CORNELL 



TReablng^^Course for ^farmers' ilOives 



Published by the New York State College of Agriculture, at 

 Cornell University, from November to March and Entered at 

 Ithaca as Second-Class Matter under Act of Congress of July 

 i6, 1894. L. H. Bailey, Director. 



Martha Van Rensselaer, Supervisor. 

 SERIES V. ITHACA, N. Y., MARCH, 1907. No. 25- 



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SUPPLEMENT TO BULLETINS Nos. 2 AND 3. 



In the three previous bulletins, we have discussed some of the 

 principles of art as expressed in certain formal pictures. We have 

 •endeavored to discover why certain pictures are good, and, by this means, 

 to arrive at some standard for the judging of pictures. Every picture 

 is either good or bad, whatever the subject ; it remains for us to determine 

 why it is good or bad. 



The reader must never think that all excellence in pictures lies in 

 the formal and historical pieces alone, although every residence may 

 well have a few such pieces. The farmer and his wife, should be able 

 to see the picture in the landscape and in the customary objects and 

 operations of the farm. Some of the things that we have learned in the 

 last three bulletins, we may now apply to a photograph taken in New 

 York State. 



THE BEECHES— .\ STUDY IN UNITY. 

 By W. C. Baker. 



Pleasure in the contemplation of pictures grows with the increase 

 of knowledge of their construction, that is, of their composition. The 

 artist does not often represent in his picture exactly what is before him 

 in nature. He must almost invariablv eliminate and rearrange. He 

 selects only those elements necessary to express his idea and arranges 

 these best to suit his purpose. This is " composition." 



" Art is not nature or the imitation of nature. Art is expression. 

 The purpose of the artist is not to mirror nature nor yet to give moral 

 instruction, but to stir the emotions. The merit of a picture is determined 

 not so much by its likeness or unlikeness to nature as by what it suggests 

 or awakens in the observer. If the picture expresses the feelings the 

 artist experienced in the contemplation of the scene, its mission is fulfilled. 

 If in gazing at a picture one is stirred as was the photographer when 

 moved to record that scene, in so far is that picture a work of art. It 



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