VISION AND THE TECHNIQUE OF ART. 43 



This similarity to the retinal picture is shown in a tendency to accentu- 

 ate the center of interest and lose detail elsewhere. This is especially 

 evident in black and white work and in etchings. An explanation of 

 this may be that it is easier to accomplish in black and white work. 

 For in that part of the picture where it is desired to lose detail, detail 

 is simply left out, the white paper suggesting blankness. Where color 

 is used this cannot be done. Some color must be put on the canvas 

 and then the difficulty arises of getting on the right colors in the right 

 way. 



It is believed that anyone going through a gallery, with the points 

 of views here set forth in mind, will be impressed by the fact that the 

 works of many of the best men show a suppression of detail in those 

 parts of the pictures which are not the center of interest. And there 

 will not be the slightest question that, in most cases, the entire picture 

 is not painted as it would appear if every part of the scene were 

 looked at directly. 



It is also very interesting to note that it is almost a general rule that 

 the early work of most of the great masters was, so to speak, tight and 

 hard, photographic. There is a very good example of this in an early 

 picture by Corot in the Boston Art Museum. Later their style or 

 technique changes. Their work is done more broadly especially the 

 outer parts and their pictures get a center of focus and, to use a stock 

 term, compose. 



It cannot be questioned that the change is a departure from a 

 photographic reproduction of the scene. But the question may still 

 remain: what are the laws that govern this change in style or tech- 

 nique? The commonly accepted belief is that, if there are any laws, 

 they are purely aesthetic or psychical, and that the artist puts in and 

 leaves out and changes solely according to the dictates of his personal 

 taste. In view of what has been shown, especially the use by so many 

 great painters of distortion, see Chapter IV, it is believed that the 

 improvement in technique of these artists was due to a development of 

 their vision. Consciously or unconsciously they approximated the 

 scene as it would have appeared to them had they kept their focus 

 upon the center of interest. 



The difficulty which arises in this method of painting is to know how 

 to reproduce the impression that one gets from an object at which one 

 is not looking. That the capacity to recognize and analyze such 

 impressions can be developed is shown by fact that some of the char- 

 acteristics of such impressions have been represented by numerous 

 artists. That this is very difficult is shown by the fact with all the 



