International studio (27.1905/1906(1906))

The Whipple School of Art

that underlie all expression of it in art. In Creative
work the great essential, granting always an ade-
quate technical training, is individuality. The
artist must do his own work, must express himself,
or he has no function whatever. And it is a ques-
tion of much moment how far preparation can be
carried. Despite the long years that go to prepara-
tion in medicine, much of this time is expended on
practical work in the hospital. The analogy in art
must be found in the individual studio.
“When I went to Julian’s,” said Mr. Whipple,
‘ ‘ there was a Student there who was doing splendid
work, but he had been comiiig there for several
years. One day Julian told him he would have to
stop. £You have learned all you can learn here,’
said he. ‘ Go out and take a studio and work.’ ”
This is the temper in which Mr. Whipple is
carrying on his school. He wishes to set his pupils
on their feet and get them started soon in reliance
upon themselves. There is much in drawing that
can be taught. A word from the master may be the
equivalent of what it would take the pupil years of
experience to discover shoulcl he attempt to work
out the difhculty alone, a fact not often appreciated
by the beginner. He does not realize that a man
whose technicjue is matured has learned more than
he was ever taught, and will, according to his
ability of communicating ideas and spirit to others,
be able to suggest short cuts along the route he has
himself traveled.
The better to afford such assistance as may so be
given, Mr. Whipple makes a continuous oversight
of his pupils’ Avork a feature of his teaching. This
is another point in which the theories of various
instructors differ. Some teachers prefer to leave the
Student much to himself, and to make occasional
visits to the easel at advancing stages of the work.
Stories of the verdict upon the labour of continuous
days, delivered with the authority and nervous zest
of an assured judgment, are part of the reminis-
cences of most painters. “There is only one thing
the matter Avith this, madam,” a well-known artist
teils of her famous master’s saving of a canvas for
which she Avas daring to have high hopes—“there
is only one thing the matter Avith this. It is all
Avrong! Begin it over!” The Stimulus of such
criticism may be good, as a cold shoAver bath may
be. But its value does not lie essentially in the
element of delay that Avastes labour and entails dis-
appointment. Mr. Whipple does not believe in
throwing time away, and one of his practical meth-
ods of saving it is to prevent, so far as possible, its
waste. At present he visits every pupil’s work
several times a day and he is much gratified by the

progress which he lays to this element of attention.
The groAvth of school, if it continues to increase
at its present rate, may probably lessen this fre-
quency of criticism. But a daily visit to each easel
is the minimum Avhich Mr. Whipple considers
proper for a satisfactory conduct of his classes.
At present he comes in from his studio, which is
con\'enienÜy near the school, several times during
the day after the morning opening to note and im-
prove the progress of the pupils at work in the life
dass. Members are encouraged to paint, to work
in colour, as soon as their drawing Avarrants this
advance. Painting and drawing are not carried
on in separate classes, the idea being to put em-
phasis on the thorough study of the human figure
rather than on the mediums of expression. Simi-
larly, though Mr. AVhipple considers a knowledge
of anatomy essential, he does not set it formally
apart as a separate study. The problem of merging
and co-ordinating related studies into a w'hole is one
to which he bends his energies. A student who
would draw the foot, let us say, avüI do well to learn
the .bone structure. Artists are prone by training
to trust the evidence of their sense of sight and more
so than most other persons, but they are usually
remarkable as well for an untiring curiosity into the


CHARCOAL ILLUSTRATION BY A. C. COLES,

LXXIX