. Portrait . le, and they of course are infinite invariety. Still the fact remains that the underlyingform is strictly rectangular, like the shapes in the dia-grams. The arrangement somehow suits the oblongshape better than the upright. The shape is lesspliable in an upright. The bottom of the picture lookscrowded and the large angle formed by the bust andupper leg to the knee is apt to look a trifle there is no way of getting around it. Besides, PORTRAIT head and eyes do not so readily survey objects fromtop to bottom as from side to side. The eye examininga vertical shape mov
. Portrait . le, and they of course are infinite invariety. Still the fact remains that the underlyingform is strictly rectangular, like the shapes in the dia-grams. The arrangement somehow suits the oblongshape better than the upright. The shape is lesspliable in an upright. The bottom of the picture lookscrowded and the large angle formed by the bust andupper leg to the knee is apt to look a trifle there is no way of getting around it. Besides, PORTRAIT head and eyes do not so readily survey objects fromtop to bottom as from side to side. The eye examininga vertical shape moves up or down describing a part ofa circle, while proceeding sideways it is more inclinedto follow the actual lines. Furthermore, the picture,without the appliance of accessories, will always lookempty in the upper part of one side, namely, Fig. is in every way an excellent composition, and ifit looks a trifle heavy toward the right and lower mar-gins, it is due only to the special style of composition. which does not permit of any more picturesque render-ing. The irregularity and yet so pronounced divisionof the area into two unequal parts does not generatethe same tendency to eye activity as a more compli-cated design. The vision will be concentrated almostconstantly upon the part of the picture which is occu-pied by the figure. Fig. 2, although made by a very able French painter,is very awkward in design. The fault is to be foundeither in the peculiar selection of the general shape ofthe picture, which is neither an oblong nor an upright,but almost a square—a shape which is always difhcultto handle, or by the curious oversight of leaving thebackground absolutely blank. And the awkwardness PORTRAIT is further augmented by the strong contrast that existsbetween the tonal values of the figure and the back-ground. The outlines of the figure are too plainly-seen and their tendency toward straight lines becomestoo conspicuous. The figure is almost triangular inshape, and
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidpo, booksubjectphotography
