Photography : Its Possibilities in the Art-Field. 227 



PHOTOGRAPHY: ITS POSSIBILITIES IN THE 



ART-FIELD. 



A Lecture before the Photographic Section, Cin- 

 cinnati Society of Natural History, 

 December 10, 1894.* 



By Leon Van Loo. 



Ladies and Gentlemen : 



I was requested by the members of the Camera Club to 

 deliver an informal talk on " Posing in Portraiture." Deem- 

 ing this subject too limited in scope to be of general use to 

 the artist, or of much interest to those who are not knights 

 of the camera, but who have honored me with their presence 

 here this evening, I have thought best to select as a theme for 

 this lecture, " Photography, what are its possibilities in the 

 art-field, compared with those of painting? " To answer this 

 question thoroughly, it will be necessary to examine critically, 

 deliberately, the laws that govern and underlie all art. These 

 laws are simply the voices of nature, as expressed in her 

 varied forms, lines, and colors. Repose, rest, indolence, 

 peace, we find suggested by all horizontal lines or masses ; 

 the placid waters of pond, lake, or sea ; the plains, the prairie, 

 the desert. All living creatures seeking rest, lie down. The 

 dead of all nations, of all times, are laid in their last resting 

 place in horizontal position. The artificial lakes in our ceme- 

 teries, upon whose glassy surface are reflected the neighboring 

 tombs, suggest rest, peace. Strength, endurance, dignity, 

 nobility, immortality, are very forcibly expressed by the ver- 

 tical lines and forms, as seen in the stately pine, the Greek 

 column, the church spire, the shaft that marks the graves of 

 the departed. Action, motion, virility, restlessness, aggres- 

 sion, force, violence, are clearly told in all lines and forms of 



Printed at request of members of the Photographic Section. 



