£92 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF EDUCATION.
tion to the general whole, It is the fundamental language of the industrial and
ornamental arts.
There are two aspects of outline drawing. These are commonly spoken of as geo-
metrical and freehand drawing. Geometrical drawing includes not only geometric
problems, but projection drawing, linear perspective, and all line drawing that depends
apon the use of instruments. Freehand drawing may be and is rightly used for a
great deal of work that is not dependent for expression upon light and shade. All
rendering of surface forms, such as decorative arrangements, copies of historic orna-
ment from the flat, and the drawing of the several geometric views from objects,
belong properly to the sphere of outline drawing ; and where such subjects are used to
begin the study of drawing, the only method that can be employed is outline drawing.
The question is still being agitated, Shall the study of drawing begin with the making
of lines, the estimating of distances, and from flat copies, or shall it begin with the
study of things by drawing the several geometric views and appearances of objects ?
if the first method be adopted, then arises a second division : “ Shall the work begin
with the ruler, or the free hand ?” I quote from Colonel Charles Larned, of West
Point, who is probably one of the ablest and most disinterested exponents of the first
method. He says: ¢ Because the line is an arbitrary convention, I am of opinion that
first instruction should never be freehand from the object ; the translation of form by
she line is an artifice more difficult in freehand work, and more laboriously acquired.
I'he young pupil should first be introduced to his medium and some of its meanings
sefore undertaking to interpret with it. As a matter of training, I value the clean, well-
Jefined line of the pencil or pen for beginners. The large charcoal or crayon line in the
hands of the very young is uncertain and dirty ; it condones inexactness of observation
and result, at a formative period when habits are born.”
Colonel Larned, it will be observed, speaks as a soldier, and from the standpoint of
the technical or academic school, where the pupils are usually over fourteen years of
age, when the period of childhood's emotions and instincts is past and the intellectual
life of the individual is seeking to assert itself ; in fact, Colonel Larned’s instruction
begins where the work of the primary and grammar schools ceases.
He continues : The line is wholly a convention, the symbol of direction, extension,
and limit ; but in objective form there is properly no line, only the contrast of the
different values of light and shade. The edges of intersecting planes of exterior and
terior contours are not seen as lines, but as sharply defined contrasts of one value of
shade against another. This is true of all rory; an apprehension of it is purely a
perception of contrast of light and shade. But line drawing exists, and is used for the
purpose of expressing abstract thought; of measuring geometric relations and quan-
sative analysis of space ; for the rendering of all that involves exactitude, precision, and
accuracy of detailed feeling. This all must admit. It compels attention as no other
means of expression does to correctness of principle, to accuracy of results, to habits of
1eatness and order, to forethought and forehandedness, to exactness of method ; and it
‘orces the realization of concepts with relentless precision.”
While the geometrical line of construction has these well-defined advantages in clear
thinking, it also has its limitations as an educational medium. Colonel Larned is care-
ful to tell us that it does not stimulate to any great extent the faculties of vision, such
as ‘““form apprehension, form judgment, form memory, and form sensibility.”
Picture writing or hieroglyphs is the earliest and most significant use of line drawing.
Historically, with all nations and in all epochs of an art development, expression by
dine has preceded expression by light and shade. All primitive drawing simplifies and
letaches objects, copying them in their own way, isolating and giving each its person-
ality without any conception of pictorial relations. The study of chiaroscuro has up to
the past few years been limited to the special school, with a professional trained teacher.