28 LANDSCAPE GARDEN SERIES 



seen from different points. There are three types: first, the formal 

 vista, in which the interest is usually in the materials used in the long 

 lines which border the vista, the view at the end becoming secondary. 

 Second, the informal vista, in which the view itself becomes the inter- 

 esting feature, and the plant materials or architectural features used to 

 frame the view are secondary. The third type, or panorama, consists 

 of a formal composition in which the different areas furnish the in- 

 terest. 



For the purpose of study any composition may be analyzed as 

 possessing all or part of six principles or requisites: opposition, transi- 

 tion, subordination, repetition, symmetry, and variety,) 



This analysis of composition may be applied equally in both city 

 and country. The only difference is in the things to be seen, although 

 the same elements of composition are there. In analyzing a composi- 

 tion we divide it, or it divides itself, into three sections: foreground, 

 or immediate view; middle distance (just beyond the foreground, or 

 a litde less importance) ; and the distance, or background. Any pic- 

 ture, illustration or view, or in other words, any composition has these 

 three main elements. 



We see in a, composition the following elements: line, notan or 

 value, and color. We recognize objects first by outline. When we 

 see our friends coming down the street, while they are yet too far 

 away to recognize them by the color of their dress, or by any other 

 means, we recognize them by their form or ouUine. Thus in composi- 

 tion of any kind, we recognize the objects portrayed because we have 

 learned that this or that outline — combination of lines — is this or that 

 object. We next recognize the value or shading of the composition, 

 whether it be light or dark. For instance, if the sky be overcast, we 

 say it pictures rain; if the sun be shining brightly, and the general 

 effect of the composition is that of light, it denotes clear weather to 

 us. Then, too, the light and shade, or value, serves to bring out the 

 salient features in the composition, — to draw our attention to that 

 which it is most important that we should see. The third means of 

 recognizing the objects in a composition, is color. 



Composition is the art of forming a whole by uniting different 

 parts. Composition is divided into the following parts: opposition. 



