1892.] on Japanesque. 561 



pleasure. The delight which we derive from following a graceful 

 curve, or from contemplating a perfectly balanced arrangement, seems 

 to grow as the proportion between the " x " and " y " of the curve's 

 equation, or between the " x " and "1 — a; " of the rectilinear arrange- 

 ment increases in subtlety. There appear to be three distinct degrees 

 of this pleasure. The pleasure of knowledge first, as of the proportions 

 of a circle, or of a vase in the centre of a table ; but this is of a very 

 low order, often indeed approaching contempt. The mind knows at 

 once how that is done. Then there is the repose and satisfaction of 

 not knowing and not wanting to know. But when this satisfaction 

 gives place to curiosity and the desire to know, the trouble of finding 

 out produces cerebral fidgets ; there is the excitement of discovery, 

 probably the annoyance that the discovery was not worth the trouble 

 after all, and the general subversion of that repose which beauty 

 engenders. 



Some such intellectual processes seem to be the origin of the 

 effects we call commonplace, beautiful, eccentric. 



And so coming back to my vase and my table, the Japanese 

 know not the one, but the hundred and one, places where to set the 

 vase, so that the conditions are satisfied of subtle proportion and 

 avoidance of curious or eccentric effect. 



And here let me add is an example of the abundant latitude 

 which is left to individual expression in spite of the cloud of rules 

 in which tradition and convention have wrapped this and every 



other Japanese subject. 



******* 



Precisely the same principle pervades the composition of all 

 Japanese pictures, though one form of it very often leads to large 

 spaces of blank, or as it is often called, wasted paper. If the 

 paper were cut down it would be so much nicer, so much more 

 suited to form one of the crowd of pictures which jostle one another 

 on our walls. Well, but the Japanese consider, in setting out the 

 scheme of the picture, its relation to the area it has to cover ; the 

 balance of lines or of masses may, for instance, possibly require one 

 shaft of bamboo to be carried up isolated into an otherwise blank 

 space. The blank or slightly tinted paper seems to me as sufficient 

 for all the requirements of art as the wilderness of black, red, or blue 

 paint with which we cover similar spaces on our canvases, calling 

 them " backgrounds " of wall, curtain, or sky. 



The ugly necessities of primed canvas compel us to cover it all 

 over with pigment ; the necessities of the rapidly absorbent paper, or 

 prepared silk, which the Japanese use, preclude their doing so ; thus 

 each necessity has produced its own law. 



But it is not in the somewhat lavish use of blank spaces alone, 

 but in every line of the drawing that this art of balanced arrange- 

 ment is discernible, making for wholeness and completeness and repose. 

 It is the absence of this that makes Japanesque work so sprawly, 

 distorted, and abortionate. And verily it is not to be wondered at ; 



