The Dow

Print by Arthur Wesley Dow

I have been reading an old-time classic, Arthur Wesley Dow's book entitled Composition: Understanding Line, Notan and Color. The book was first published in 1899, and is still in print. That alone tells us something about its value. Dow's book looks at many different art forms, including architecture, sculpture, painting, drawing, design, and the crafts. Dow calls composition "the putting together of lines, masses and colors to make a harmony." Composition is the way we make beauty, and thus it is art itself. 

"The Moon over the Hill"
Arthus Wesley Dow

Dow thinks that all people have artistic ability, but the ability is often dormant, and must be cultivated. Or, as Dow puts it more eloquently,
"The power is within--the question is how to reach it and use it." 

And exactly how does Dow suggest that we cultivate artistic ability? He advocates for lots of individual exercise, studying always the great masters so that we can distinguish good, better, and best. Dow says that students must learn how to build a beautiful composition just as Giotto and Turner and other great artists throughout history have learned it: "by the study of art itself in the works of the masters, and by continual creative effort."

"The Long Road"
Arthur Wesley Dow

If you have been reading this blog very long, you know that I am a believer in learning from the great masters. So Dow's words were music to my ears. I am also a believer in the power of simple shapes, and you can see by Dow's works pictured in this post that he is a master of simplicity. So I have become a fan!

"Moonrise"
Woodblock
Arthur Wesley Dow

There is a wealth of information to be mined in Dow's book. I will leave you with a few  quotations. Food for thought until next time.

"Painting...is essentially a rhythmic harmony of colored spaces".

"Beauty [consists of] elements of difference harmonized by elements of unity."

"There is a certain beauty in a contrast of large and small. It is the

opposite of Monotony."

"No work has art-value unless it reflects the personality of its author."

"Mere accuracy has no art-value whatever."

"Ipswich Town"
Color Woodblock
Arthur Wesley Dow