56 



THE DESERT 



Decorative 

 landscapes. 



Sensuous 

 qualities in 

 nature. 



horizon ; it sometimes reaches np and blenda 

 into the sky without any point of demarcation. 

 Through the heated air you see faint outlines of 

 mountains, dim glimpses of foot-hills, sugges- 

 tions of distance ; but no more. Across them 

 is drawn the wavering veil of air, and the red 

 earth at your feet, the blue sky overhead, are 

 but bordering bands of flat color. 



And there you have the most decorative land- 

 scape in the world, a landscape all color, a dream 

 landscape. Painters for years have been trying 

 to put it upon canvas this landscape of color, 

 light, and air, with form almost obliterated, 

 merely suggested, given only as a hint of the 

 mysterious. Men like Corot and Monet have 

 told us, again and again, that in painting, clearly 

 delineated forms of mountains, valleys, trees, 

 and rivers, kill the fine color-sentiment of the 

 picture. The great struggle of the modern 

 landscapist is to get on with the least possible 

 form and to suggest everything by tones of color, 

 shades of light, drifts of air. Why ? Because 

 these are the most sensuous qualities in nature 

 and in art. The landscape that is the simplest 

 in form and the finest in color is by all odds the 

 most beautiful. It is owing to just these feat- 

 ures that this Bowl of the desert is a thing of 



