The Classic Point of View; Six Lectures on Painting Delivered on the Scammon Foundation at the Art Institute of Chicago in the Year 1911 Review

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The Classic Point of View; Six Lectures on Painting Delivered on the Scammon Foundation at the Art Institute of Chicago in the Year 1911 ReviewI came to read this book by following the references cited inside Juliette Aristides book on painting. If you don't know Aristides' books, she advocates for learning art in the Atelier, under the guidance of a Master. Since she advocates for the classic, the great masters of the past, and how timeless principles can be applied in our times; and since I agree with some of her ideas, I decided to check her sources.
The Classic Point of View is a compilation of lectures given by Kenyon Cox in 1911. I've read defenses of traditional art (let's say, before Impressionism) many times, but this is by far the best one I've come across. The author starts by trying to describe what is a classic person, not by giving a definition but showing some related features, and underline that classic doesn't mean to be conservative like ankylosed bones losing all mobility
"It does not consider tradition as immutable or set rigid bounds to invention. But it desires that each new presentation of truth and beauty shall show us the old truth"
Then, what's the old truth? That's what the author answers in the lectures:
1. The classic spirit
2. The subject in art
3. Design
4. Drawing
5. Light and shade and color
6. Technique
The author proceeds showing the importance of the subject and how different subjects demand different abilities from the artist and from the public (the human figure being the most demanding subject), also the author supports the idea of art as a way to express an idea, to tell a story. It's with this purpose that the artist should find a arrangement that best fit to the story to be told. This is how the Design chapter is introduced. "Design" is the same as "Composition" here. The author points to a sad truth: composition is the weakest point of modern painting, but it's the most important feature in art, not only painting. Design is a set of principles concerning the division of space, the harmonizing of the parts and the balance, with the guide of the observer through the art work; is something that applies to every kind of art: music, literature, architecture. It's the classic principle par excellence.
In the Drawing chapter, the author gets gradually more in the technique while retaining his driving philosophy: if imitation of nature is the goal, then the drawing would tend to be photographic, and then the photography itself would mark the end of drawing and painting as art. But this is not the case. The author also shows two main schools of drawing, the linear drawing (Botticelli but also the ones from Japan and China), and the modeling (Michelangelo); and he shows how those masters of two different styles achieved great expressivity without being exact from nature.
The author then shows how the next levels, color and light and shade, help to advance your purpose after you chose a subject, made a design and started building it by drawing it; and hence they need to be integrated. Also recognizes the contribution of Impressionism here yet advocates to deal with color and light and shade separately as they poses different problems to the artist.
Therefore, if one is to deal with a very complex art work (like the ones from the past that leave us in wonder), one is to deal with the many aspects of this work: subject, composition, drawing, light and shade and color. Solving the many posed problems requires a extensive, separated dealing with the problems gradually moving toward the goal. Thus, it's the nature of the material, the means at the artist's disposal, the tools he uses what determines the best practices, the technique. The author puts too much emphasis (IMO) on the tradition part here when the best practices are in fact a matter of Causality. Sure, the best practices have been time tested and are "traditional", yet it's causality that made it so.
If you like the classics, this is the book for you; it contains many illustrations and examples, the author recognizes contributions from artists other than classics, and makes some auto-critique too.The Classic Point of View; Six Lectures on Painting Delivered on the Scammon Foundation at the Art Institute of Chicago in the Year 1911 Overview

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