INTRODUCTION
1. By Design I mean Order in human feeling and thought and in the many and varied activities by which that feeling or that thought is expressed. By Order I mean, particularly, three things,—Harmony, Balance, and Rhythm. These are the principal modes in which Order is revealed in Nature and, through Design, in Works of Art.
2. Whenever two or more impressions or ideas have something in common that is appreciable, they are in harmony, in the measure of what they have in common. The harmony increases as the common element increases; or the common elements. It diminishes in the measure of every difference or contrast. By the Order of Harmony I mean some recurrence or repetition, some correspondence or likeness. The likeness may be in sounds or in sights, in muscular or other sense-impressions. It may lie in sensations, in perceptions, in ideas, in systems of thought.
3. By the Order of Balance I mean some equal opposition and consequent equilibrium, as it occurs at some moment of Time or at some point of Space; an equilibrium which induces, for the moment and in its place, a suspension of all change or movement, and causes a pause or a rest. The equilibrium may be one of physical forces (forces of weight or resistance) or forces of will. It may be an equilibrium of sense-impressions or attractions, of interests, of alternative propositions or ideas. It may be the equilibrium of a perfect antithesis. Certain moments of Time, certain points of Space, aredistinguished from others by instances of equilibrium or balance. The balance being lost, in any case, we have at once some movement. If this movement is regular, and marked in its regularity, we get, instead of Balance, Rhythm.
4. By the Order of Rhythm I mean changes of sensation; changes in muscular impressions as we feel them, in sounds as we hear them, in sights as we see them; changes in objects, people, or things as we know them and think of them, changes which induce the feeling or idea of movement, either in the duration of Time or in the extension of Space; provided that the changes take place at regular and marked intervals of time or in regular and marked measures of space. By regular intervals and measures I mean equal or lawfully varying intervals and measures. I do not mean, by Rhythm, changes simply, inducing the sense or idea of movement: I mean, by Rhythm, a regularity of changes in a regularity of measures, with the effect of movement upon our minds.
Rhythms in Time differ from Rhythms in Space, inasmuch as the movement in Time is in one direction, inevitably. It lies in the duration and passing of time, from which nothing escapes. The movement in space, on the contrary, may be in any one of many possible directions. A movement in different directions, particularly in contrary directions, amounts to a negation of movement. In any space-rhythm, therefore, the direction in which the rhythm leads us, the direction in which we follow it, must be unmistakable.
5. Of these three principles of Order, the first and foremost, the most far-reaching and comprehensive, is the principle of Harmony. We have Harmony in all balances, and we have it also in all rhythms. It is, therefore, undesirable to think of the three principles as coördinate. It will be better to think of the principle of Harmony first, and thenof two other principles, those of Balance and of Rhythm, as lying within the range of Harmony but not coextensive with it. We might express the idea in a logical diagram.
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Within the field of Harmony we have two distinct modes of Order—Balance and Rhythm; but we have Harmony beyond the range of Balance and beyond the range of Rhythm.
In cases where rhythms, corresponding in character and in direction of movement, are set side by side, one on the right, the other on the left, of a vertical axis, so that they balance, one against the other, and the vertical axis of the balance is the line of the movement, we have the union of all three principles. This idea, also, may be expressed in a logical diagram.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Examples of this union of the three principles of Order will be given farther on.
6. I refrain from any reference to Beauty as a principle of Design. It is not a principle, but an experience. It is an experience which defies analysis and has no explanation. We distinguish it from all other experiences. It gives us pleasure, perhaps the highest pleasure that we have. At the same time it is idle to talk about it, or to write about it. The less said about it the better. “It is beautiful,” you say. Then somebody asks, “Why is it beautiful?” There is no answer to that question. You say it is beautiful because it gives you pleasure: but other things give you pleasure which are not beautiful. Pleasure is, therefore, no criterion of Beauty. What is the pleasure which Beauty gives? It is the pleasure which you have in the sense of Beauty. That is all you can say. You cannot explain either the experience or the kind of pleasure which it gives you.
While I am quite unable to give any definition or explanation of Beauty, I know where to look for it, where I am sure to find it. The Beautiful is revealed, always, so far as I know, in the forms of Order, in the modes of Harmony, of Balance, or of Rhythm. While there are many instances of Harmony, Balance, and Rhythm which are not particularly beautiful, there is, I believe, nothing really beautiful which is not orderly in one or the other, in two, or in all three of these modes. In seeking the Beautiful, therefore, we look for it in instances of Order, in instances of Harmony, Balance, and Rhythm. We shall find it in what may be called supreme instances. This is perhaps our nearest approach to a definition of Beauty: that it is a supreme instance of Order, intuitively felt, instinctively appreciated.
7. The Arts are different forms or modes of expression: modes of feeling, modes of thought, modes of action. There are many Arts inwhich different terms of expression, different materials, different methods are used. The principal Arts are (1) Gymnastics, including Dancing, (2) Music, (3) Speech, spoken and written, (4) Construction with all kinds of materials, (5) Sculpture, including Modeling and Carving, (6) Drawing and Painting. These are the principal Arts, but there are many others, more or less connected with them. Design comes into all of these Arts, bringing Order, in some cases Beauty.
8. The Art which I have studied and practiced, the Art in which I am giving instruction, is that of Drawing and Painting.
By the Art of Drawing and Painting I mean expression in pigment-tones (values, colors, intensities of color) spread in different measures or quantities and in different shapes: shapes being differences of character given to a line by its straightness or curvature, to a spot or area by its outline or contour. By Drawing and Painting I mean, therefore, expression by lines and spots of paint.
9. There are two modes of Drawing and Painting, the mode of Pure Design and the mode of Representation.
10. By Pure Design I mean simply Order, that is to say, Harmony, Balance, and Rhythm, in lines and spots of paint, in tones, measures, and shapes. Pure Design appeals to the eye just as absolute Music appeals to the ear. The purpose in Pure Design is to achieve Order in lines and spots of paint, if possible, the perfection of Order, a supreme instance of it, the Beautiful: this with no other, no further, no higher motive; just for the satisfaction, the pleasure, the delight of it. In the practice of Pure Design we aim at Order and hope forBeauty. Even the motive of giving pleasure to others lies beyond the proper purpose of Pure Design, though it constantly happens that in pleasing ourselves we give others pleasure.
11. The application of Design in the various Arts and Crafts is well understood and appreciated. We have many instances and examples in the Art of the Past. The possibility of Pure Design, pure Art, followed for the sake of Order and Beauty, with no purpose of service or of utility, is not at all understood or appreciated. I think of Pure Design as I think of Music. Music is the arrangement and composition of sounds for the sake of Order and Beauty, to give pleasure to the ear of the composer. Pure Design is the arrangement and composition of lines and spots of paint for the sake of Order and Beauty, to give pleasure to the eye of the designer. I am prepared to admit, however, that as Music, once created, being appropriate to the occasion when it is performed and to the mood of the listeners, may give pleasure to many persons, so Pure Design, once achieved, being appropriate to the time and the place of exhibition and to the mood of the beholders, may give pleasure to others besides the designer. In that sense, I am willing to allow that Pure Design may be Applied Art,—Art applied in the service of Humanity, its purpose being to bring pleasure into human experience. The underlying motive of it, however, is found not in the service of humanity, but in the ideal of the artist. He aims at Order and hopes for Beauty, as the highest reward of his effort. John Sebastian Bach said of Music: “It is for the glory of God and a pleasant recreation.” That is what I mean. The designer, like the musician, seeks first of all to achieve Order and Beauty for the sake of Order and Beauty. That is his religion,—the worship of the Ideal. When the Ideal is realized, the object which has been produced may serve a useful purpose in giving pleasure, and perhaps inspiration, to others.
The principles of Pure Design which are defined and illustrated in this book are the principles which should be followed in all applications of Design in the Arts and Crafts. In such applications, however, the ideals of design are often obscured by the consideration of materials and technical processes on the one hand, and of service or utility on the other. It will be worth while, therefore, for those who wish to bring Design into their work, whatever that is, to study Design in the abstract, Pure Design, so that they may know, before they undertake to use it, what Design is. It is the purpose of this book to explain what it is.
12. Order, which in Pure Design is an end, becomes in Representation a means to an end; the end being the Truth of Representation. In Representation we are no longer dealing, as in Pure Design, with meaningless terms, or, if the terms have meanings, with no regard for them. In Representation we are putting lines and spots of paint together for the sake of their meanings. Design in Representation means Order in the composition or arrangement of meanings. What we aim at is the Truth of Representation in a form of expression which will be simple, clear, reasonable, and consistent, as well as true. The attention must be directed to what is important, away from what is unimportant. Objects, people, and things represented must be brought out and emphasized or suppressed and subordinated, according to the Idea or Truth which the artist wishes to express. The irrelevant must be eliminated. The inconsistent and the incongruous must be avoided. That is what I mean by Design in Representation, the knowledge of Nature and Life presented in a systematic, logical, and orderly way.
13. It sometimes happens that we have the Truth of Representation in a form of Pure Design or Pure Design combined with Representation. InPoetry we have the meaning of the words in the measures of the verse. So in Representation it is sometimes possible to achieve the Truth in forms of Harmony, Balance, and Rhythm. In such cases the appeal is simultaneously to the love of Knowledge and to the sense of Order and of Beauty, so that we have an æsthetic pleasure in the statement of the Truth.
In this book I shall explain what I mean by Drawing and Painting in Pure Design. Later, I hope to write another book on Design in Representation.