SIMPLICITY IN COMPOSITION.
The request of the publishers of this book to write for them an article of fifteen hundred words upon Simplicity in Composition, reminds me of the college professor who was accustomed to call upon his students for extempore dissertations upon subjeEts which he would suddenly propound. Unconscious of the humor of his demand, he one day called upon one of his favorite scholars in the following terms : " Mr. Thompson," he said, "your time will be five minutes and your subjeCt, ' The Immortality of the Soul.' " I, too, can sympathize with the feelings of Mr. Thompson, for the subje& of Simplicity in Composition is as difficult and complex as is often the most simple appearing pictorial composition.
The popular conception of a simple pidorial composition is apparently not one in which the elements are reduced to the fewest possible terms, but one in which such elements are so subtly arranged as to impress the beholder so directly and forcibly with the central or dominant idea of the picture that everything else, even though covering a goodly portion of the picture area, is so subordinated as to appear of but little moment. To achieve such a result, presents to the artist a problem which becomes more complex in proportion to the so-called simplicity of the composition. In fact, one can truthfully say that the ratio of difficulty varies directly as the square of the simplicity. Just as in music we find that the simpler the theme, the more thorough must be the knowledge of the musician in order to compose acceptable variations thereon. So, in fact, in every art this rule obtains, and the simpler the apparent result—assuming, of course, that such result is really beautiful—the greater are the care, knowledge and taste required.
The problem that is presented is practically one of elimination. To include all that is necessary for the elucidation of the composition and to exclude eve/y/1/217T that is unessential to a clear statement of the dominant underlying idea, taxes the abilities of even the best artists to their utmost. I must not be misunderstood to say that every great work of art
must necessarily be simple in its composition, for many of the great master pieces in painting are built up upon very complex geometric lines. In fact, the nature of the composition is largely dependent upon the subjeCt and the manlier in which it is intended to be represented. 'I am now alluding mainly to linear compositions, there being also tonal compositions, mass compositions, color compositions and combinations of all these. This holds true in varying degree in photography as well as in painting. Those modern pidcorial photographs which have attracted so much attention, especially in Europe, because of their composition and tonal treatment, have been subjected in their development to the same influences that have affeeled the modern painter generally. Their keynote is simplicity in arrangement and the true rendering of tonal values.
The one element absolutely essential in every composition is balance, without which no pieiure can ever be satisfying. Lacking this, a pielure becomes restless and irritating and the beholder turns from it with a sense of relief.
No formula can be drawn up for the simplification of the course of study necessary to an understanding of what constitutes good composi tion. To a natural taste must be added a careful and understanding study of the best accepted work of all forms of art, old and new. In photography this is even more essential, if possible, than in painting, for the photog rapher, usually working in monochrome, has not the resource of color upon which the painter can draw. Consequently, the only advice is to study the best pielures in all media—from painting to photography—and to study them again and again, analyze them, steep yourself in them until they unconsciously become part of your esthetic being. Then, if there be any trace of originality within you, you will intuitively adapt what you have thus made a part of yourself, and tinEtured by your personality you will evolve that which is called style.