International studio (50.1913)

A New Art School


and other places where practical work is being
done by experts in their profession.
The idea briefly is this: At the end of the
second high school year pupils of marked ability
will be advised to elect this art course and to
continue in it through the two final high school
years, at the end of which time they will be given
a diploma, fully equal to a regular high school
diploma and with recognition of special achieve-
ment in the arts. The school is fortunate in
possessing the services of Miss Irene Weir, who
is the life and soul of this artistic movement.
The school offers a few scholarships to students
who are eligible in point of scholarship and who
possess special talent. It can also admit a few
students at regular tuition fees upon written
application to the Superintendent of the school.
HE PRANG COMPANY
Pencil Sketching. By George W.
Koch. (The Prang Company). $1.25.
The Prang Company have just pub-
lished an excellent sixty-page folio manual to aid
those interested in pencil painting. Mr. Koch, in
the many diagrams and plates illustrating the
work, proves himself a very competent exponent
of the art of the pencil and a master in elimina-
tion. Look at pages 56 and 57. These are
sketches of children, a boy with crossed legs read-
ing in a rocker, and a tiny lad in overalls watering
some flowers. We see with how few pencil strokes
good and lasting results are obtainable with the
right use of the pencil. The pupil is taught the
essentials to sketching, viz., direction, character
and manner of grouping the strokes.
“Before starting work on the sketch,” writes

the author, “the subject should be carefully
observed. If it is a piece of still life, study the
form, the color, the arrangement of light and
shade, the surface texture, and decide how these
qualities may be best expressed. When the
decisions are made, the work should be done with
a certain intensity, for pencil work, to be success-
ful, must be rendered at ‘fever-heat’; there must
be no flagging of interest while the sketch is in
progress. The aim should be to work simply and
broadly; to express much with little by making
every stroke tell, and to suggest rather than to
actually draw. Directness is essential to good
pencil technique; ‘going over’ the work should
be avoided as much as possible, as the sketch will
lose its crispness and the quality will therefore
suffer.
“The values used should be few—-most subjects
may be rendered in two or three values. If the
tone of the paper be allowed to stand for the
lighter values, snap and sparkle will be lent to the
sketch. Special care should be taken in placing
the darkest touches or accents; they should not
be scattered meaninglessly, but should be care-
fully placed where they are needed.”
The Prang Company have also issued two port-
folios of pencil sketches by Mr. George W. Koch,
at fifty cents a portfolio of fifteen plates, the same
as those in the book under notice. These sketches
are progressively arranged and are specially de-
signed for students of pencil technique, element-
ary high schools, and art students generally.
A notable feature of these productions is the use
of the offset process, by which the drawings are
printed direct onto the same paper, showing the
technique of the pencil work in a manner not
heretofore achieved.


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