Landscape Painting (1909)
by Birge Harrison
775719Landscape Painting1909Birge Harrison

From a photograph by Braun, Clement & Co.

J. B. C. Corot—"Landscape"

LANDSCAPE PAINTING


BY

BIRGE HARRISON


WITH TWENTY-FOUR REPRODUCTIONS OF
REPRESENTATIVE PICTURES


FOURTH EDITION



NEW YORK

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

1910

Coyright, 1909, by Charles Scribner's Sons

Published October, 1909



Charles Scribner's Sons logo
Charles Scribner's Sons logo

To

J. S. H.

FOREWORD

This little book represents the fulfilment of a promise to put into permanent form certain impromptu talks on landscape painting given before the Art Students' League of New York at its summer school at Woodstock, N. Y. No effort has been made to elaborate the themes treated, the writer feeling that what might be gained in literary form might very well be lost in spontaneity and conciseness of statement. It is hardly necessary to say that these little talks make no claim to infallibility of judgment. They simply represent the present beliefs and convictions of a painter who is himself still a student; but they are sincere, at least, and "straight from the shoulder."

It is to be regretted that the art of color printing has not yet reached a stage of development where it can be trusted with the reproduction of a masterpiece of landscape, which often depends for its beauty on color-tones and color-transitions of extreme delicacy. In the present volume it has been judged best to confine the reproductions to simple half-tones in black and white—to give no color rather than color which is false and misleading; and the illustrations here included are therefore presented, not as adequate representations of the works themselves, but as hints and suggestions only of the qualities which give to those works their distinction and their beauty.

Thanks are due to the editors of Scribner's Magazine, The North American Review, The International Studio, and Palatte and Brush for permission to reprint here certain of the chapters which have already appeared in the publications mentioned.

Woodstock, N. Y., 1909.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. Landscape Art in General 1
II. Color 12
III. Vibration 31
IV. Refraction 47
V. Values 65
VI. Drawing 78
VII. Composition 89
VIII. Quality 99
IX. Pigments 107
X. On Framing Pictures 123
XI. On Schools 131
XII. The Arts and Crafts 141
XIII. Mural Painting 147
XIV. On Vision 154
XV. The Importance of Fearlessness in Painting 158
XVI. The Sub-Conscious Servant 164
XVII. Temperament 178
XVIII. Character 189
XIX. What is a Good Picture? 199
XX. The True Impressionism 207
XXI. The Future of American Art 234

ILLUSTRATIONS

j. b. c. corot
"Landscape" Frontispiece
j. f. millet facing page
"The Shepherdess" 10
anton mauve
"A Flock of Sheep" 22
claude monet
"The Bridge at Argenteuil" 34
winslow homer
"The Fog Warning" 44
d. w. tryon
"Twilight, Autumn" 60
charles h. woodbury
"The North Atlantic" 74
h. w. ranger
"Landscape" 90
paul dougherty
"Land and Sea" 104
e. w. redfield
"The Red Barn" 112
alexander harrison
"La Crépuscule" 126
childe hassam
"Brooklyn Bridge" 132
w. l. metcalf
"Summer Moonlight" 148
w. elmer schofield
"Winter in Picardy" 154
leonard ochtman
"Wood Interior" 166
bruce crane
"November Hills" 174
ben foster
"Early Moonrise" 186
j. alden weir
"New England Factory Village" 196
henry g. dearth
"Moonrise" 202
emil carlsen
"Landscape" 208
birge harrison
"Woodstock Meadows in Winter" 216
w. l. lathrop
"At Dusk" 228
charles melville dewey
"October Evening" 240
george inness
"Autumn Oaks" 248

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.


The longest-living author of this work died in 1929, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 94 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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