, exactly as they might be marked on the glass, in the exact direction of every line, and the triangular situation of any three parts, producing, necessarily, the most perfect perspective.

When the pupil is sufficiently advanced to draw from solid objects, he will analyze them as he would the drawings from them, placed erect before him, by the application of those rules and eye-measures which he has been taught in the study of graphics. (Pages 85-6-7.)

FIFTH BOOK.

DRAWING APPLIED TO WRITING.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

The principles of drawing applied to the study of writing, although introduced as the last book of graphics, may be employed at any period of the course, after the eye of the pupil is sufficiently educated, by means of the elementary lessons, and that the Roman capitals can be readily and correctly copied. Without the ability to do this there can be no certainty in the execution of any line, whether in drawing or in writing. The forms and proportions of manuscript letters should then be carefully and deliberately studied with the lead pencil to obtain confidence in the subsequent use of the pen, and the two studies may afterwards advance together.

When the distinct formation of these letters is learned, together with their connection in words, by means of the best copy-slips, as prepared for schools, the business practice of writing is promoted by copying select passages from printed books; thus demonstrating that the student can habitually execute what has been correctly learned. This, at the same time, affords other instruction, and is the most effectual means of acquiring accuracy in orthography and punctuation, before the scholar can be prepared for writing original compositions, as the premature practice and careless manner of executing them are often productive of bad habits, inveterate beyond the power of correction.

It is the purpose of this system to teach drawing as auxiliary to writing, and writing as a branch of drawing; yet if the student has already learned to write a good hand, under a judicious teacher, it will still be advantageous to understand the application of the rules of drawing in defining any peculiar characters of writing; and every teacher of writing will find the proficiency of his pupils to be in proportion to the accuracy of their vision, obtained by a previous knowledge of drawing.

WRITING.

The art of writing, now almost as necessary as speech, and often a substitute for it, it is generally supposed cannot be acquired too soon, but may be attempted too soon, without preparatory instruction. At whatever time, however, it is deemed proper to commence the study, professors of penmanship, no matter how much they may differ in their systems, agree on one point, that it is necessary to begin with some simple elements; and most of them confess that the knowledge of the forms to be imitated should precede the effort to imitate them, in the act of writing t

Writing is little else than drawing the forms of letters. Drawing is little more *If the glass be coated with a thin solution of gum arabic and sugar, it will, when dry, receive the marks of a black crayon. Shutting one eye, especially if looking through a fixed loop-hole the outlines of near or distant objects may be correctly traced on the upright glass. This is the principle of Otis's perspective instrument. + Carstarian systems of penmanship, however, inculcate a different opinion, that "it is very improper for the teacher to insist on the pupils forming the characters and letters with precision at the commencement," as restraining freedom of hand; and that "the art of writing depends more upon execution than on theory or design." These are the natural opinions of men not familiar with the principles of drawing.

than writing the forms of objects. Every one that can learn to write is capable of learning to draw; and every one should know how to draw that can find advantage in writing. To attempt to write before the eye has become correct in the analysis of forms, and before the hand can obey the will in imitating them, is to labor against reason by attempting to do what is not understood. Mechanical habits of motion cannot compensate for this want of knowledge, nor can accident accomplish what should be acquired by design. The student of graphics who has, in a sufficient degree, attained correctness of eye and readiness of hand, is capable of applying this knowledge to the imitation of every kind of writing, because he has studied all that relates to form in the direction of lines and proportion of parts; and writing requires nothing else, except the production of continuous strokes, and the mechanical pressure of the pen upon some parts of the lines more than others; which may be readily learned from good examples.

"In the present day," says Dean, "the art is acquired by imitation alone. The grounds of it are but imperfectly unfolded in the youthful mind. Letters are formed altogether independent of rules, or in a loose, untutored way, just as the eye happens to light on the model. So that the want of intellectual aid can only be supplied by the long practice of the hand. Thus the powers of genius are locked up, and the edge of infant ingenuity is effectually blunted. Few excel, because few can imitate to perfection; and the knowledge acquired after this manner is precisely the same as that of one pretending to an acquaintance with geometry, who knows not a single axiom or principle on which the science is founded."*

The best treatises on penmanship recommend that the forms of letters should be studied before an attempt is made to imitate them; yet they seldom seem to recollect that to imitate is to draw them, and that their pupils, not having learned to draw, cannot accurately imitate the forms required. They are therefore compelled to make many efforts, the errors of which the teacher is obliged to point out in detail; if not, the pages of their copy-books generally exhibit each repetition of the copy worse and worse, when it should be better than the previous one; otherwise the writer should be censured for carelessness and waste.

Teachers of writing, by dint of application, and the influence, perhaps, of a good taste, having acquired an elegant style of execution, nevertheless find it a difficult task to communicate a similar taste and an equal spirit of application to their numerous scholars. If they are unacquainted with the art of drawing, by which the contour of every letter may be analyzed and defined, they have no resource but to induce their pupils, by certain positions and oft-repeated efforts, to acquire some habit of execution, as a substitute. As well might it be expected that a manufacturer should depend on the movements of his fingers and the position of his tools, without any knowledge of the forms of the articles he is making. Habits, like fashion, not founded on knowledge and taste, are the slaves of caprice and chance. Let the scholar first study the principles of accurate delineation, which will enable him to draw the exact form of every letter, and he will soon acquire the power of executing them with facility as well as accuracy. However beautifully the master may write, and however elegant the copies he may set before his pupils, their uncertain efforts are seldom successful, displaying an awkward imitation of every vicious peculiarity, rather than what constitutes the essential merit of the copy.

"Nothing can be done well without time and care, with a determination to accomplish it in the most perfect manner; bearing in mind, that good work in any department of science cannot be done without extreme thought and careful movement; the most eminent masters in the art of penmanship take great time and bestow much labor on their own performances, and any pupil, to equal them, must follow in their footsteps with an inquiring mind, a searching eye, and a carefully moving pen."‡ (Pages 99-104.)

*Dean's Analytical Penmanship.

"The figure of the letter must be formed exactly according to his preconceived idea of it." Dean's Analytical Penmanship,

+ Dearborn.

III.-MINIFIE'S MARYLAND INSTITUTE ADDRESSES.

EXTRACTS FROM MR. MINIFIE'S LECTURES BEFORE THE MARYLAND INSTITUTE.*

In the chapter upon the historical development of the movement for the introduction of drawing as a regular branch of popular education, a short account of the various similar efforts and brilliant though brief successes of Mr. Minifie, in Baltimore, Md., follows the detailed description of Mr. Peale's efforts in Philadelphia. The following extracts from Mr. Minifie's published addresses show how intimately, in his judg ment, this important study is related to the arts and manufactures of the people.

PREFACE.

In publishing the following short addresses on drawing and design, I am actuated by a desire to call the attention of the public, and of editors especially, to the great importance of introducing this almost wholly neglected branch of instruction into the systems of education of all our schools, both public and private, the primary as well as the high schools; not as a mere accessory that may be dispensed with at pleasure, but as one of the fundamental branches of education in connection with writing and arithmetic, since its importance and usefulness to a very large number of students can hardly be considered inferior to those branches.

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The advantages of drawing and industrial design to our manufactures are but faintly intimated in the following pages. The few statistics presented must be considered merely as hints to attract the attention of others more capable of illustrating the subject. It is one which European Governments rightly consider to have very important bearings on the sources of national wealth and prosperity.

IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN.

A cultivation of the art of industrial design would not only afford occupation to large numbers of draughtsmen and women, but it would open many new branches of industry, in which the designs, although absolutely necessary to their existence, would form but a small part of the labor connected with them, and thus afford a constant increase of profitable employment to an almost unlimited extent.

We need have no fear of a want of employment for art-draughtsmen when educated, as the present state of our manufactures will warrant the employment of a large number, and, with the ability to furnish better designs, will come a demand for better and still better, for the improvements will be gradual and continuous.

If it is important to a nation that it should manufacture as many as possible of the necessaries and luxuries of life for its own use and for exportation, it must surely be quite as important, if not more so, to have those manufactures improved to the utmost, so as to compete advantageously with other nations in design as well as in texture and cheapness.

To get good designers, we must take the proper means for educating them; and if we should make drawing a branch of common school education, we should have an opportunity of selecting those who evidenced superior talent for the art, and at the same time by improving the taste of all we should create in many an appreciation of the beautiful, and consequently very much extend the consumption of art productions. A glance at the large statistics of our importations should convince the objector that

Popular Lectures on Drawing and Design, delivered at the public meetings of the School of Design of the Maryland Institute, at the opening and closing of the sessions of 1852-53 and 1853-'54, by William Minifie, professor of drawing in the school, author of a text book of mechanical drawing, and an essay on the theory of color. Baltimore. Published by Wm. Minifie, 1854. pp. 58.

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