the branches of the fine arts: painting, sculpture, poetry, music, and architecture. It is true that in the highest creative work, the artist acts as by inspiration, without conscious analysis. But when his work is done, it is tested by its conformity to certain laws of composition. The symmetry of a tree seems like a happy accident, but as a matter of fact there are phyllotactic laws governing the position of every branch. The stars seem scattered over the sky as carelessly as the leaves on a tree, yet each one is a world revolving in a fixed orbit by immutable laws. Nothing “happens” either in nature or art.
“Composition means literally and simply putting things together so as to make one thing out of them, the nature and goodness of which they all have a share in producing.” This is Ruskin’s definition in the Elements of Drawing, and I have never found a better one. It means that in a true art composition there is a reason for everything. Not a single line or spot of color is superfluous or meaningless. Every touch contributes to the whole effect. The architect, sculptor, painter, musician, and poet shape their materials into a complete and perfect oneness—a unity. The methods of reducing variety to unity constitute the laws of composition.
To begin with, a picture contains some one feature to which all others are subordinate. This is Principality, and by this law every means should be taken to fix attention upon the supreme point of interest. In some cases the scheme of color brings the important element into prominence. Again the method of
