46 AMES, PROCTOR AND AMES. 



simply matters of technique, the grammar so to speak of the expres- 

 sion. The quality that makes a great work of art is what the artist 

 expresses through his work. Masterpieces expressing great truth and 

 beauties have been done with entirely different bases of technique, 

 the work of the "Primitives" as compared with that of the Barbizon 

 School, for instance. Genius will express itself through any technique, 

 but certain techniques will give greater possibilities for depth and 

 subtlety of expression than others just as a modern piano, or violin or 

 full orchestra gives the musical composer more freedom than the 

 shepherd's pipes. 



It is believed that everything that has been said applies to scuplture 

 as well as to painting, taking into consideration of course that sculp- 

 ture is tridimensional. 



Its usefulness in architectural drawings seems to be pretty conclu- 

 sively proved by Figures 34 and 35. As to its application to archi- 

 tecture itself, the writers do not feel qualified to speak. The belief 

 that it is applicable can only be based on the assumption that in 

 architecture we desire a subjective impression of a preconceived recti- 

 linear arrangement. It would seem that under certain circumstances 

 this might be desirable. The possibility immediately comes to one's 

 mind that there maj' be a connection between the curves in Greek and 

 Gothic architecture and the characteristics of our retinal image. 



Before closing it might be interesting to suggest a line of thought to 

 which the determination of the more specific characteristics of our 

 retinal pictures might lead. In the first place the characteristics of 

 our retinal pictures are greatly affected by external physical condi- 

 tions. Take for instance retinal pictures of a scene in the day time and 

 at night. Due to the enlarged pupil with which the night scene would 

 be viewed and the greater sensitivity of the retina to blue light, as 

 shown by the left hand curve in Figure 37, the characteristics of our 

 retinal picture of the night scene will be very different from those of 

 the day scene. It is believed that there is no doubt that pictures 

 depicting these characteristics would most strongly suggest the external 

 physical conditions which give rise to them. Further, the eye is a 

 most delicatelv sensitive organ and is without doubt, affected bv our 

 bodily and likewise by our grosser emotional states. It is conceivable 

 that the characteristics of our retinal pictures are also affected, and 

 that specific bodily and emotional states are accompanied by specific 

 changes in the characteristics of our retinal pictures. This in turn 

 opens up the possibility that if the characteristics produced by a 

 particular bodily or emotional state were depicted in a picture, the 

 picture would suggest that particular state to those looking at it. 



