Copyriqbl l 931

C.ANEI.A CJlAn PDJUIHUfG COMPAJO'

San Frcmd .eeo

Othe r Boob by

W1WAM MORTENSF.N

Flash In Modem PhctoarcphyMonsters and Ma donna s

New Projecti on Con trol

Outdoor Portra iture

P:etoriallJqhting

Print Finishing

The Mode l

FIRST EDITIONFirst printing December, 1937

Second prin tinq Novembe r, 1940Thirdprinting November . 1943Fourth printing July, 1945

Fifth printlnq November , 1946

Sixth printin g April. 1948

Prtae.d lD m.UnJJed Sla IN of Amenr:oBy tt.. Meorcwy PrH.

Sanl'r<mel.co

To My Sister , Ellen

In Acknowladqement

Contents

FOREWORD

ONE Personal Questions

TWO Personal History-Origin 01the Formula

THREE The Pictorial Impera live

FO UR Anal ys is ol the IMPACT

FIVE Subiecllnleres l-Sex, Sentiment , an d Wonder

SIX You and the Picture

SEVEN Pulling the Formula 10 Wor k

EIGHT Preface to the Pictures

Fifty-five Salon Prints with Co mme nts

Foreword

Twelve years ago, although technically competent, Itried in va in to ob ta in notice for my pictures, to get themin to salons or into pri nt.

Then 1 lound ou t that any pic ture that "goes places"does so b y followin g a d e fin ite psychological formula.

This little book rel a te s the discovery of this tormukr.a nalyzes it in detc nl. a nd sh ows its concrete applicationin a series of prints that ha ve won the approbation ofpub lishers a nd salons. The book has nothing to do withtechnical prob lems, bu t is solely concerned with themaking of effective pictures.

As I ha ve found by experiments with my students. theformula is one of wide a pplica b ility. Anyone of fairtechnical com petence should be able, by making use ofthis formula . 10 bri ng about substantial improvement inthe effectiveness of his pictures.

ONE

Personal Questions

Did y ou eve r thtnk tha t you saw the poss ibili ties of ahne picture in a bit of landscape or a stree t sce ne thatha ppened to ca tch YOI~ ey e? Did the a ccid.ento l pose01 a child ever strike you as having pictona l potenn­cUtias?

Did you ever ea gerl y point a camera in the d irection01 these tnteresuna ob jects a nd lake some pic tures ?Were you dissa tisfied with the results? Did you everwonder what was the vital e lem ent that you had missed ?Old you ever consider why the thing thai so stirred yourimaqination became crass a nd stu pid whe n conv ertedin lo a photograph?

Did y ou eve r selec t some bit 01 your wo rk tha i yourfriends had a dmired an d send it a long, with a littlepray er and return posta ge, to the annual show of theMiddletown Came ra Club or to the Pittsburg Sal on?Did you ever . ctter due ttme. receive it back with thanksand firm rejection?

Did you ev er look through annuals . pho tographic

magazines and sa lon catalogues a nd wond er to your­se lf, "What ha ve these fellows gol that I ha ve n't got?"

Did you ever teelthc t you would gla d ly give len yearsoff you r life if you could ius ! see one of your pictures onthe wall s 01 the Pittsbu rg So la r: cr rep roduc ed in Lif. orsome ph otographic a nnua l?

All these things I have done . Twenty years ago I waspossi bly the w orst pho tog ra phe r on the North Americancomme nt. Some of my candid critics hove imp lied thatI still hold tha t distinction; bu t it is a fact tha t my pic ture s.for bette r or for worse . ere mere widely see :"!an d exhib­ited than those of my critics.

Fifteen years ceo I ha d a cqui red an a dequate com­mand of the tech nical oe xnls c! rhcrccrochv . But mypictures gal nowhere.

Then I d isco ve red -B ur I am infringi ng en the materi alfor the ne xt chapter

TWO

Personal History­Origin of the Formula

La te in the year 1918, Company D of the 13th ReQi·ment of the U. S. Army gra tefully severed its connection

Wltw~t~~I~~e~~le~~ ~mp Merrill. New Jersey. Pres­ently I crossed the river to Manhattan a nd enrolled. inthe classes of the Art Students ' League. Here I took theusual art courses und er such men as Georce Bellows.Robert Henri and George Bridgma n. Alter two years ofthis, I was commended for my industry but decl ared to

h~~~~~~~:~:o~~r~~i~t~' I obtained financial back-inq an d took pa ssage for Greece. to ma ke etchings ofthe monuments of ancient Attica . I took with me a heavyburden of coppe r pla tes an d a great deal of youthfulenthusiasm. My financial arrangements ha d. unfortu­nately, neclect ed to provide me wi th the means ~f eat­in Q; so. instead of drawing the Propylea by moonlight. Ishortly found myself engaged in painti ng poster de sign s

lor a popular bran d of cognac. The prevalent theme ofthese posters consi s ted of a series of Balkan ballerinaspoised seductively tip -toe on the corks of bottles. Beforelong the demand for these was exhausted , and I returnedto New York on money loa ned me by the AmericanConsul. One of the la s t things I remember seetna inGreece wa s a fa t Greek sa ilor lcok tnc with evident rrp- .probation at one of my cog na c cuues dtsp lcv ed on thewalls of a hanky-tonk in Piraeus.

Back in A men cc , an artis t an d a man of the world , I"accepted a position" (a s the saying goes), lea chin g artin the Eastside High School 01 my home town, Sa lt LakeCity . Here I bu sied myself b ringing the me ssa ge of theOld Ma sters to sixty se ductive yo ung Mormons. Duringthis time, becoming increa singly conscious of my limita­tions a s a drcuchtsrncn. I beg a n exper iments wi th pho­toqraphy. My camera at this lime wa s a Sx7 view. Myfirst models were girls from my cla sses, who posed forme after school hou rs-to the erect distress of the icmitcr.On Saturday s I pa cked my camera, my mod el. and ayar d of crepe de chine in10 the sid eca r of my motorcyclea nd sought a l fresco se tttnc s in the a d joining country­side . I regr et to repor t that the Dean of Women followedus on one such occasion. At the end of the year it wasmutuall y ag reed be twee n the Boord of Educati on and.myself that it would be best for all concerned. that I sub­mit my resigna tion.

From out of the West had com e rumors of big doinqsin Hollyw ood . So I po cked. my motorcy cle side-car with

my ca mera , with hundreds of cos tume pla tes, an d witha IOrq9 collection of masks that I ha d been making . Ialso hopefully included my yar d of crepe de chine-justIn case. With these -and forty dollar s- I headed West

Hollywood was at thc t time passing through its mostsuper -colossal phase. It had outgrown the fumb ling and

. a wkwardness of its first days. an d had not yet run intothe doldrums of the early ta lkie per iod . It was beginn ingto be conscious of its power. It was h uge a nd vu lgarlyma gnificent. g rand iose a nd specta cularly colo rful. Sizewas its god and de Mille its prophe t. This was the time.,f the exploitation of the "c uue," Cer ta in ly ne ve r bef orein history had so man y a nd suc h varied examples offem inine pulchritude been gat he red togethe r in a singleplace .

Inlo this seeth ing Babylon. ma squerading as a suburbof Los Angeles, I plun ged with my vie w ca mera. myforty dollars . and my ya rd cf crepe de chine.

How I surv ived those first months remains a t th is datesomethi ng 01a myst ery to me . Presently I found myselfworking for Ferd inand Pinney Earle , designing se ts andcostumes for his spectacular p rod uction of The Rubaiyatol Omar Khayo:mm. This pic ture made much use oftrick camera work---oJ which I took due note. lowe aqreat deal to the influence oj this man . with h is com ­btned qlfts of showmanship and outlandish imagination .

Through the influence of Theodore Kosloff of the Rus­sian Balle' I qot a Job with Cecil B.de Mille and became

10

a neophy te fair ly near the throne in this Hollywood. hie r­a rch y. During the followin g six years I wa s e mployedon nearly ev ery de Mille production. de sign ing se ts cmdco stumes and mak ing hundreds of masks .

Mean while. I corr tec on my ph otographic experimentsa nd after a wh ile se t up sh op a s a pcr trcnt photographeren Hollyw ood Boulev a rd . Duri ng this time I had modelsa plenty (from the dancing cla sses oj Theod.ore KosloffMOTion Morg a n a nd Ruth St. Denis). took tho usands ofnud e-s. Of these thousands. a mere hall-dozen survive.In a self-critica l frenzy some time lat er I destroyed thelot

I a lso deve loped a strange facility for aHracting andcc thertnc ab ou t me all sorts of odd ch ar a cters andfrea ks . My s tudio swarmed wi th midgets. ccrcmeccdtegia n ts, fat la d ies. p inhe a ds, dog -faced boys, beardedwomen, and a ll the we ird resid ue of defunct circuses.These s tra nge folk fascinat ed me with their pictorialpossibilities .

In 1924 the en tire e leve nth floor of the Western Cos­tume Compa ny wa s turned over to me as a s tudi o an dwo rkshop. Th is con ce rn was a t that time virt ually thes torehouse a nd treasure chest of the entire picture In­du s try . Her e I ha d access to at least ten thouscnd cos­tum es an d a n infin ite store of properties in the way ofjewelry. ar mo r. swords. and simUar expensive cmd rareitems of dec oration. As models. I had available almostany of the screen pe rsonages who happened to drop infor a costu me fitting - which included a large proportion

II

at the " blQ' na mes" 01 that day. Here are lust a few ofthose who sailor me during this period : Rudolp h Va len­tino, AlIa Ncetmovc . Norma Shear er , Ramon Navarro,Betty Compson, Norma Talma dge, Lon Cha ney , WarnerBaxter, Cla ra Bow, Ann Pennington.

Here, sure ly, was an idea l set-up for a photoqrapher­som ethlnq 10 dream about, in fa ct-a tremendous wealth01ma lerial. and virtua lly cart e blanche for any experi­ments 1wished to ca rry on.

Duedespiteall this. I DID NOT. DURING nus TIME.GETONEPICTUREWORTHY OF THENAME.

The realization 01 this sorry fee t came to me rcther :slowly.

For a long lime I was d istracted and amused, as allphotoqrap hic beg inners a re ap t to be, by the clevermachinery of the camera, and by the eve r-amazing dark­room miracle of devel opment and printing. Wh en theseth1nqs became mere matters of useful routine , 1 stillfound amp le scope for entertain ment in dealing with a llthe colorful and excitinq physica l stuff in front of thecamer a - in iuqqling with sets and costum es, and inworkinq with legions of beautiful and ta len ted models.It was some time before 1 ha d an uneasy suspicion ,which presently grew into a conviction, that , in all thiswea lth of material. there wa s one all -important thinglaclc1nq. This wa s results-PlCI1JR£S. .

This term "picture" would be variously defined bydiHerent people. 1 may shortly take a crack at definingIt myself. But no matter how we define the term, there Is

12

one fundamenta l thin g tha t a picture-maker al waysexpects o! his picture--that it will be looked at. He whoma kes a pic ture always assumes a public that looks atpictures.

Th is is the situatio n with practica lly e ll picture-mckers,I a m su re. The re may be som e photocrcpbers who aremaking the ir p ictures "for all time ," but I haven ' t me tthem. Most of us would a thousand time s pre fer theatte n tion of this generation to the approbation of pos­terity.

On the basis of this crude a nd primitive detea uce. itwas clear tha i m y photographs we re not pictures. forthe y were no t be ing looked at . And , as a picture-meker.I. had to ha ve a ttention . I became sensitive and poet­ttvel y neurotic a bou t this fa ilure of my effo rts to Qet overwith the look ing pub lic. I hid myself ins ide my studtca nd an xious ly scanned the faces of pa ss ers-by for reac­tions a s they gla nced toward the exh ibit in my window.Unhappily, there were no detectable reactions .. O ne :~ry defin ite sign of the effective ness of a p ictureIS that II IS able to make the grade in salon s and publ1~

cottons. I bega n to try to cra sh the sa lons and the maqa .zines . With fa tal unanimity, my prin ts we re returned­with thanks. Still in the dar k as to what the ma tter wasan d g rowing a little panicky, I sent out mON and mereprin ts. squandering a yo ung fortune in cceicce. andbombarding all e xhib itions and salons larq-e or smal lfrom Los Ang ele s to london . from Sitka to Cape Town.

The n suddenly, without wcmlnc. the th inQ happened

IJ

I had a picture accepted for the London Sa lon. ShortlyaJterward il was reproduced in American Photoqraphy.the American Annual and numerous loca l journals andsa lon ca talogue s. In the year that followed this sta rtlingevent, the picture made a tour of most of the principalsalons of the world a nd ca me home finally becausethere wa s no more room on the back for suckers."

When I had recovered from the shock, I did tha t whlchI should have done long before: I ga ve thought to themetter. Why should "Sa lome" go over when all theothers failed so ignominiously? Obvi ously there was nomere fluke involved . A fluke might explai n an accep­tance in the exhibit of the Pod unk Ca mera Club, but soa ugust a body as the jury of the London Salon wou ldsca rcely a ccept a print without some sort of reason., So I subjected "Salome" to a search ing analysis. What

did this print ha ve that my othe rs had failed to include?After long study I began to gel a qlimmering of definitedifference s in treatme nt and presenta tion that marked"Salome" offfrom the rest. From the s tudy of my own ac­cidental success I proceeded to a n analys is of the worksof other photogra phers who had attained salon recogni­tion. Finally I arrived a t the polnt I should ha ve sta rtedfrom-the s tudy of the works of the master pa inters . Cer ­tainly pictures that have survived the criticism of the·Th ls ph::tur. w as called SCllom•• andIt wa~ show n in~produced In Aln.d_ Pho\o9l'«Phl', and IncludodAmllaed 10f 1928. Those Incl ined to f"earch

:~~h~::;Ztt~~ ~!~:nI1t~'k::J,,~,~,.~,1:~' ::';:j"~,~~toward. the cl<:tl'lfloollon of lh.

14

centuries must have elem ents of both effectiveness anduniversality . Both in the works of the photographers andof the poi nters I found confirma tion for the things that Iha d marked in "Sa lome ", and I began tentatively toshape up a formula that emb od ied these pictorial factors.

Now. there is somethi ng about the word "formula"thaI lor some people seems to contra dict the veryessence at crt . Arl is unco nfined--art is free-they aver,a nd must not be bound down by a formu la. As a molterc! fact. a s Carl van Vech ten has pointed out. every artisthas a formula. Shakespear e had a formula , Michael­angelo had a formu la. Wagner had a formula. And,today , Misonne has a formula , Steichen has a formulc ,Jerome Kern and Irving Berlin each has a formula. Bythe formu la the artist's ma teria l is pu t into a shape morereadil y a ssimila ble by the looker or listener.

So I sought for a formu la that would provide a meansof se cur ing pictorial effectiveness.

Armed with my new formula, I critica lly inspected myold pictures-c-ond destroyed most of them forthwith. Theformula made their picto ria l shortcomings lmmedkrtelyapparent.

I becrcn working along the new lines indicated by theformula. I had quite extra ordina ry success in gettingreccomttcn from the salon s. They weren't all first-ratepic tures-c-Icr from it-but I was able to provide for effec­tive presentation of the second and third raters. A largeproportion of the pictures which Iorm the second half ofthis book have bee n seen in solons.

IS

Al the same Urns, I began trying the magazin es wi thspecimens of the new crop of pictures. and wa s success­lu i In obtaIning contracts for pictorial series from TheaterMaQazlne and Vani ty Fair .

De Mille began work on Kinq of Kinqs, and 1 got thejob as still photoqrap her on the prod uction . It was abouteigh t months in ma king. a nd I sho t some four hundreddozen 3~x4 V. negati ves du ring this period . Mr. de Millewished the stills to be pictorial s tudies Ins tead 01 the us ­ual type 01 record shot an d lobby dis play. A sel ec tionof sixty 01 the bes t 01 ihese we re bo und into a fine vol­ume. one copy of which at present reposes in the VoU­am Library (where it is. I be lieve . the on ly photographicbook to be so honored) .

About this lime. vogue rumblings and di stant squ awk­in9S were heard lust ove r the Hollyw ood hills. Thesewere the !irst fa int rumors of the advent of the tal kies.The good old days of unashamed magnifice nce werea bout done. an d a new mechanistic era approached .

The depression. the talkies. growin g dissatisfaction.and possibly a lardy arrival a t maturi ly, all con tribut edto terminate my stay in Hollyw ood . So I renounced theworld. the flesh and the Devil. tore up my yard 01 crepede chin e. and sought a stem sequ este red life in a smallvtllcce on the shores of the Pacific.

My expe riences have not a ll of them been enn ob ling .But mos t of them hav e been enlig htening. And out ofthem I have been abl e 10 de rive the formula. It is def tn-

16

ite ly my own formul a. wh ich grew out of my own need toclar ify what makes. not only a good pic ture. bu t an . f.fective one. However. Lthtnk thaI II is of suffici entl y urn­ve rsal impor t to be of ge ne ra l use fulness.

J gi ve the formula now . a lthough you will require thecha ple rs following to fu lly understa nd its s ign ificanceend app lica tion .

(}) The pict ure mu st. by its mere arra nq emenL makeyou look at it.

{2l Ha vinq looked- see!(3) Havinq seen---enioy.

The meaning a nd use cl the formu la will be de velopedin the chapte rs that Iollow.

17

THREE

Th e Pictorial Imperative

The rea son lor rela ting "the melancholy tole 01 Me"in such prolix deta il is so lely 10 give the bcrckqrcund forthe formula and the var ied ingredients of expe riencetha t went into its ma king. For this is no arbitrarily con­cocted. formula spun Irom mere specu latio n. It is a tried.an d tested rule of working boiled down from years ofexperiment and pra ctical experience.

I real ized . a fter I had found e nd cla rified. the formula ,that I had had it within my ha nd 's grasp Ior a long timewithout kn owing it . f or it is a formula inherent in the na­ture an d experience of a ll who work in the art s .

Why does an ar tist pa int pictures. write symphonies.carve statues. tell storles? Is it because he finds joy andsp iritual release in the mere doing of these things? Prob­ably; but this Is no t the whole story. Is it because hemakes his living a fter this fashion? No doubt; bu t the reis still mo re to 11 than this .

Here Is the third reason. It is a very significant rea ­son, thouah it is Qenerolly disregarded. The art ist per-

18

sists in bemq a n artis t bec a use he revels in the fee llnQ'Ihal he may a ffect or influence people by his work. Hedoes not demand a pprobation , but he does demand no­tic e and response. The though t tha t he may thr cueh htswork influence people an d strike past the ir de fenses 10the ir secret emotion s gives him a gratif ying se nse ofpowe r.

The Romantics conceived of the crus t liVing tn anivory towe r a part from men and a ffa irs . It is barelypossible tha i an ar tist could live and create in such sen­Hary iso lation, bUI in order to ge l h is human recom ­pen se for h is labo rs. he mus t descend to the plan e ofthe ma rket place a nd note a nd re joice in the effect of h isworks on other men. Nor is it enough for him 10 have hisfrien ds du tifully say "Ab!" He wa nts to have evid enceof the effec t of his works on the large . pe rsonally indlf.feren! publi c. It is a ma tter of lesse r tmportcnce to h imwhe the r the pub lic is pleased. amused or angered a this works: but some sort at reaction he mus t ha ve, andon this his ecc nou rishes itself.

So it is with me . The high point and the great rewardin my Gree k adventure. a s I real ized lote r, was the libid­inous gleam J detected in the ey e 01 the Gree k sailorwho looked a t the dancer in my cogn ac poster. Andit wa s probably true that there wa s more of the realsluff in one of my cognac euties than in aU my milda nd academic etch ings. In the Salt Lake episode. thebig kick In ma king ph otocrcrphe of my yo unq models dkinot come primaril y from an y aesthetic joy of c:mation.

19

but from observing the react ion of my models an d others10 the pictures I had secured.

The truth is that there Is a great deal of the showmanin every art ist who is worth his sal t. As such, he postslurid slans. he bea ts on a gong. he yells himself hoar se-anything 10 holt the passing crowd an d lure them tn­side his ten t. Of course. il he is a wise show man as wellas an ene rgetic one. he will have somelhin g worth­while to offer the crowd whe n he ha s galien them insid e-but that Is an other story an d a la ter chapler.

So, being by Ins tinct a showman, a lthough I had notyel recoanlz ed the lOCI, I na tura lly crcvttct ed towardHollywood - the town in which repu tations rose , pros­pe red or feU on the bas is of showmanship. Here I im ­proved my ed uca tion in the elemen ts of showmanship,though I did not yet rea lize their close connection withpicture-making . Espec ia lly va luable, a s I d iscoveredla ter, were the tips I picked up while working for tha imaster-showma n. Cecil B. de Mille .

So when I beg a n to clarify my formula for picturesuccess, I found that it expressed. Itself in terms of show­manship. In speculations about art there has been 100much said about rules of compositio n an d the motivesand emo tions of the artist. What counts finally and sig·nificantly is the react ion of the ultima te consumer---ofthe quy that looks a t the picture. So we need to talkcbout the laws of lookinq e nd lhe emo tions of the looker.

Whether you gel anywhere with your picture- makingde pends ultim01ely on whethe r you can ge t a nybody to

20

look a t your pictu res. There ar e som e pictures that nomore req uire your active a tlention than does the pat­tern on the wall pape r; an d ther e a re others tha t demand10 be looke d at, tha i wrench your a ttention to them . Pte­tures must speak de fin ite ly and decisive ly in orde r tobe heard. and when c nent ton is obict ned. they mus thave something to say.

Good showm a nship is the basis of the first item in theformula. Let me quote it a gain:

(I) The pic tur e must •• •make you look at lL"Mus t make you look a t it: ' To all who co me within itsinfluence it says brusque ly, "Look a t me l" It mus t c0m­

mand you to look a t it. It is this quality of an effective~:~~~~,~ that I have design a ted as "the pictorial Impe r-

Try this expe riment. Ta ke any ph otographic cnnucl.or any similar siza ble collection of pictures, and thumbthrough it quickly. You will notice that there are somepictu res tha t. even at this rapid glance. arrest and qripyou r atlen tioo . O thers ar e jus t a series of scattered oraysp lotche s. It Is these immed ia tely effective pictures that.if they can live up 10 the ir prom ise. are destined to havethe widest recosnfnon . These are the pictures that con.tal n the elem e nts of " the pictori a l impe rati ve : ' Youwill probably nolice one other curious thing a s youthumb through the pictures. Some of the e ffective pic­tures seem to take e ffect by a sort of delayed action.You wl11 pass such a one by along wi th the rest. andthe n, four or five pic tures la ter, it will suddenly brlng yo u

21

up short. "Holy smoke ! wha t was that?" And you willrum bac k to it. It is chc rcctensuc of eJfectively pre­sented pictures thaI they often ca use the beholder to dothre sort of a "doub le lak e" (as the directors ca ll H).

No picture tha t does not have this Impe ra tive qualitycc n be a Iirs t.rc tc picture, nor ca n It hope lor any de­.rree 01 prctonc ! success no me tte r how excellent thetechniqu e involved or how mteres tinq or pleasing theeubrecr-mcner. Before a picture ccn win a ppreciationlor ttselt Ol l the b U S IS of these la tter r.otnts. it must-s-

RING A BELLSOUND A SIGNAL. ORSPEAK A COMMAND

Sometimes a pic ture sounds its sicncl in so disti nctivea mcnne r rbot it pe rsists throuah a we lte r of conflictingfind ha bitual impress ions, Hence , the phe nomenon ofthe "double lake", which r mentioned a bove .

The at tention of the looker may be likened to a poisedstone on a hillside. It is a mass with considerable initialresistan ce or tnerttc. Feeble a nd tentative efforts fail tobudge it. It takes a good hard heave to star t it rolling-c-cmd then II will keep going of its own accord. TheImperative is the force tha t overcomes the initia l inertiaof the looker .

Since the Imperative often has the effect of a force cp­plied against the inertia or indifference of the looker, Ishall frequently refer to it hereafter as the IMPACr. ItIs, Indeed., a blow thai starts things rolling.

What Is the origin of the IMPERATIVE? What is the

22

natura of the IMPACT? What are the things tha t makea picture rinq a belL Bound a aiqnaL or speak a com.mand?

These questions we will consider in the next chapter.

23

F OUR

A na lysis of the Imp act

Why do you look a l some pictures an d pa ss othersover? Why do some pictures br ing you up with astc rt and othe rs curc c t no more a tten tion them thefamiliar lurni ture thc t surrou nds you in your home?

Some pictu res. we hav e see n, spe a k in terms of thePictoria l Imperative . They demand to be looked a t.H we dec line to look a t them we are left uneasy un tilwe turn ba ck an d ac knowledge the demand.

Whol is the nature of th is qua lity in a pictu re thatexercise s so imperious a command over our crttent ion?Does it have a nything to do with sub ject ma tter? Oranything to do with plea s ing a esthetic qu a lity? Theanswer is in both cases, No. A picture e xercise s itsdemand on ou r a tten tion b efore we know wh a t it i sabout, and before we know whe ther i t pleases us. Thefirst impression of a picture is a mer ely visual one­a blob of bla ck a nd wh ile dev oid of ra tiona l meaningor a es the tic import .

Some of these blobs of b la ck a nd while we pass ove ran d releg a te to the backgr oun d of our consciousness .

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Oth ers s tartle us in to awar eness . What is the differ­en ce between one and an other, that one . by sheere ffec t of its pattern, is able to compel our attention?

The answ er is tha t a cer tai n few pallems strike a1de ep- ly ing instinctive responses within ourselves . TheImpa ct. the first b low of the picture aga ins t ow cons­ciousness, is pu re ly biological in its e ffect.

To what sort of se ns e s timu li do animals and primi­tive me n give the ir qu ickes t a nd comple tes t attention?II is to those stimuli tha t su crces t DANG ER. The firstbusiness of the ra ce is 10 preserve itself ; SO the FEARRESPONS E is the one tha t is mos t easily aroused. Astrange. smell, un identified sou nd . som e shape tha tmoves me na cing ly in the du sk-and the nape of theneck bristle s and every fa cu lty is co nce ntrated on thepotentia l source of harm . No mall er how far we haveev olved. from the sa vage and the beast. we are s till,firs t of a ll. respons ive to fear-arousinq atimulL Whenwe are al one a t n ight in stra nge su rrou nd ings (andthus thrown upo n our own resources) we are s till veryaccessib le to the p rimitive fears. Let but a shadowfa ll on the window or a mouse ski tte r in the partition .a nd stark terror trc ce s a co ld finger down our sp ine.We s lop breathing ; we s tra in eye s. ears. a ll ow se nses .to g ive the u tmost atl e nticn to the th ing thai frigh tensus.

He re in we hav e the answer to the question why cer­la in patterns of b la ck and white have such strtmcepower to grip our att ention. Here Is wh y: In looldnq

c t pictu res . WE GIVE OUR ATTENTION FIRST TOTHOSE SENSE IMPRESSIONS THAT REPRESENTTHINGS THAT WE ONCE, FAR BACK IN RACIALHISTORY, FEARED,

Therefore. the picture tha t claims our atlantion mostbnmediately end com pletely is the one tha t. in ibl firstvisual impr ession. relates itself to so me ancestral fear.

To pu t it more simply , you look mos t quickly an dInstinct ively 01 those pictures tha i suggest. In thei rmere blo ck and whi le pallern. som eth ing thai wa sfeared by you r an cesto r that lived In 0 cave .

Fores tallinq a ProtestI an ticipat e that a t a bou t thts point - particula rly if

yo u haven't rea d the foregoin g paragraphs ve ry care­fully - you will start rai sing questi ons . "Look a t pic­tures beca use I am a fraid of them?" yo u will sa y." Wha l a pr epost erous id ea. Does M ortensen m ea n totell me that I look a t a picture 01 a ch ild because I a mafraid of a ch ild? Sluff a nd nonsense !"

To which I would reply: "Ta ke it easy! You willfind that ma tters will be ma de muc h clea rer a co upleof pages la ter. So. rea d on - and hold your protestsun til yo u get a cleare r idea of.what 1am ta lking about: '

But, before you continue. be su re you understa ndthis point: We ar e not now saying an ything ab out thesubject-matter of the p icture or what the picture repre­sents. We are a t this nme concerned only with thepattern of the picture . the conformation of b lack and

26

wh ite b lobs -the first thing that catches OUI attention.before we recognize anything in the picture .

The Fou r Picture PaUemaPrimi tive ma n is surrounded by things tha t he fears .

Yelthe a ctual sources of these fears ar e few. Similarl y,the visua l pa tterns that sta nd for basic fear s ar e like­wise lew in nu mbe r.

There a re fow types of visua l stimulus that directlyca ll forth the fear response . These are:

I. Some thin g that moves swiftly across ourfield of vision. We m ay not know what it is, bu twe know tha i it moves --and with sw iftness andde te rmina tion .

2. Someth ing that approache s in a sltthertnq ,furtive fas hion.

3, The threa t of sharpness, whether of tooth orb la de .

4. A ma ssive s tationary objec t that blocks ourpath . It may be man or beast or i ust an ina nimat eobj ec t. but it is co mpa ct a nd formidable an d in ­domitabl y awaits our co m in g.These lour basic fears e xpress themse lves in lout

ba sic picture pa llems:1. The symbol of swif t a nd menacing mo vemen t

is the DIAGONAL. It a lso represents the onmt­live so urce of terror, the ligh tning fla sh . <Fiqure U

2. Secret and furtive mov em en t is representedby the snake-like SCURVE. Here we have the

27

•• r,,;~..,..3 r..... .

prototype 01 such lee rs as the se rpent . the tige rthat slithers throuah the grass , the hidden enemythai twists and turns . This is the real basis of thefascination 01the so-ca lled "Line of Bea uty ". whichwa s described by Hoacr th. (f jgure 2.)

3. The threat 01sharpness is conveyed in corn­bina tions of TRIANGLES. CFiqure 3'>

4. The obsta cle 10 our movemen t is exp ressedin a pic ture as a compa ct DOMIN ANT MASS .(Flqure 4.)

Of these fow bcWc picture patterna. the DOMINANTMASS is the one meet frequently en countered. Whatcauses a mass to domina te? There are severa l factorsthai contribute in Qivinc;J domincmce to the principalmass in a picture .

2B 29

a . Unity. If sev eral indi viduals are present.they ga in s treng th by be ing link ed. together.

b . Cohesion. A mass is more dominatinQ ifIt Is co mpact, and devoi d of projecting excree­cences. Thus, the quality of coherence is 8%­

pressed. by a closed fis t; the lack of it by an ope nhand.

c. Isola tion. A mass gains strength tf it bseparated. from confusing or extraneous elementsof Its surroundings or background.

d. Contrast. An impo rtant method of separ­ating an d d ifieren tiating a mass from Us sunound­lngs is contrast. Therefore a light mass is eata gainst a dark background. and a deri: maaa gainst a light background.

e. Size. Other lactors be ing eq ua l, a mass be­comes more threa tening an d dom inati ng the la rger

it ~~ . Stcbtlttv. A mass is more formidable if itsee ms firmly pla nted and immova ble . Hence ~eeffec tiveness and predominance of the pyrcrnid

~r:'impacl, then, lolls into one of these low basicpicture patterns:

I. THE DIAGONAL.2. THE S.c URVE.3. THE TRIANGLE COMBINATION.4. THE DOMINANT MASS.

These four patterns, because of thei r rela tionsh ip toa ncestra l lea rs, are the mos t effective mea ns of win­ning insta nt ctte nncn to a picture.

Note thaI these four pa tterns are not mutu all y exclu ­sive. They may be var iously com bined.. Thus . a dominant mass of py ram idal form natu rally embodies trioan gles. And triangles, in their tum , invol ve the use ofthe diagona l.

Impac;tandClimaxThe reflex, biologica lly-conditioned first res ponse tc

the picture we hav e des igna ted a s the Impact. AI·though the Impa ct is the first pa rt of the picture tha thits you, its effec t is nol limited to this first momenta ryshock . Whe n the picture is s tudied. an d known better ,the qu a lity of the Impa ct s till pe rva des and domina tes

30

the whole. And often it is the pa rt of the picture thatsla ys with you lcnc est.

In the nar ra tive ar ts, and in music , the eleme nt ofClima x is some thing tha i is bu ill up 10 graduall y . Fre­q ue ntly the culmina licn is a rrived 01 throug h a se riesof minor cl ima xes. Bul in pic toria l c rt the reverseprocedure is followed: the Climax muat atri",e fa.t.In on e ins ta nt of lime the b ig moment of the pict uremusl be ther e. In musica l terms a picture may beexpressed. as follows : a b ig cra shing fortisaimo cho rdby the whole orchestra. followed by qu iete r and evermo re contemplati ve music which d ies away inlo mus­inQ sile nce.

Thus the Impa ct is both the beginn inQ and its cul­mination .

Afte r the ImpactAfter the sheer b tolcctcc l shock has d iminish ed . the

looke r com es 10 the qui e ter processes of recoqnition and.a ppreciation . This br ings us 10 the secOnd phase ofthe Iormuloc-cnd 10 our next chapter.

31

FIVE

Subject Interest

Let us take an other look at the formula that I statedat the end of Chapter Two: .

(1) The pleture must. by its mere pattern. makeyou look at iL

(2) Havlnq looked-seel(3) Havinq aeen-enioyl

In the last chapter we saw tha t the first effectivenessof a p icture-the command to look-is du e to its bla ckand wh ite pattern. The ab ility of some pcttems tostop you and ma ke y ou look at the m is du e to theirclose relati onship to primi tive fear responses . Wefound. finally, that there are four basic picture patternsthat have. in a particular ly large degree. the ability tocom mand your atten tion .

The Second PheueWe come now to the second phase of the formula :

(2) Harinq lookod--oeelHavin g got. ::1 the att en tion of your public by means

32

01 the me re pa tte rn of yo ur p icture - the visua l Impact- a s we call it- you mus t now have somethinq to ahowthem. Your ba lly hoo has gotten the a ud ien ce Insidey our tent , y ou m ust now bring on the enterkllDmeDLYou ha ve galien the ir a tten tio n; you m ust now hold.their in teres t. Withou t solid inter es t to back up thepic ture' s original command to look. the c uennon dwin­dles a lmost ins ta ntly , a nd the a ud ience goes awaya nno yed, feeling that they have been cheated a nd thatthe p ic ture is a fra ud-as, indeed, it is .

The first phase of the formula dealt with means ofgetting cttentton. The second phase of the formuladeals with means of holding interes t.

The Subject

The th ing tha t holds ou r in teres t in a picture is pri­ma rily, of course, the sub jec t- the thing tha t the pie­ture is about. Specialists moy be interested in h owthe p icture was ma de . but the abiding and un iversalinterest in any pic ture is simply the subject metter.

So in this cho pler we will con ce rn ourse lves withdi fferent phases of subject matter. Us requirements ,va rieties . and the me thod s of presentmc it.

Reeoqnition

The basic , mini mum req uirement of pictorial subjectma iler is that it be readily recocntecrble . Wfl want tobe able to see, witho u t delay, "what it is a picture 01..-

33

This is not solely for the sa ke cl clearness. The re isa positive pictoria l p leasure thai comes from the mererecoqnition of the su bject mette r .

The lmpad of a picture . the initial "cra sh" of itspcttem . co mma nds our c uentt on. we hav e see n, be­cause of its a ssocia tion with a fe w ba sic fears. So.after the shock of the Impa ct ha s sta rtled us in to look­ing, there is a plea sure a kin to relie f in d iscover ing tha tthe thing that s ta rtled us is in rea lity some th ing fa miliarand ha rmless . It is not - for e xample ~ a lion tn thepat h , but some thin g plea san l1y femi nin e , that co n­s titutes the DOMINANT MASS rhct so arres ted ou ratte ntion . The DIAGO NAL tha t com man ds us 10 looka t it (because 01 its rela tionsh ip to primitive fears) isnot a menacing movement . but me rely the com forta b lys lop ing roof of a co lla ge. And so on.

This factor of recog nition is a ve ry impor tant one. Ifthe Impa ct tha t gets the obse rve r's c tte ntlon is not im­med iate ly followed by recog nition of the subject mett er ,he is cer tain to be resentful. This is the eltect of the"p uzzle pictures" so much fav ored by some pho tog­rc phe re-c-otctures that. by camera a ng les. out re lightingor wei rd magnificati on, convert co mmonplaces in to mon ­stros ities . These pictu res , instead of a fford ing a pleasantreaction of recog nition a fter the shock of the Impa ct,b ring one to a bew ildered standstill. O nly a fter brain­racking thought an d ana lys is does one realize tha ithe outlandish contour represente-e-let us sa y-a tree's­eye view of a familiar ba throom fixture . The looker

34

qu ickl y tire s of such gu essing ga mes a nd ve ry soondecl ines to be bo the red by them . At this stage heg ra te fully see ks ou t tho se p ictu re s thai rev eal them ­se lves s imply a nd di rectl y for wha t the y are--pietu resin wh ich rec og nition follows immed ia te ly upon theImpa c t.

Types of Subject MatterThis ma lte r of rec og ni tion is es se ntial. Bu t rec ogni­

tion is not enoug h of Itselt to hold the inte res t of theobse rver. "Yes , yes," he will say impatiently , " I seetha t it is a p icture of an eg g becter.c-.What of it? "

The observ er must no t be g iven the chance to askthis d isconce rting q ues tion. The q ue s tion is a voidedif he is shown sub jec t ma te rial that im med ia te ly callsforth e rnonc nc ! response. The types of subjec t mette rtha t a re s urest in their abi lity to hold in teres t ar e thosethat o re most b road and gen e ral in the ir emotiona lappeal. The eg g be at er is a source of emotionalco ncern 10 ve ry few people- poss ib ly on ly to eggs. Sothe looke r rude ly and jus tifia bly says of the p ictur e ofthe egg beater : "What of it?" But such subjects as ahum a n hea d a live with per so na lity , a lan dscape fullof mood , or a s ig n ifican tly d istorted cha ra cte r POrtrait.these are gen e ra l in the ir e motiona l a ppeal and are aperennia l source of p ictur e in tere s t.

Sources of Emotional Appeal

Since succe ssful p ictorial mat eri al must be so broad

35

and genera l In its a ppeal. It ta llows , of course . tha i itmus t relate itse lf to a very few basic human emo tions.Only in the field a ffected. by these few emotions a rehuma n likes and dis likes fairly unllorm and pred ic ta ble.

Cecil B. de Mille used to sa y that there were jus tfour eleme nts needed in a molion pic ture to ens ure itssuccess with the public. As he wa s a notab le prod uce r01 bo x-office successes, his formula must strike nea r10 the truth. The essential e lemen ts acc ord ing to d eMille were : se x. sen timen t. religion and spo rt Beinga cleve r an d resourceful showma n. he genera lly sea ­soned his opus es libe ra lly with a~ J four e lements.

When I was endeav oring to cla rify my formula lorpicture ma king, I evolved my own Jist of three the mestha t I had found to be sur e-lire In their subj ect a ppeal.Belore I mention an d describe these basic the mes .one wc rntn a must be given. All summa rie s such asthese should be recorded merely as suggeslive s impli­fica tions, not as hard-and·fast rule s. Human emo tionsresist rigid cla ssifica tion, and gaily lea p the fen ces ofthe ca tego ries Into wh ich you try to shove them. How­ever. the Iisl tha t follows will be found 10 express thesource of sub ject Interest of at lea st ninety pe r cent ofthe pictures in this boo k.

Here , a ccordi ng 10 my a nalysis , are the three prtn-cipal sources of su b ject Interest in pictures:

SEX.SENTIMENT.WONDER.

as

Thes e three we may rete unquestionably as the "blqthree" a mong picture the mes . It is not diHlcu1t to sug­ges t addi tiona l ca tego ries; but I have found these to bethe mos t pra ctica lly useful an d 10 incl ude nearly allellect ive pictorial sub ject materiel."

The Sex Theme

Of the three. sex Is undo ubtedly the most primitivea nd direct in its appeal It covers a wide scope. tun­nlna In to outright po rnography on one hand. and shad­Ing impe rceptibly into sentim en t on the other.

The nude, of cou rse. is the subj ect material that iscommonly associa ted w ith the theme of sex. The factof nudity is secon dary, however. A p icture may bese xual in its import Without includ ing the nude. Onthe othe r ha nd. se x is not always the primary interestwhen the nude is used. (See . for example. "ThePries less ... in the pictu res thai 10Uow. in which theprima ry Interest is Wonder.>

II is interesting to note that wom en are just as mucha ttract ed 10 the the me of se x when presented in !heform of the feminine nude as men are. The attractionIn this ca se is vicarious . ra ther than direct. Theirpleasure comes from lmaqiD10Ql themselves placed ina sttuctt on wh er e they would receive the same adm1ra­lion tha t goes ou t 10 the theme of the picture.~

37

fore, the a ttraction of the sex theme <exce,pti,ng only itsdirec tly pornog raph ic use) is in no way lt mfted by thecender of the looker. . '

It is probably no loncer nece ssary , as It was In pre­Wa r da ys. to expla in and ju~ ! i!y the use of the ,se xmotive in pictorial a rlo Psychologists h,ave recogmz~sex os a great energ izing influence in hie. As such , Itis bound to ploy a lar ge pert, d irec tly or ind irectly, inall forms of art.

Typicc l and varied ins ta nces 01 the use 01 the sextheme ar e seen in "Frau Frau", "Terse". a nd "Portra it 01a Young Girl". Of these. "Frou Frau" is the most direct inIts a ppeal. "Torse" takes a middle ground , a nd "Portrc tt01a Young Girl" shows sex soiten inq into sen timent.

The Se ntiment Them eDespite the modern tendency to sneer at sentiment.

II is still a very potent influence in Iile a nd an ever ­appea ling theme in art

Lowell defines sent imen t as "emotion prec ipita ted inpretty crys tals", It is concerned with the softe r, ten ­der er things of life. Sentiment is olten the meeti ngground of hu mble ma teria l an d lofty emotions. In ase ntimental mood we see familiar things touched withgrandeur, a nd remote things made inten sely interestin gan d pe rsona l.

Those equ ivocal moments when la ughter an d tea rsseem to be in even ba la nce are sen timental. Senti­menta l also is the characteristic Roma ntic tende ncy to

3B

rea d emotion and mood into the cha ngin g lights.sha dow s end sha pe s of ina nima te Nature .

The phases and mutation s 01 sentiment are inn umer­a ble. bu t it is a lway s rea d ily recognized a nd cpp re­cicned. A few chc rcct ertsuc ma nifestati ons of thetheme a re the following:

The salter a spects of sex .Child ren.Hard ships 01 Humble Life .Domesti c Life.Anima ls .Landsca pe .Appea ls to natio na l pride .The gla mour 01 the past.

Char a c te ristic va ria tions of the them e of se ntimentwill be found in the following pictures: "Pie ty". "A laGor e", and " My Aunt".

The Won der The me

This the me is al so broad in its scope. Part of itsfield is tha t ment ioned by de Mille a s "re ligion",

Tha t wh ich is unknown. uncerta in or mysterious inits working is a lway s a sub ject of interest. And despitethe swa gge r of ou r modern learning, there is still muchthat remains very my s terious to us today. Night andits sha dows su rroun d us dunna half the period of ourlife on earth. a nd 0 1 lea s t half the things about usremain strange a nd mysteri ous in their wc rktna, We

aa

all of us ar e conscious of lorces that move beh ind theshad ows. The "Powers of Darkness" a re still with us .

The fascination of the wonder theme is unive rsal .though some persons are re luctant to concede it les tthey betray how Flimsy this fiction ca lled. civilizatio nand lea rning rea lly is. If nothing more, it pro vides usa ll with a welcome esca pe from the world of ha rd..bright fcc ts into a la nd of sha dow a nd surmise whe reone may live for awh ile with the creatures of the twt­light.

The wonder theme appears in ma ny muta tions. It isingenuous and childlike in the form of fairy s tories .It takes a humorous turn in grotesq ue ar t. It ma y turnmorbid in an in terest in the mc d-Icr me of life : the peren­nial interest in side-show att ractions such a s the la tla dy a nd the ma n who writes with his toes is an othermanif estation of the wonder theme. It may draw nearthe frtnqes of fear in the superna tural a nd wttch crc ltand demonology . And the fina l ma nifes ta tion of thewonde r theme is tha t silent Mystery of Myster iesDeath , before which we all pause appalled and krsci­nated..

It ha s bee n a the me of particular interes t to meMan y exa mples will be found among the subsequentpictures . A few ins tances ar e : "Death of Hypctio" ,"The Vam pire ", and "Belphecor".

Incomplete Pictures

I must a t this point re itera te one point more em-

40

phaticaUy and explicitly. Impa ct an d subiect interes1ar e both vita l pa rts 01 a succe ssful p icture. and bothmust be preeeat, A pic ture in whi ch one of these ale­ments is Icck tno is only part of a picture .

Both type s of inco mplete p icture are, unhappily . quitecomm on. O ne cries out 10 be looked at. an d then hasnothing to show you. The other has som ethinq \0sho w you. but never gets looked a t. The p icture thatha s Impact bu t no Subj ect Interest is very annoyinq,The one tha t ha s Sub ject Interest but no Impact ismerely lnnocu ous-and a sad waste of good material .

You may a void these unhappy , hclf-wc y pictures inyour work by ma king sure tha t yo ur pictures provideboth Impa ct a nd Subject Interes t-tha t is, by fulfillinQ'the first two pha ses of the Formu la.

" W aUl weur:In view of this interdependen ce 01 Impact and Sub

lec t, I a m now ·be ller able 10 clea r up an objection thatmay have occ urred. to some of you in perusing the lastchapter.

"First sh ock a r t" is 0 term tha t cri tics have appUecIto ce rtain aspects of Modernism. This is art that qetllyou to leek a t it by she er assault on the senses. hs tart les you -ond then has nothing more to say. nscrea ms "W oW W oW"-and then fails to prod_ e...an ima l.

This supe rficia l se nsationa lism is undoubtedly-;:md

41

unfortuna tely-a frequent symptom of modern art. LetIt not be thought that. by my emphasis on the impor­tance of the Impact. I am here advocating any mere"first shock a rt". I do insist that the "first shock" (orImpact) Is important and essential a s a means of ove r­coming the initial inertia of the looker. But the hrstshock-as we have seen -is not all there is to a pic­ture. And, furthermore . the Impact must be in pictorialterms and of a form compatible with the subject matter.So. for example, we would not seek to mak e Mona Lisamore effective by putting green flash bulbs in he r eyes,or by outlining he r frame with Neon lights. The firstshock of such procedu re would undoubtedly be ter­rific; but the Impa ct would bear no conce ivable rela ­tionship to Mona Lisa .

Presentation of Sub ject Matter

Despite the use of an Impa ct and the choic e ofbroadly appealing Subject Maller, your pho tographymay still be la cking in truly pictoria l qualities . Your

, picture is arresting (owing to the Impa ct), and mome n­taril y interesting (owing to the choice of a theme ofWide emotion a l a ppeal); ye t it is not a picture that youreturn to many times. This lac k grows out of certa infau lts in the presentation of the sub ject material.

This is a fau lt partic ularl y involved in the stra ightrealistic presentation peculiar to the sna p-shot and thecan did ca mera . It is a lso chara cter istic of press pho -

42

toarcphv . The men tion of the press gives the clue forthe rea son for the fugitive interest of the sna p-shot andthe fruits of the candid camera. News picture s andne ws stories a ll ca rry a date line saying this is whathap pened a t a certain lime in a certain place. Despitethe violen t interest created by up-to-the-minute news(Love Nest, Royal Roma nce, and Nude Corpse in theWest End), a newspaper of two months ag o seems asq uain t and outmo ded as some thing from another cen­tury.

In a similar ma nner, candid ca mero products. snap­sh ots a nd such pictures all carry a date line-not aprinted one, to be sure; bu t a per fectly obvious dateline inherent in the very na ture of the picture itself. Asa resu lt, they are branded as having been made at acerta in lime a nd a certain place, and fade from rnem­Dry a s rapidly as yesterday's newspaper:

Therefore, though the g rea t themes like Sex. Senti­men t, and Wonder may always be depended upon toar ouse intense interest in a picture. in ord er to makethis interest per manent and enduring. the date linemust be eliminated. .

For instance , a n assiduous candid camero fan miqht,on successive week-ends, get such shots as the fol­lowing: (l) front row impressions of a strip-tease artlstpracticing he r trade; {Z) children playing in the street(3) close-ups of a voodoo ceremony in Haiti . He hashere included the themes of Sex . Sentiment and Won..der, respectively, and for this reason his pictures would

be certain to a rouse interes t. But- unl ess , by somehap py a ccident, the da te line has been left off-theywould scarcely have fencer life than the new s pictu reof today's beauty contest winner.

Elim1natinq the Dat. LineThe thing tha i makes a pic ture permanently in ter­

es ting 10 you is not the reali stic. c ccurcte record. it gi vesyou of the a ccidents of Wrinkles and wens of a ce rtainpe rson, and the a ccidents of ligh t an d shade on a cer­tain June day, an d the a cciden ts of backgro und of acertain town in Oh io. That which contin ues to holdyour intere st in an y given sub ject matler is the kernelof perm an en t an d universal rea lity tha t you are ab leto wangle from the irrelevant a ccidents of wrin kles andwe ns, of light and shade, a nd of the circum stan ce s ofthe Ohio town .

Themes of such universa l impo rt a s Sex, Sentimentand Won der na tura lly de mand to be presented in asuniv ersal terms as possible . This universality isachi eved by qettinq rid of the dale line.

The followi.nQ suggestions are off ered a s means ofqetting rid of the dat e line and of securing a strongerimpress ion of universality in the presentation of thesubject ma tter:

Som e thingS inevitably bring up suggestions oftim e and place . AVOID THEM-if you wish yowpictures to carry an interest for more than themoment .

..

I. Unnecessa ry rea lism.2. Represent at ion of episodes.3. Action pictures.4. Acc ura te period customs.5. Specifi c persona lity.

There a re ce rta in de vices by which the impres­s ion of universa lity may be heightened . Some ofthese, a s I ha ve noted . a re charaderistic of thework of great painters .

Ra pha el frequently utilized the de vice of dOWD­ca st eyes. He was thus enabled to keep mereper sona lity from becommc too cccressive andinsistent.

A common dev ice with El Greco was eIobqatloa.of fa ces and figures . By this means he es capedfrom the he re an d now of realism.

The well-kno wn stiHness and primness of Hcl­bern's figur es is another me thod of se ttinQ the pie­tures aside from merely realistic representation.

Among pa in ters of today, we may menti on Rock:.we ll Kent as one who effective ly escapes from thehe re and now of literal rep rese nta tion. This heaccomplishes by the he roic mold of his charactersand by the av oidan ce of episode.J am not su gges ting these specific me thods a s n9CQ8­

scrtly useful to yo u as a photog rapher. I mention them10 sh ow how arti s ts hav e rec ogn ized and dealt withthe prob lem of eliminct inc the date line and f9pP8­

sen ling the Subject Ma tter in univ e rsal terms.

45

"Is", not ''Ooes ''The best ge nera l formula for the eliminat ion of the

dat e line and the realizatio n of the un iver sa l qua litiesof the subject metter is indicated, I be lieve, in thephrase abo ve.

"IS", NOT ''OOES: ' Try 10 mak e your Sub ject Ma t­ter express itself by wha t it is, no t by what it does . Apicture in which your subfect ma tter is very bus y doingsomething is almost certa in to lose its cha rm c f ter yo uha ve see n it once or twice. Wherea s one returns a ga inand again to a picture in which the sub ject simp lysits still or stands still a nd is comple tely a nd fully itseU.Pictures in which the subject does something ar e a ptto fly off on tangents of action and epis ode a nd casua la ccidents of time an d place . But picture s in which thesub ject ma tter expresses itself sole ly in terms of bein gdraw inward to an eve r more unified concep tion.

Let me illustrate the d ifference between an "is" pic­ture and a "does" picture in specific terms. There wasonce an ar tist who pa inted a picture of an elder ly la dy.Evidently a sub ject of sen timental interest. How shouldhe represent he r? He could show he r in a brigh t printdress picking roses in a garden. Or he could show herd ressed in her sty lish bes t, de scending the sta irs. Orhe cou ld show her wearing a n apron a nd peelingpotatoes in the kitchen .

He could have don e any of these thing s an d ma dea bright, episodic picture, full of momen tary inte rest.But he d id not choose to ma ke a "does" pictur e of it.

46

Instea d, James Abbo tt McNeill Whistler placed hismodel. dressed in somber ga rb of no pa rti cular periodin profile in front of a nearly p la in gray wall, an dpai n ted the old la dy for all time as "My Mother" , Thisis a thorough-going exa mple of an "is" picture, The reis noth ing "do ing" in the picture ; there is nei the r a ctionnor definite reminder of time an d pla ce ; everythinq iscon cen trc ted on what the mod el "is" , Everyth ing isrepose a nd quiescence, an d thereby be comes the pas­sive mould which each may fill wi th h is own Ia terpre­la tion. As a pre-eminen t, univer sa l symbol of mother­hood, this is proba bly the world 's favorite sen timentalpictu re .

The Pictures

The form ula IS, NOT DOES, ha s governed the trect­ment of the sub ject ma iler in the pictures that follow.This is a princ ip le the ! I ha ve held 10 ev er since I beganexhibiting in sa lons. I have al ways striven to keepc ui of my pictur es any definite h ints of time and place,and pa rticularly all su ggestions of "smartness" or "up­to-do te-ness". None of the pic ture s , so far as I kn ow,betrays by any detail the date of its oric tn, For thisreas on, alt hough the y sp a n a period of twe lve years,they are, I be lieve , un usuall y unifo rm in spirit andmcnner .

47

SIX

You and the Picture

Once more lei us relum 10 the Formu la a nd refreshour minds about it . Here it is again:

(l) The picture must by its mere pattern. makeyou look at it.

(2) Having looked-see!(3) Having seen---enioyl

The las t couple of ohcrpters have taken us throughthe first two phases of the formula . We sa w that thefirst problem wa s to make people look at your picture .To do this, you must em body- in its blac k and wh itepa Hem-a com mand 10 look . The picture pattern s thatare most effective in stopping y ou and ma king y oulook a t them are those that ar e most closely rela ted toprimitive fear resp onses . There are Iour such patternsthat , because of this rela tionship, are pa rticula rly ableto command your atten tion: the DIAGONAL, theS-CURVE, the TRIANGLE, the DOMINANT MASS.

Wh en attention is secured . you must reward it wi thsublect matter of wide emotional appeal. There a re

"

three themes, we sew, tha t are specially dependable assources of subject interes t. These are SEX. SENTI­MENT and WONDER. These three themes are mostlasting in their appeal if they are p resented in such amanner a s to eliminate the "d ate line" of actual timeand pla ce .

The Third Phase

This brings us 10 the third an d final phase of thefonnula:

(3) Having seen-enjoy.In terms of the formula , you have. so far. (l) gotten

you r pub lic's att en tion by means of the reflex "shock"(Impact) of the pict ure patt e rn : (Z) rewarded them withinter esting Sub jec t Malte r. This po int is a s far as manyp ictures can bring the ir public. Suc h a p ic tur e getsthe ir a ttention; they look and find the subject reason­ably interesting-then , w ithout further ado. they passqui ckly to the nex t pic ture. This is what happens tonew s pictures and to su pe rficial pic torial works.

But a picture , in order to be com plete ly satisfying.must br ing its public one s tep further. After beingcom ma nd ed to look a nd a fter be ing shown interestingsubj ec t mette r. then the looker must be given aD oppOr­tunity to participate in the picture.

You and the Picture

This po int of participation in the picture requiressome explanation .

You may protest tha t you don't pa rticipa te in a .piC­ture. you just look a t it. But I as k you to considermere carefully wha t ha ppens when you look at apicture . After you have orien ted yourself .an d fou~doul what the picture is about. does your mind rema ma pau!ve receptive blank. upon which the pictureimprints itself as on a photographic plcte ? Surely not.On the con trary , your eye-and therefore your mind ­is, when it looks a t a picture , never wholly a l res t, butmoving a ctivel y throuch the picture .

Let me illus tra le: Only when looking a t a bla nkplece of paper. such a s Figure 5, does your mind re­main completely a blank. lei it be given a singledlcconc l line to play with (Figu re 6), an d your eyeswoops up it . Given a curv e (Fiqure 7). your eyemoves along It, caresses the curv e a t the top. and

Sinks down on the other side . With a more complexcon tour . such as Figu re 8. the eye rise s from the im pa ctA, dela ys over an episode 0 1 B, moves de liberatelythrou gh the curv es 01 C, and fina lly sinks at 0 ,

By this active motion within the p icture . slidingswiftly a long som e line. re ta rded a momen t by a bitof detail. then raci ng onward a ga in-noting . co mpar­ing , en joy ing-the looke r participates in the picturea nd mak es It pe rt of his experien ee .

This participa tion in the piclure reccts on the Subj ectMotte r, a nd lifls il 10 greater importance and interes tBy sk illfully guiding the looker in his experiencing ofthe p icture, the a rtis l enriches the Subj ect Matter. con ­firms an d de velops it.

Many d iffe rent sorts of experie nce are likely to beencountered by the min d as it moves throuc;h the pW-.

tura . I canna! att emp t 10 talk about them a ll within theUmlts of this chapter; but I will discuss a few of themore fa milia r an d cenercllv useful types.

Mo....m.DI and HindranceIn movement and hind ra nce we hav e rea lly two dif­

ferent and opposite sorts of picture experience. But 1discuss them together, because each Is a necessarycomplement of the other.

In the preceding para gra phs I have given, I believe,some sort of Idea of the experie nce of movement withinthe pic ture . (See Ftcures 7 and 8.) On e poin t needsto be stressed. perhaps, lest the re be any misund er­standinQ about it . When I speak of "move ment withinthe picture " I have no reference to what is known asan "a ction picture"- the depiction of a clion performedby the sub jec t. The "movement" I refer 10 is that ofthe .ye and mind of the looker. tracing contours, dally­Inq ove r detail, e tc., as I described above. There maya ctually be mo re "movement" of this sort in a pictureof a perfec tly pcsstve sub jec t than there is in an ccttonpicture of a pole-vaulter slop ped in the middle of hislliqht.

Mov.m.nl is the simplest of the looker's experienceswithin the p icture , and the mos t necessary. For it isthrough movement tha t the eye is led 10 other typesof experien ce . Without movement, the eye rests. s todgyand becalmed . somewh ere near the cent er of the pic­ture, and expe rience s little else than ennui,

52

Movement ta kes place mos t freely and frequ entlyal ong contours a nd outlines. In order to guide move­ment, a contour does no t need to be continuous orunbroken. Indeed. a s we shall see, the e ye en joysla king leaps over considerable gaps In the con tour . Uthe contours are cleverly contrived. they wil l lead theeye through a sort of "grand lour" ol the picture, turn­ing it back c e nilv whenever it ve nture s too near theed ge , a nd gu iding it repeatedly into, thro ug h andar ound the subje c t ma ile r. A frequently usef ul deviceIn qu lding mo ve men t within a picture con s ists of thefolds of drapery or costwne.

A more sub tle and less ins istent type of move men tis that caused by qradation. This type is particularlynoticed in a picture in which the device of "dod gin gIn" has been utilized.. In such a case. the d arkenedcomers sub jec t the eye to gentle pressure, quidinQ itback Into the pictu re. Even wi thout contours to QUideit , the eye will mov e a long a plain surface if there isqradation to lead it on.

There ar e severcl thtnas that a re apt to impedeseri ously or eve n prevent movement in a picture. Oneof these is the presence of " traps"- sma ll, enclosedligh t ar eas such as those tha t occur between thecrooked elbow and body. ' A trap sucks the attentionIn to it and prevents the eye from moving on .

Another like ly source of interferen ce w ith movementis the com.rs of the picture itself . Each comer is a°For huther d etail on '"Iz"a ps : ' _ the WTit .. r'. 'rite NooS.l, paqe .5&.

53

sort 01 " tra p" , in fac t. a nd exercises the sa me kind 01hann1ul restraint. Movem ent. therefore. needs to ~carefully side tracked pest the comers; for. once il IS

drawn into a com er. there is very lillie chance of ex­trica ting it aga in.

Care should be taken al so c cctnst runn ing the move­ment ou t at the side 01 the pi ctu re . Once the ey e isca rried clear ou t of the pictu re . i l finds its way ba ckwith the greates t difficulty. If the movement does notencoun ter the side 0 1 too abrupt an a ngle , however,it may be successfully carried a long the edge a ndpresently diverted. back into the p icture .

This harmful tnte rt erence with movem e nt thet wehave jus t been d iscussing should not be co nfused withvarious types of te mpora ry hindrance tha i lend zes tan d vari ety to the looker's expe rien ces within the pic­ture . Movement that is 100 obv ious. too easily a cco m­plished . too cut-e nd-dr ied . rapi dly bec omes bo ring , Soa wise pictu re-maker incorpo ra les a few hind ra nce sand obs ta cles on the line of mo vement These mome ntsof res istance ma ke the fina l a cco mplish ment infinitelymore pleasant. This resistance . once we have appre­ciated it, bec omes a s essen tial to us (to ind ulge inqastronomic an a logy) as the lang of b itterness in beerand the crispness of celery .

This resistance ta ke s var ious forms. I mention tw oof the more fam iliar ones. On e sar i c l res lslance isencountered when the guiding contou r thins out 10 amere suggestion or moment a rily d isappears en tirely .

This "los ing and finding" of the outline is a lways apleasing experience. If an act ua l gap occurs. the eyewill g lad ly toke the jump and e njoy doing i1-particu­la rly if the direction of departure and the "lcnd tncplace" are well de fined .

Anothe r so rt of res istance is that introd uced by com ­ple xity of contour or by bits of d etail. Momen ts ofcomp lexity a nd det a il force the eye to slow up Usmovements . and thu s bring va riety into the experiencewith in the pic ture.*

Movemen t and re sis ta nce sh ould occur In the pict urein wise c ltemc uon , for ea ch experience gains in pun­gency by the contra sting presence of the other.

Ta ctile Qu ali ties

Probably the most primitive of a ll sense im pre ssi onsis that of the sen se of touch . It is, therefore. pcrncc­la d y charged with profound e motiona l associations .

Locking at pictu res is . of cou rse ba sica lly a "rIAcdex pe rience . But it is possible to render pictures-par­ticularly ph otographic pictures-e-m such a way thatsurface textures and detail s or ouse distinct tac:tn. as­sociati ons. Owing to the primitive character of thesense of touch, these tacti le a sso ciati ons are amonQthe most powerful and profound of the experienceswithin the pictu re .' Pgrt ll;\llcrrly Qood m..l eme-a of lh...... o j Tartous kin .. cot .....~ c.MIh ln~c. aTe m nd In w_"~ po;. 121.

Taettle ass ocia tions greatly enhan ce the em otionalba ckqround 01 the three subiec t themes tha t we con­sidered In the la st chcpter. Note. among the picturesthat follow, how the SEX in te res t of "Portra it of a YounaGtrl" is increased by the tactil e quality of the smoo thshoulders: how the impressi on 01 softnes !Jof "Mr. Wu"increases its SENTIMENTAL interest; ond how , in "TheHere tic" . the pa inful ta ctile ass ocia tions of the nailAenhance the WONDER theme .

These associations of the sense of lauch na tura llycause the mind to llnqer over them, since touch ingimplies ltnae rtnc. Tactile qual ities a re. indeed. a typeof hindra nce or resis ta nce to movement within the pic­ture . As such they sh ould be limited to small , isola teddeta ils or spots. since a picture tha t is all resistancea llows no opportunity for free movement.

Here in lies the reason for the weakness of so-called"Punsf pic tures that give a litera l an d comp lete e ll­over rendering of the texture of skin , of a cabbage . orof an old fence post. It is. of cou rse , excee dinglydoub tful that such subj ec t molter is eve r worthy ofrepre sen ta tion. Bu t. a ssuming tha t it is, the Puris t'spicture fails to give so true a n impress ion of the realtactl1. qu ali ty of the texture a s the less lite ra l ve rsionthat limits full de tail to a few clima tic " ta rry ing points".The complete detai l in all parts of the Puris t's ve rsionpre vents the eye from moving an d arriving a t an ap­precia tion of the texture in its tactile quclmes.

Confirm1nq FormsWhen the mind leaves the contemp lati on of the me re

sub jec t matt er and begins 10 mo ve through the hlqh·ways and bywa ys of the p icture, it runs into numerouasubsidia ry shapes and config ura tions of line . As itlingers over these, it gains a n impression of enrlebadphysical experience. Since it comes to them imme-­dia tely af ter leaving its con temp latio n of the subjectma tter, it encounters with pa rticular p leasure thosesha pes tha t confirm the impUeatlOD of the SublectMatter. By such expe riences the Sub ject Matter Itse Uis enriche d a nd brough t nea rer to the uni versal.

Disc uss ion of details from a co uple 01 picture s willmc ke this po int clearer.

Nole, for exa mple, "Iohcn the Mad". This is a WON.DER them e. dealing with torture and aberra tion of mind.This torture of mind is clearly sho wn in the face-­where we first look-in the exp ress ion of the eyes andthe twisted mouth . Leaving the face and mcvtncthroug h the picture , we quickly come upon coDfirmlDqforms. The twis t of the mouth Is con firmed and re­peated-in an othe r med ium-in the qrimly twisted andkno tted headd ress . Furth er on in the picture, the senseof a be rra tion is giv en increased em phasis by the arbi­trary d iag ona l tha t cu ts a cross the base. and by theerratic pla cement of the title .

Another use of confirming form is found in "NteeclcMachiavelli ". Note. in this picture . the little ribbon thathangs down from the righ t side of the cap. Make the

"

expe rime nt of plac ing your thumb ove r this detail andnote how the picture is weak e ned the reby. This ribbonconfirms . in its own medium, the impression of evasive­ness and slyness tbct is gi ven by the stde -qlrmce 01the model. The little quirk at the end of the ribbo ndoes the trick.Echoes

" Mar y ha d a little lam b,Its fleece was wh ite as sno w,

And everywhe re tha t Mary we ntThe lo mb wa s su re to go."

It is not me re ly the senti ment of this immor ta l ver setha t makes it pleasant, bu t the re pet ition of fa miliarsounds. "Snow go"-young an d old a like re­joice in the clic k end jing le of the sounds that soquaintly finds similarity in matte rs a pparen tly un re­lc ted.

The e ye, in its movement through the picture , ta kessimila r pleas ure in find ing shapes tha t jing le a ndrhy me. The se rhymes in form al so se rve, like therhymes in poetry . to tie toge ther parts tha t ar e remotefrom each othe r.

Thes e rep etitions or echoes of form ma y be regar dedas a spe cia l ca se of "co nfirming forms " . In this ca sewe ha ve one form more or less literally confirm inganother, ra the r than rende ring in a nother me di um theimplication of the subject matter.

Inve stic c tion will sh ow many instances of echoedform in the picture s that follow . On e example is found

in " Ma chia ve lli" . No te tha t the motive of the curled tipof the ribbon that we menti oned in the las! section isd istinctl y repeated in the clou d form in the background.

Rhym e or echo of form is a very pleasing effec t. butd iscrimination must be used. in employing it. Its usesh ould be isolated a nd de fin ite . Too many echoes inone pictu re ore merel y con fusing , monotonous andlack ing in point. The effect is precisely that of a hollowroom that ech oes and re-ec hoes until the sense andiden tity ol the orig ina l so und is lost in the ccnfusion .

SEVEN

Putting the Formula to Work

A t the risk of trying your patience, I mus t onc e morequote the formula. The formula is the very heart ofthe book. an d it is essential that you have i t clearl y inmind before we proceed to discuss its a ppli cati on toconcrete problems. And so, lad ies and ge ntlemen, Ipr esent, for its posi tively fina l app eara nce on th is stc ce.THE FORM ULA :

(l) The pictu re must. by its mere pattern, m a keyou look at it .

(2) Having looked-see!(3) Having seen-enj oy l

The first problem dea lt with in this formula for pic­toria l effectiven ess is thai of overcoming the initia lin ertia of the observer and of making him look at yo urpicture. The thing in a pictu re thai ma ke s it able 10command ctt ention at fir st glance is, not it s sub jectma tter. bu t its mere bla ck and wh ile pattern. Thisinitial crash of the picture patt ern that wa kes you upand makes you look, we have designated as the

60

IMPACT. Ther e a re a lew picture pctterns that areoutsta nding in their abilit y to commend a ttention .These are patt ern s that bear close relati onsh ip to primi.tive fea r responses. Fou r of them are particularlyqualified in this way: The DIAGO NAL, the S.cuRVE,the TRIANGLE, the DOMINANT MASS. Picture s based.on these pa ttern s have the s trongest Impact an d aremost certain to comm and your allention.

The sec ond phase 01 the formula deals with theprob lem of holdin g the observer's interest. on ce youha ve c otten his a tten tion . To do this. y ou must providehim with subject mailer. 0 1 course, not all sorts ofsubject matt er are equall y interesting . Sub ject ma tte ris in teres ting in prop ortion to the emotional response itcrea tes . We mus t, therefore, seek sub jec t ma tter ofwide emotional appeal. There a re three subj ect them esthat, beca use of the ir un iver sal emotional ba ckgroun d ,are esp ec ially dep endable sources of subject inte rest:SEX, SENTIMENT, and WONDER. These them e s aremost lasli ng in thei r interest if, in their presentati on .they ar e kept free from crass a nd rea listic implicati ons01 time an d place .

In the third phase of the formula we con sideredme thods of br inging a bout the looke r's participation inthe pictur e. Unles s it is 10 be of merely tempora ry andtopica l Inter est, the looker must find expe rience withinthe picture tha t enriches and enhances the subj ectmailer. There are, we saw, nu merous sorts of experi­ence that give the looker a se nse of participation in the

51

picture: MOVEMENT an d HINDRANCE, both eSS801ialan d complementary 10 ea ch other; TAC!ILE QUALI·TIES. through which the pungent experience 01 thesense of touch enh a nces the emotiona l suggeshon 01the Subiect Matter ; CONFIRMING FORMS, forms tha treitera te, In their own a bstrac t medium, the im.plica~ ion01 the Subject Ma ller; ECHOES, repetition, WIth sltch tvcncucns. 01 the same forma l motive in va rious par tsof the picture .

You and the Formula

This, 'hen, is the formula : the formula which I orta tn­ally developed a s a mea ns of improving my ownwork and of gaining a larger au dience for it. But. a sI ha ve found by experimentation with photographicstude nts of mine , It is capable of wide r and more qen­ercl application. I believe that this formula embod iesa method by which a ny ph otographer of fair in tell i·qence a nd de cent te chnical competence may de finitel ybe tter h is pic ture s a nd se cu re wi d er recognition forthem .

But merely rea d ing ab out the formula will not d eyou any good. You mustleam 10 a pply it. So in thischapter I offer some general suqges tions ab ou t usingthe formula a s a ba sis of se lf-criticis m of your own'Nark.

Obviously, general sugge stions ar e the only kind ofsugges tions that would be usefu l. The spe cific cpplicc-

62

lion to your own specific problems is up to you. Youmust pu t forth you r own initia tive in applyinq theformula. Without this initia tive , the formula is abouta s likely to ben efit you a s the Ge neral Law of Belo­tivity or the Third Law of Thermodyna mics.

Applyinq the First Phase

The first pha se of the formula . you wil l remembe r,dea ls with the IMPACf~the ab ility of the p ic ture toget yow attention.

Try this e xperiment with your own picture s. Tak e aspecimen se lection of your p rints. no t les s than a dozen.(Or follow the sa me procedure with proofs that youcontempla te mak ing into p rin ts .I Set the prints (orproofs) a ga inst the wa U upside-down. Or else s trewthem casua lly about the floor. wrona- stde-up or cr0ss­

wise, or however they happen to lan d . Now tum yourba ck on them a nd aher a brie f pause look su ddenlytowa rds them. The purpo se of thts strcn a e perfonnanceis to enable you to see the pictures fresh ly and imper­sona lly , not a s your own pictures a t all . Give theqroup a s a whole a gla nce of not more than twose conds ' dura tion a nd tu rn away again,

Now. Without looking ba ck, try to recall which pic­tures, in tha t sing le h a s ty g lance, caug ht and held yo ureye . Hav ing ma de your selection men tally , tumar ound again a nd set these pictures In Q pile by them­selves.

63

These selected pictures ar e the ones with the bestqualities of IMPACT a nd we will use them further forpurposes of a na lysis. For the moment tum you r e tten­tlon to the discar ds. the pictures tha t failed to get you rattenti on. Let us see wha t is wrong with them. Prob­ably they look like Figure 9. Or possib ly they re­se mble Figure 10.

Pictures tha t lack IMPACT are proba bly mar ked byone of the three following characteristics:

1. Scatt e red or speck led bla cks and whites.There is no dominati ng pcuem. This is the spec ia llault of Figure 9. This is a freque nt failing inlandscapes .

2. Gen era l la ck of contrast. The picture . inother words. is g rey all ove r. Pattern , if it is there.is not conspicuous en ough. This is the fault de mon­stra ted in Figure 10.3. More speci fically. the complete absen ce of a nyof the four ba sic picture patt e rns: DIAGO NALS-CURVE. TRIANGLES. 0 ' DOMINANT MASS.OJ the four basic patterns, DOMINANT MASS is un­

doub ted ly of the most frequent occurrence. Often,am ong picture s tha t ar e lac king in IMPACT, one mayde tect traces of Incipie n t Domina nt Ma ss- tha t Is, ofwould-be Dominant Mass that for some reason fail sto dominate.

Fai lures of Dominant Ma ss may be due to vari ouscru ses. Here are some of them :

64

F iqur. 9 , S<;"lt<>rotd bloc b " " d w h U,". No bcullc picture ponem.

I . Lack of size. In order to domina te. a fiquremu st se em formida ble and impressive. A smallfigure in a la rge a rea of p icture dominat es withd ifficu lty.

2. Lack of unity. Ins tead of a sin gle mass.there may be severa l unrelated and unconnectedma sses .

55

3. Lack of coh••lon. A mass will not dominateif It spreads about lns tead of being concentra ted.

4. Lack of .tabWty . Form loses lis ability todomina te if It does not appear firmly planted andstab le. Forms that domina te a re usua lly broa der-rt the base than a t the lop.

5. Lack 01 Isolation. Forms are strong est wh enthey stand al one . The Isola tion of the ce nrta l formmay be dcmcced by subs idiary forms thct crowdin upon It from the sides or by over-insis tent back­grounds .

The method. of elimina ting these fa ults is . 1 be lieve .larqely eelt-evtdent-c-t.e., conscientiou s endeavor tokeep them out of your pictures . There a re a t least fivediHeren t staQes in the mc kina of a phctccrcrph whenyou have opportunity to elimina te these and simila rfaults, and 10 ensure your picture having the bes t pos­sible quali ties of IMPACT. These are the five stages :

I. Preliminary pla nn ing . A picture that isthouqh t out In advance and possib ly planned tna thumb-naU sketch can avoid man y of the faultsthat weaken the IMPACT of a casual. un plannedpotshot,

2. DurinQ ehocttna . In this slage the es sentialsof the picture are set and established . so when yo ulook at the poten tial picture on the cro uod-alc ss or

"

r lQure 10. Basil:: pictu re p.:Ilt~m of DOMINANT MASS q ,..gtl J" __1I:....dby Qener31lack ofconmut.

57

in the finder of your camera, make sure that it con­tains elements of IMPACT:

3. Selection of Proofs. In weeding out theproofs, oppo rtunity Is g iven both to eliminate thosethat are hopelessly deficie nt in IMPACf and topick out those In which the IMPACf may bestrengthened by subsequen t operations.

4. Durinq pro ieclion printing . Va rious types ofcontro l applied dw ing pro jection-local printing,dodqing , viqne tUng , elong a tion, etc-c-offer oppo r­tunity for enhancinq or alt ering the quality of theIMPACT."

5. Control p rocesses. Such processe s as thePaper Negative an d Bromoil Transfer a llow ofmuch control in dealing with facto rs of the IM­PACT.

Applylnlj the Second Pha seIn this roun dabout manner we return to the experi­

men t that we star ted a coup le of pa ges back wi th adozen of your print s. We were left with two piles ofpictures: one grOUP of p ictu res be ing d istinguished bypositive qu a lities of [MPACT: the other gro up lackingin IMPACf. save as It may be enhanced. in one ortwo cases by the use of Projection Contro l or othercontrol processes .

:!at:::eL-::~:"'~:.r~~..-;..~ IITff;:"c:'~I~:e:s~~~I~;b~e 01 PICtur . ·

~I~ lome 01 th_ me thods m my vercm e on New Pl'Oleo:l:lo..

58

Let US now continue with the group tha t you se lecteda s ha ving Immedi a tel y a rresting qualities of pattern.

Set them up in a row, right side up this time, andlook them ove r carefully . The next prob le m, In termsof the formu la. is tha t of Sub ject Matte r and its presen­ta tion. Cons ider the su bject matte r of each picture.Decide can didly. unswayed by any personal eleme nt.whe ther the subject mail er in each case is really ofgeneral emotional appeal. Note in particu lar whetherany of them fit inlo the ca teg ories of SEX. SENTIMENT.or WONDER. No matter how excellent the qualitiesof lMPACf, re lentlessly throw out every thing in whichthe sub ject ma iler is lacking in ge neral em otional ap­peal.

This wi ll leave you- I ho pe-with a detectable re­ma inde r. Sub ject this re ma inde r to another scrutiny .Look this time for bald and realis tic notes In the sulrfeet ma tter tha t se t a defin ite "da le line " on the picture.If the "da te line" is present in obvious literal remindersof time and place in cos tume or background- throwthe picture out.

If you have any pictu res left a t this point. yo u arenow ready to undertake the third phase of the fonnula.

Applylnq the ThIrd PhaH

The third phase is conce rned , as yo u will remember;wi th the various de vices that he ighten the looker'ssense of experience in the p icture .

69

So now examine your remai ning pictures (if any)with these thlnss in view . You are not any longerconcerned with literal sub ject matter, so you may beable to get a fresher impres sion of the pictures bylooking at them in vari ous una ccustomed ways-up­side down, crosswise, close a t hand, for away. Payattention, not to subject matter, but to lines, contours ,pa ttern s and abstract shapes.

The most essentia l of experiences within the pic tureare those of movement and hindrance. Every pictureshould provide both. There fore, look to see whetheryour pictures contain these ne cessary elements. Isthe eye led through and aro und the picture by a fairlycontinuous contour ? Does this conto ur hold the eyewithin the picture an d guar d it against falling into thecomers? On the other ha nd , is the contour made in­teresting an d varied by momen ts of res ista nce andhindrance? Is the contour kept from be ing too smugand easy by bils of complexity or de ta il tha t cause theeye to tarry a moment?

Discard the pic tures that fail to pass this test. Anypicture that passes this test, having survived. the pre­ceding ordeal, is probably a very good. one .

CoDfirminq forms and echoes are not such absolutenecessities, but their presence will definite ly streng thenany picture and increase its effectiveness. If you findthem well used in your picture, you may give it a stillhigher mark.: T;he five stages of control that I menti oned ea rlier in

70

this cha p ter are all useful in applying the third.phase ofthe formula to your work.

1. In the stage of preliminary planning, thema in con tours may be mapped out and provisionma de for the use of confirming forms.

2. During shooting, as I have said, the essen-­tia ls of the picture are permanently established.At this stage, the principal elements of movementan d hindrance must be settled. Note in particularthe arrangement of drapery and the placement ofde ta il. for these things are importan t in guidingmovement and creating hindrance.

3. The selection of proofs offers opportunity forcensorship. Proofs in which movement is lackinqor confused, or is too smug, should be discarded­unless later stages of control provide means ofsa lva g ing them.

4. By "local printing" during projection of thenega tive considerable contro l may be exercisedover the quality of the contour. Weak contoutBma y be strengthened, and contours that are toosmug or mechanical may be made more inter­es ting by means of "losing and finding".

S. Paper Negative, Bromail Transfer, and simi·lo r processes also provide much opportunity fora d justment of contours and emphasis of elementsof Confirming Form .

71

Usinq the FormulaDon't be surprised or dismayed if, a t first, none 01

your pictures come through this searching examina­tion. The test is a very stringen t one, if yo u haveap plied it honestly a nd sincerely; an d a picture whichsurvives it must have very definite eleme nts of excel ­lence.

The formulcr , if it is to benefit you, must be used , andused. constantly. Put a ll your pictures through theordea l. Every time that you look over a bunch of yourproofs- put the formula to work.

Throw pictures away recklessly. Every photographersaves too many pictures. Without compunction, tearup your proofs and decimate your prints . And havinggotten rid of them-forget them. Remember that ever yinferior picture that you discard rais es the averagpexcelle nce of those that remain.

72

E I G H T

Preface to the Pictures

Pictures , if they are good pictures , should stand onthe ir own merits, without benefit of comment.

So it is not wi th the idea of bolste ring them up , bu tsimply to sho w the formula under actua l working con­ditions , that I include a few remarks on each of thepictures that follow. I believe tha t the general applica­tion of the fonnula to the pic tures will be so simple andobvi ous to you, once you ha ve gotten the hang of it.a s to require little exp lanation. So only in the firstfew pictur es do I give de ta iled analys is in terms of theformula. Thereafter I limit my comment on each tosome particular phase or problem of pictorial effecttha t the picture especially illustrates.

73

The Pictures

Mr.Wu

The Impact is created by DOMINANT MASS of alarg e an d imposing so rt. Ob viously , SENTIMENT Isthe basis of the sub ject in terest.

This picture furnishes a good instance of the impor­tan ce of the fac tor of recognition in the ap preci ation ofsub ject matler. A grea t dea l of the pl easur e in thepict ure lies in the humorous con trast be tween the fero­ciou sly bristling DOMINANT MASS and the very smallbit of dog flesh il is found to rep resent.

76 77

Girl of Smyrna

The DOMINANT MASS in this picture (as in "Youth")is strongly supported by the S-CURVE pattern. Here isthe SEX theme, with a considerable tincture of the Romantic theme of WONDER (the lure of far places),

Contrasting with the soft swing of the skirt and bodyis the abrupt zig-zag pattern of the darker elementsNote that these darker and weightier elements (hair,sash, lute and searD are evenly distributed on the twosides of the picture.

7B79

MyAunt

DOMINANT MASS Is the ba sis of the Impa ct, whichIs here enhanced by the isolation of the figur e an d thestron g notes 01contrast.

The piq ua nt expression an d the hum orous ly sen ti­menta l theme receive am using CONFIRMATION In thelillie e xplosio n of deco ration at the lop of the bet. Thebits of de ta il 01 the shoulders provide momen ts of HIN·DRANCE and brea k the otherwise 100 smug pyramidalcontour. Note how the little loops of lace er e ECHOEDon the hal end 01 the back of the neck.

80 81

The Anatomy Student

DOMINANT MASS of a broad a nd stable pyramidaltype. SEX and SENTIMENT bo th contribute to the sub­feet interest.

M OVEMENT is Interesting and varied. The eye movesswiftly up the outstr etched arm of the woman, tarriesa mome nt over the complexer deta ils of the man's righthand. tra ve ls more de libe ra tel y a long his righ t ann tohis face. from which the Intensity of his glance throwsthe eye 10 the face of the woman. Go ing back 10 thestudent's face . the eye Is carried a long the curve of theleft arm to the hand. where the direc tion of the gestureonce more forces c ttentton to the women's face . TACTll.E Q UAUTIES considerably a dd to the eye's expert­enos , particularly in the contrast be tween the smoothflesh an d the rough texture of the cool.

82OJ

Paganini

Here Is DOMINANT MASS that, in spite of its erraticcontour, is firm and compact. To this ere added elementsof the S·CURVE.

The erratic contour is in keeping with the sense ofmelodrama and the tempera menta l morbidity that areassociated with the name of Pcccnlnl. This angularcontour is developed throughout the picture. Note theacUV9 zig-zag that brings the eye, by a series of jerks,up the bow, up the fiddle, up the broken strings, Intothe lace . Nate the brilliant whiles that explode near thecenter-the eyes, the two points of the collar, the hand­kerchief. the series of lights on each knuckle. The mo­tive of the curled broken strings is RE-ECHOED in thedisorderly wisps of hair. Note how the melodrama isincreased by the extreme amount of dodging.

84 BS

NICO L OPAGA N IN [

~

Moonlight Madonna

The Impa ct here is ba sed. upon DOMINANT MASS.Note the stab ility and compa ctness of the cen tra l shape,and how the rock and jug both contribute to the pyra­mIdal shape.

The universal quality of the subiect interest (SENTI·MENT and WONDER> is enhanced by the passive pos­ture an d the downca st eye s. This is definitely a n " is"picture rather than a "does" picture. (See ChapterFtve.I Note tha t the Impa ct in this picture gains Its endby the simple power of its cen tra l fonn ra ther than byelements of contrast which would have been a t vari ancewith the quIet emotion of the sublect.

" 87

Parapluie

The Impa ct is furnished by the la rge ba t-like DOMI·NANT MASS 01 the umbrella . The theme here is SEX.seasoned with hu mor ah er the French formula . Despitethe very literal a ppurtenance (the umbrella>, the extremesimplifica tion inclines the treatm ent toward the .unt­versal.

The dignified , geo metrica l bla ck ma ss of the umbrella15gi ven a raffish. whImsica l touch by the tiny danglingstrap. Cove r this up, and note how important it is tothe picture.

Meteorological nole: The ra in was supplied by thesimple expedient of dragging a piece of fine sandpaperllqhtly across the surface 01 the negativ e .

" 89

Girl of the Highland s

DOMINANT MASS with wide pyram ida l ba se is herethe source of the lrnpcct . The them e is a SENTIMENTALone, prima rily, but there is a lso a n elem en t of SEX,

The eye MO VES swi ftly up the smoo th flesh 01 thestraight legs. encounters HINDRANCES in the a rra nge ­men t of the dra pe ry about the wa ist. a nd moves ona ga in to the face a long the s imp ler lines of the b louse.The mount a in va lley is ECHO ED in the neckline. o ndthe firmly pla nted foot finds CO NFIRMATIO N in theriqht a ngle of Ihp. elbo w.

91

The Moving Fin ger

Here is Impact ba sed on a group of tria ngles. A lighttrian gle with its point towa rd you, a nd a da rk trian glewith Its po int away from you-these a re the ma jor ele­ments . In addition there ar e many other lesser trian glesinterlocked with one another. The re is a dark trianglein the left-hand comer and a ligh ter one in the riah t­hand corne r. The face is trian gu lar ; so a lso are thehand. the sleeve and the headdress.

92 93

Girl with Corset

The Impact here is based on DOMINANT MASScombIned with a sugges tion of S-CURVE. The theme ofthe subject interest is SEX, 10 which SENTIMENT isa dded by the frankness and ingenuousness of the ex­press ion.

The eye MOVES swiftly through the smooth passagesof flesh and finds HINDRANCES in the deta il of thecorset. Fur ther hindra nces a re provide d in the TAC­TILE SUGGESTIONS of cont ra sting textures- nash con­tras ted with corse t. an d flesh cont rasted with hair.

94

Pistachio Girl

The S-CURVE is an importa nt foetor In the Impact ofthis picture . Sta ble an d firmly based DOMINANT MASSIs here also .

The freed om an d vitality of the sub jec t a re realizedin the MOVEMENT of the eye . which is led throughswinQ1nqcurves and figure eights. The eye follows upthe right leq , is swep t clear acr oss the body by thecurve of the apron: leaps across to the left hand. swtnesswiftly up the lel t ann, dalli es a moment over the face .drcles the head an d descends the right arm. From theright hand it jumps to the curved fold in !he front of theapron which turns it upward 10 the basket, it circum­nav1Qoles the ba sket until the left han d swings 11 down­ward again to the curve of the apr on, whenc e it arri ves,exhUarated cmd sl1qhlly dizzy, at its starting point.

96 97

Black Mag ic

Here Is DOMINANT MASS strengthened by the men­ace of TRIANGULAR SHAPES. In the ha rsh contras land the spread legs there is a sugges tion in the Impactof sorneihl nq cla wlike and sp lde rtsh.

This Is a WON DER theme-the me nace and fasci na ­tion of the unknown.

The MOVEMENT is in keeping wit h the character 01the them e. The eye is jerked. by a series of abruptzig-zags up to the sta rlling a nd fe rocious climax of theface . Note how the long da ngling d rape is ECHOEDby the tiny tend ril the! hangs from the left shou lder . a ndIs further repeated in inve rted fashion by the upsta nd­ing wis p of hair.

9899

Whirlwind

This is a firm, compact DOMINANT MASS, with asuggestion of the DIAGONAL.

The tigh tness of the lower pa rt of the mass throwsgreater emphasis on the free con tour of the hair andthe exaltation of the expression. The swirl of the ha ir is,a sort of CONFIRMING FORM to the sense of releaseand wild freedom of which the face tells. The samethough t is RE-ECHOID in the cloud shapes in the back­ground.

100 101

Taj

The Impact is based on DOMINANT MASS 01 anextremely cohesive ty pe . Note the absence of loose'ends ; e very thing is closely knit an d boun d together.

This cohes ive qua lity makes MOVEMENT within thepicture particularl y swift and easy . The principal ele­ments of HINDRANCE are those afforded by the fulldetail ed rendering of the scarf and jar.

102 103

The Glory of War

Less tha n any of the other pictures in this col1ectlondoes this print express a COMMAND TO LOOK. TheIMPACf is dec idedly fa ulty , owing to scattered blacksand whiles an d the absence of any clea rly de £1nedpattern . But. like a g ood. press photograph. it is ab leto hold interest. if seen, by Its shocktnc subject ma tter.

. And the scattered blacks and whiles. which so vitia tethe Impact. are found to be curiou sly exp ress ive 01war 's wan ton destruction of nannal. solid focts e ndvirtues.

104 105

Youth

Here Is DOMINANT MASS. with the S·CURVE a s unimportant supporting pallern.

The latter pattern-the Line of Beauty of Hoccrfb-c-tsparllcularly adapted to the theme 01 the SENTIMENTALglorification of serene and poised Youth. Despite theuse of the nude, Sentiment is probably a stronger alement of subject interest in this picture than SEX.

106107

The Warlock

Here are DIAGONAL and DOMINANT MASS, mademore powerfully a rresting by the strong contras t. Thisis a WONDER them e, of course-the Sup erncturcl-c­the world of demons an d witches.

The impression of speed is built up by the manyconverging thrus ts alo ng the diag onal-the broomstick,the forecrm . the cords in the neck , the flapping drapery.

l OB 109

The Tantric Sorcerer

The Impact is ba sed. on a powerful DOMI NAN TMASS. made a dditionall y strong by the sugg es ted DI­AGONA LS. There is here something of the o rrestincquality of a match kindled in the dark .

Clearly, this is a n example of the WONDER themein sub ject ma terial. The emotional quali ty of the themeis enha nced by the siniste r suggesti on of the liqhl inq .

The M OVEM ENT in this picture sw ings the eye in asort of spiral-up the hand. d ive rted by the crookedforefinger al ong the lop of the headdress . thence downin to the face . The eye leaves the pi cture by the jaggedline of the should er. a nd is caught and tossed ag ain intothe picture space . Ther e is interesting HINDRANCE inthe involved de tail of the scep ter and the complex con­tour of the headdress. Note how the motive of the curvedfore finger Is EC HOED in the decoration of the scep ter.in the drooping maalcches an d in the high lights on thebrow.

110 II I

The Heretic

The Impa ct here is based on DOMINANT MASS.which is ma de additiona lly powerful by the strong con­trast be tween body an d background .

The theme, owing to its rela tionship to the darkmachinations of witchcraft, may be cla ssed as WON·OER. ' which is he re considerably tinged with SEXinterest.

The darknes s of the surrounding a rea s insistentlyreturns the move men t of the eye to the cen tral figure.The hindrances to this movement are sharp and definite.the smooth contours of the limbs being repea tedlyha cked a cross by the intersecting lines of the bonds .There 15 a strong TACTILE QUALITY in the wa y thatthe bonds b1!e into the flesh . Note thai the points wherethe tactile suggestion is mos t painful-i.e., the nai lsthrouch the cnkles-ccrs prevented from becoming toodominant an d literall y revolting by be ing pla ced indeep shadow.

1I2 113

Cesare Borgia

DOMINANT MASS supported by a DrAGONAL I,the basis of Impact in this picture,

The Impor tant and characteri s tic e leme nt of the wrycurve of the smile finds CONFIRMING FORMS in theshape of the high-lights in the hai r, in the curl em theleft side of the face; and in the shadowed Jold in theshirt front.

114

Evening

DOMINANT MASS 01a simple py ramidal type. Thetheme Is SENTIMENT.

He re all the forms CONfIR M the impression 01 thewetch t a nd wea riness olt he years - the droopin g mouth,the heavy eye lids . the flaccid, daT\q!inq wisp s 01 hai r.

II'117

Fragment

SEX is not so muc h the subject in terest he re as theSENTIMENT ev oked by bra ve and gallant remnants 01the past. The tronsformalion of a living body Into anapparent fragment of statuary helps to bring it nearerto a universal symbo l. By this d rastic mutila tion, allrealistic suqge stions of time . place an d pers ona lity arewiped out. and noth ing rema ins except the etern al mvs­tery of the fema le body.

The MOVEMENT of eye w ith in th is pict ure is pe r­ticularly sw ift a nd incisive . There Is no hint of a sing levadllating or doubtful though t. The line on the righ tside of the torso sw ings the eye up with a powe rfulcrescendo 10 the apex of the broken arm. From here itmoves more delibera tely down the body. Addi llonalelements of hlndran ce are provided in the TACTILEsuqqestlons of the scars and nleks In the marble .

118 118

Woman of Languedoc

We have here DOMIN ANT MA SS with a definite hintof the S-CURVE in the swing of the body . SEX is thetheme-not so much in a spec if ic sens a as in term s ofuni versal fecund ity- rich soil topped by the eternalwoman.

Note the variety of the HINDRANCES-the detail ofthe basket, the complexity in the folds of the apron.There is a prevalence of small triangular motives whichcreate a spa rkli ng scm tillc nt effect.

120121

Torse

Here is Impact based on DOMI NANT MASS withsoma Suggestion of the DIAGONAL. The them e of thesub ject interest is princ ipally SEX.

Increased HINDRANCE is g iven by the un dula tion sof the plas tic lighting which a lso increa ses the TAGrILEquali ties . Further ta ctile effects are achieved by thesmall area of litera l detail in the veins of the ha nd andin the contrast be twee n the texture of the hair an d theshoulder. Note the manner in which the shape of thebreasts is RE-ECHOED by the shoulders and the up­thrust chin.

12?- 123

Portrait of a Young Girl

DOMINANT MASS wi th a suggestion of the DIAG­Or AL. The theme is more SENTIMENT than sex .

Thera is a TACTILE QUAUTY of extreme softness 01hair and flesh. This serves as a CONFIRMING elemen1to the quiet. contemp la live exp ression.

124 125

Death of Hypatia

The DIAGONAL of the Impact is made increasinglyarresting by the violence of the contrast.

The shocking nature of this contrast is in keeping withthe melodramatic tum taken here by the WONDER andSEX themes. Note that the quality of contemplativepassivity lifts the picture above the merely episodic,and makes this momen t much more menacing than itwould have been had the figures been actively en­gaged in fighting and clawing at each other.

The motive of the crooked. arm of the cowled figure isRE~ECHOED in the curve of calf. thigh, breast and armof the woman.

126 127

Thunder

A compact DOMINANT MASS with strong notes ofcontrast is here the basis of the Impact. The theme ofWONDER is carried out in the expression of the faceand in the swirling cloud masses.

These clouds CONFIRM the energy expressed by thehair. The same theme is expressed in the sweepingcurve of the neck line. Note the element of HINDRANCEin the detail of drapery on the shoulder. The eye tar ­ries over this for a moment and is then carried swiftlydown the descending curve, up into the face and thenceinto the surrounding sky .

128 129

Rope Dancer

Here Is an Impact based on a DIAGO NA L suppo rtedby vario us TRIANGLES. The sub ject the me is SEX.. 10wh ich is added a suggestion of the WO NDER the me(the elernal my stery and fas cination of the circus} Thetheme is freed of rea lis tic implications by be ing trea tedsolely for its decorative va lues.

The convergin g lines of the lea s MOVE the eye swiftlyin to the p icture. Aft er meeting and ov ercoming n um er­ous HINDRANCES. the ey e is sw ung back into the pic­ture space by the black ma ss of hair. Note the tinyaccent of TACfILE QUALITY which is provided by thelittle depression in the nash of the leg where the rib ofthe parasol touches II.

130131

Preparation for the Sabbot

Here is Impact based on DOMINANT MASS, madeexplosive and startling by violent con lras t-a gleamingwhite figure se t against a gloomy ba ckground , like aflame flarinq in the darkness. The re are a lso elementsof the SCORVE. SEX and WONDER both contr ibute tothe subject interest.

The looker is given a sense of the young witch 's im­pending flight by repeated thrusts along the diagonalnmning from lower left to upper right. This direction isemphasized by the witch's lifted leg, by the broomstick,by the arm of the old be ldame and by the right a rmof the witch.

132 133

The Vampire

The Impact is here created by the DIAGONAL whichis made additionally arresting by the strong contrast.This is an example of the WO NDER theme-s-the strangeand terrible legend of the Undead .

Note how the wedge shope of the sta ke is ECHOEDin the triangular folds of the grave clo thes tha t swathethe body . There is a violent TACTILEQUALITY in thepenetration of the stake into the body. This is a lso felt,in a lesser degree, in the contra st between the smoot hflesh of the shoulder and the rough stone.

134 '35

Flemish Maid

DOMINANT MASS with strong contras t pro vides theImpact. The subject interest is foun ded. on SENTIMENT(the charm 01 familiar . dom estic thing s).

MOVEMENT around the invo lved contour enclo sedby the arms. shoulders a nd headdress holds the eyewithin the picture. Owing to the placi d , fami lia r impli­cations of the theme, the movement is ma de slow anddeliberate with ma ny HINDRANCES and tar ryingplaces introduced by com plex bits of detail a nd contour.

136137

Portrait of an American

Here Is compact DOMINANT MASS wi th stronc ele­men ts of contrast. The elonga tion serv es to wi pe ou tdis tracting realistic details and to ma ke this a ge neral­ized . uni versal portrall rather tha n a pe rsonalized one.The decis iven ess and directness of this po rtrait a re dueto the insistent vertical eleme nts.

Ethnoloqica l note : The extreme an d effective lengthof this head was attain ed by emphasizing. through pro­jection prin tinq, cha racteristics al ready inheren t in themode l.

138 139

Stamboul

Compact DOMINANT MASS is evident here, togetherwith a hint of the S-CURVE. SEX is the obvious sourceof subject interest, but there is a lso someth ing of theWONDER theme-the romance of far countries.

The outer contour is smooth, but ample HINDRANCESare provided in the complexity of detail at shou ldercnd ctrdle. Note how the three lingers of the right handECHO the three daggers .

140141

Human Relations

Impact is based on DOMINANT MASS supported bya powerful DIAGONAL.

The disordered hair is really a sort of CONFIRMINGFORM which develops, in its own medium, the sa vag ­ery of the action. Cover the hair with your finger, andimagine how greatly the picture would lose if the hai rwere slicked down smoothly. The bracelet on the a rm,by introducing a note of HINDRANCE, adds strength tothe gesture. Note how it is weakened when this elementis covered up.

142 143

Fagin

The DOMINANT MASS of the Impa ct is strengthenedby numerous .TRIANGLES. The tr iangles serve tostrengthen the glint of menace contained in the eyes.

Here is a crafty, secretive character. So there are nopassages of easy and free MOVEMENT. Instead, themovement is cramped by continual HINDRANCES thattwist and tum the eye through bits of involved detail.Note the ECHOING of the motive in the twisted smile-­in the lock of hair by the righ t eye, and in the patternof the headdress.

144- 14.5

Belphegor

The DOMINANT MASS of the Impact is made moreforceful a nd star tling by the strong contra st. Here is aWONDER theme - the dark fascination of the sub­human.

The contou r is .very simple , but ample HINDRANCESare afforded by the lumpy modelling an d by the TAC­TILE QUAUTIES. These tactile suggestions are all ofa harsh sort and help to build up the bes tiality of thetheme; e.c., the stiff, bristly ha ir and the bulbous fun­goid mass on the temple . Note the REPETITION of abulging crescent-shaped motive---lhe brows, the wingsof the nose, the cheek bones and chin.

146 147

Johan the Mad

The Impact here Is based on DOMINANT MASSwhich gains in force by its size and extreme cohesive­......

This picture (as we have already seen in ChapterSUO offers a particularly good instance of the use 01CONFIRMING FORMS. The madness and agony tha tappears in the staring eyes and the twisted mouth isCONFIRMED in another medium in the tightly twistedheaddress. The theme of madness is further ECHOEDand developed (l) in the diagonal that hacks off thebottom of the picture, and (2) in the erratic arrangementof the title.

148 149

FrouFrou

DOMINANT MASS is here supported by a DIAG­ONAL. The theme is fra nkly SEX, bu t is presentedllqhtly and delicately.

The contrasting elements of lace Increase the TAGTILE QUALITIES of the ad joining area of flesh. Notehow the fussy Utile bow serves as a CONFIRMINGFORM to the piquant expression. The expression loses

"acme of its sparkle when the bow is covered up.

15() lSI

Circe

Here we have a simple pyramidal DOMINANTMASS with strong notes of contrast.

Two themes contr ibu te to the subject matter; SEXand WONDER. Note how an increa sed impression ofimpersonality and universcrltty is gained by the use ofelongation.

There Is a motive of a curiously pointed curve whichis repeatedly ECHOED throughout the pictu re. It ap­pears in the line of the ja w , in the curve of the breasts,in the lift of the eyebrows, in the liard, in the hairlineand in the contour of the top of the head. The preva­lence of this elusive ovoid motive emphasizes thesuggestion of intangibility and unreality.

152

Niccolo Machiavelli

DOMINANT MASS is he re the basis of the Impact.There is definitely a suggestion of something crouchingand beastlike in the hint of pointed ears on either sideof the headdress. There ts a lso an implication of theS-CURVE in the line of the headdress and the sweepof the sleeve.

The whole expressiveness of the picture lies in thesuggestion of evasiveness and craftiness in the side­long gla nce and the one-sided smile. The twist of thissmile is CONFIRMED in the dangling ribbon and RE­ECHOED in the cloud form in the upper comer. Thesame sardonic motive smirks at you repeatedly in thecurve of the collar. in the veins of the hand, and in thetwisted folds of the sleeve.

154 .155

Doris

DOMINANT MASS, given stability by the spreadingbase, and compactness by joining the dark of the hairto the dark of the dress.

The theme is SENTIMENT, which is given an addedpiquancy of SEX by the challenging glance.

'The flower is in effect a CONFIRMING FORM whichemphasizes the delicacy of the subject material. Theflower also HE-ECHOESthe lacy bits of detail at wristand throat.

156 157

The New Race

DOMINANT MASS is no ted he re , the strength 01which is increased by the darkness of the sky a ndland scape back ground.

SEX Is the theme . touched wi th WONDER at themystery of fec und ity. Re sist an ce to the eye 's move­ment thrcuch the pic ture is afforded by the roug hlyhewn angles. Note the a lmost geome trica l reg ula rity ofthe area enclosed by the a rms , hands a nd sh oulde rs .This cnculcr qu a l1ty, a lthou gh unfeminine , increasesthe impression of ma ssiv e and primitive streng th . Theheavy breasts find CONFIRMING FORMS in the rollinghills beyond . The folds of the dress a re ECHOED in theravines and de files in the background. the same motivebeing cccdn repea ted in the sw eeping cu rves of the hair.

IS' IS'

Piety

The Impact is created in this picture by the powerfulDIAGONAL.

Hands are often more truly revealing of characterand emotion than are faces . Hands, therefore, mayanoccasion be legitimate obiects of emotional interest. Theinterest here is clearly based on SENTIMENT.

Because of their own comp lexity of structure, thehands are here presented without extraneous detail. Themoments of RESISTANCE are provided by the handsthemselves-the slight projection of the thumbs, therippling contour past the tips of the fingers , the bit ofliteral skin texture near the wrisl. Note that the momentsof resistan ce are slight and in no way contradict thequiet implications of the theme of Piety.

160 161

L'Amour

A strongly contrasted DOMINANT MASS is the basisof the Impact. To this is added a powe rful suggestionof the DIAGONAL.

SEX is of course the subject interest, which is heregiven additional morbid pungency by the sadistic im­plications of the theme.

The MOVEMENT is rough and jagged, but is heldclosely within the picture . TACTILE QUALITIES arevery evident here, and are derived from the contrastbetween the shaggy coat of the beast and the smoothskin of the girl.

Zoological note: This is not a montage or combina­tion print. The two figures were actually photographedtogether. The only added elements are the clouds,which were put in by Bromoil.

162 163

Betty

The Impact here is based on DOMINANT MASS,which is made more compact and cohesive by thedevice of raising the shoulder. The subject interestgrows out of SEX shading into SENTIMENT.

The otherwise slick contour provides its element ofRESISTANCE and pleasant hesitation in the detail andcomplexity of the comb. Note how the shape of thecomb CONFIRMSthe roundness of the shoulder. Notealso thcrt the detail of the comb is delicately RE-ECHOEDin the tiny curls on either side of the head.

164 165

Pas de Ballet

DOMINANT MASS is here ma de start ling and poster­like by contrast and isolation. The subje ct is gi ve n auniversal implica tion by the co mple te eli mina tion 01 a llnon-essenlia ls a nd by the a bse nce of realisti c musc ularstrain.

The eye MOVES up the rhy thmic con tour of the legs,Is caught. held a nd turned back into the pict ure by thefilmy skirt. The skirt a lso serves to introduce a TAC­TILE element- emph asi zing , by co ntra st, the gl ea mi ngsmoothness of the flesh.

166 167

ALaGare

This is DOMINANT MASS of the simplest pyramidaltype. The subject interest, of course, is direct and out­right SENTIMENT. The harsh DIAGONAL acts as aneffective foil to the softness of the face. The tightlydrown shawl and headdress, by their meagerness,serve as CONFIRMING FORMS tha t emphasize thepathos of the expression. The straight pyramidal con­tourwould prove too dull and uneventful to sustain theeye's interest, so HINDRANCES are provided in therather full rendition of the pattern and folds of the shawl.

168.169

The Priestess

Here is a firmly planted DOM INANT MASS comb inedwith the s..CURVE. Despite the use of the nude, thetheme (as I have previous ly poin ted out) is tha t ofWONDER- the cruel, absolute , inscrutable mystery ofthe Law. The implications of the theme are born e oulby the ponderous pyramidal form of the Impa ct.

170 171

The Epicure

Here is DOMINANT MASS with a hint of the DIAG­ONAL.

The zestful grin sparkles throughout the picture inindividual separated high-light accents. The samethought is developed in the whimsical contour of thefront of the garmen t.

172 173

Give Us This Day

Three figu res are here joined into a single, pyramid­ally shaped DOMINANT MASS. TRIANGLESalso con­tribute to the Impact.

SENTIMENT (the "humble life" theme) touched withWONDER is the basis of the sub ject interest.

The form of the oar blade is ECHOED in the shapeof the man's collar. Note the rhythmic conformity of thenumber of physical elements in the picture: three fig·urea. three apples; one oar, ODe jug.

174 175

Lazarus

We have here DOMINANTMASS and the S·CURVEmade emphatic by contrast. The theme, of course, isWONDER-the mystery of death and man's victoryover U. It is a subject universal in import, and is pre­sented with as little in the way of physical cppurten­ances as possible. Two elements alone carry the theme-the mortal symbol of the skull and Lazarus' gesturetaward the Ugh!.

116•.177

Desert-Born

Here is a DOMINANT MASS of a somewhat pyra­midal character. The staff brings in suggestions of theS-CURVE.The subject interest is based on SENTIMENT-the simple life theme-primitive existence close tothe soil.

The primitive thought is CONFIRMED in the broad­based, firmly planted. figure and in the harsh intersec­tion of lights and shadows. The cloud mass is ECHOEDin size and shape by the shadow underneath the figure.

178 179

The Possessed

This picture oHers a particularly good study in theuse of confirming forms and echoes.

The WONDER theme of the terror that howls in bar­ren places is expressed in the wind tha t sweeps throughthis picture. Before it everything writhes and dissolves;Nature disintegrates into nightmare.

Note the repetition of the twisted spikey theme-thetree forms on the distant hill, the tufts of hair, the claw­like fingers, the tattered garment. We fee l the force ofthe wind as actual resistance to the movement of theeye through the picture. The eye tries to move alongthe 'con tour of the arm, but is repeatedly caught andcarried over to the left of the picture.

180 181

Napoleon

Towerinq DOMINANT MASS , brood -based andstahle, is made more cohesi ve a nd unified. by the useof the long coat.

The rolling masses of clouds ser ve as CONFIRMINGFORMS to the lowered brow.

Persona lity note : The Little Corporal was interpre ted.for this picture by the eminen t cha ra cter a ctor. Peterwrre. .

182 183

Tranquility

Here is a DIAGONAL with a single strong note ofcontrast . The subject theme is obviously SENTIMENT.

Note the mony CONFIRMING FORMS of the atmos­phere of qu iet and nocturna l revery. All shapes seema ffected by the lassitude and lcncour of the summernig ht. The moon hangs low. as if unable 10 strugglehigh er in the hea vens. The two figures ben d their headsdrea mily, the bra nches bend low, even the nec k of theiug bends in response .

184 185

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