SPACE 27 



The artist as he draws is the only man who can let the 

 melodies of the direction-signs become really vivid in his 

 imagination. He must do this if by the direction-signs of 

 his eye he is to control the impulse-sequences guiding his hand 

 long enough for the melody of its direction-signs to become 

 so strong that it gives unerring control. 



If we admit that in the greatest artists the power of 

 reproducing the melody in the imagination, and so of con- 

 trolling the hand, is carried to the furthest limit of what is 

 possible, then the finished drawing furnishes us with a criterion 

 for our own melodies, for the lines of the drawing show us the 

 essential features of an object much more clearly than we 

 saw them in the object itself. Hence we may conclude that 

 in an artist the melodies are far purer and far stronger than in 

 ourselves, and on that account they enable him to recreate 

 in a way that we should find impossible. 



Our inferiority is not referable merely to our lesser talent ; 

 the carelessness of our observation of the external world is 

 evident enough and it leads to the construction of second- 

 rate melodies. How many people there, are who content 

 themselves with constructing a single melody for all trees ! 

 A melody like this must be quite meaningless since it sup- 

 presses all those differences which are characteristic of the 

 forms of various kinds of trees. No doubt the widespread 

 use of writing, which governs our every step, especially in 

 towns, is responsible for turning our attention from natural 

 objects. We become aware of this when we try to find our 

 way about a city where the directions are posted up in un- 

 familiar letters. Most people are then deprived of signs by 

 which to guide themselves, for to them one house looks like 

 another, and one street like another. 



The melody of direction-signs which observation of out- 

 line gives, furnishes us with one of the chief characteristics 

 from which objects are built up. As a rule, only part of this 



