From the INTRODUCTION.
THE tendency of the American people to study art marks an era in our intellectual life. Students of art multiply rapidly : art-schools are well filled, and private teachers are in great demand. All branches of art are receiving attention, and especially the industrial department.
There are two sources of art-instruction, — the teacher, and nature. There are also two methods of practice, — working from copies, and working from nature. Multitudes of private pupils do nothing but copy the work of others, and consequently they never acquire the power to produce original work themselves. The two methods may be combined, but nature must always be regarded sis the great instructor. We can do no greater service to our pupils than to prepare them to learn from nature, to open their eyes and minds to the harmonies and melodies which she has in ample store for them.
There is no department of public instruction better adapted to the development of the powers of observation than drawing from objects.
The art-student, in progressing through the various branches of his study, is soon confronted with the necessity of making for himself original drawings from objects. He cannot long follow copies, and depend upon them for guidance: he must read forms independently, as he would read a book ; and he must give his own rendering of them.
At this stage he is presumed to have acquired a ready hand in drawing from the copy, and to be in possession of some knowledge of Plane Geometry. Thus prepared he enters upon a tour of investigation, not unlike the explorer of a new country. He must note all the facts presented to his observation, and deduce all the laws discoverable by his understanding.
To the student it is emphatically a field of discovery. His eyes must be opened to new facts, which have been hitherto unnoticed by him. His method of seeing is to be changed from the casual and accidental to the accurate and discriminating method which penetrates and comprehends the subtleties of the apparent forms of objects, and of light, shade, shadow, reflections, and color. Every teacher of art knows that the principal part of his work is teaching his pupils to see and how to see. The pupil begins with little knowledge of the apparent forms of objects, and with no habit of observing them. This knowledge must be acquired, and the habit of seeing must be formed. This is the only foundation for true progress. In this respect, to draw is to know; and not to know, is not to be able to draw.
The subject of Object-Drawing has a basis of fact throughout. There is no guess-work ; mathematical precision pervades the whole; every question can be settled by reference to fundamental principles.
Model-drawing is the best possible preparation for sketching from nature. The student graduating from the study of models goes fully equipped to the delineation of natural scenery or of architectural objects. Without this preparation the results of his efforts would be uncertain, and accurate only by accident. It furnishes the scientific basis for free sketching; and without it, and an understanding of its principles, no artist can count himself secure in his work....
