The elements and principles of art are heavily emphasized in schools today. Most classrooms have some type of visual with line, shape, color, texture, value, space, and form as well as repetition, rhythm, harmony, proportion, variety, balance, emphasis, and movement on posters in the room, but where did they come from and why? These vocabulary words are much more than just definitions in an art textbook. They started with a man named Arthur Wesley Dow. “Dow was the first art educator or artist to identify and classify the elements” (Mock-Morgan, 1985, p. 235). He has written numerous books about composition, including the book of Composition, and the teaching of art. Dow (1920) refers to the art as space arts to distinguish it from other forms of art, like music. He regarded architecture, sculpture, and painting in this category. Arthur W. Dow taught elementary school for five years, but did not begin teaching art until 1882 (Stankiewicz, 2001). In 1880, Dow studied art with Anna K. Freeland, and later with James M. Stone in Boston. After teaching art for two years, he left to pursue formal art training at the Academie Julian and the Ecole Nationale des Arts Decoratifs in France starting in 1884. While he was there for five years, until 1889, he created drawings and paintings of the nude figure in a variety of compositions every week. The focus of the academy teaching was to create accurate representation, but Dow felt this teaching was not enough. He was much more interested in the role of art in contemporary society (Frank, 2008). Dow (1912) states that “a nation’s ideals are revealed in its art, and its art has greatest value when it is the expression of the spirit of the whole people” (p. 2). This idea drove him to further study art in other cultures. Dow (1920) talks about his passion for art teaching in the following:
The whole fabric of art education should be based upon a training in appreciation. This power cannot be imparted like information. Artistic skill cannot be given by dictation or acquired by reading. It does not come by merely learning to draw, by imitating nature, or by any process of storing the mind with facts. The power is within— the question is how to reach it and use it. (p. 21)
When Dow returned to Boston in 1889, he exhibited his paintings while studying and continuing his research on composition (Stankiewicz, 2001). In 1891, he discovered Japanese printmaking thanks to Ernest Fenollosa (Frank, 2008). Fenollosa was the curator of Japanese art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts at the time. Lancaster (1969) details the meeting of the two in the following passage:
It is said that he (Dow) approached the curator (Fenollosa) with a request to be shown a book of Japanese illustrations and that Fenollosa asked him why he wanted to see them. "To learn the true principles of composition," was his reply, at which Dow was ushered into the storeroom of the museum. "Look in here," said Fenollosa, "and I will show you two thousand paintings by all the great Japanese masters of the last twelve centuries.” (p. 285)
Fenollosa believed that, “all arts share underlying principles and express universal ideas in sensuous forms” (Stankiewicz, 2001, p. 91). Dow shared his idea on creating a new system for studying art with Fenollosa, who also felt the modern art teaching was inadequate. Fenollosa’s idea was that art was similar to music, and that art could be described as visual music that could be studied using synthetic principles (Dow, 1920). Fenollosa appointed Dow as an assistant curator for the Japanese art museum in 1893 (Frank, 2008), which he later became the head curator under the title of Keeper of Japanese Paintings and Prints (Lancaster, 1969). In 1895, Arthur W. Dow gained the attention of Louis Prang. Prang purchased some of his woodcuts and commissioned Dow to create a piece for the cover of Modern Art, one of Prang’s magazines. Later that year, Dow started teaching at the Pratt Institute, where he was hired by Frederic Pratt, with Fenollosa after gaining more attention from his experiments with his classes in Boston using exercises created with Fenollosa (Dow, 1920). Fenollosa was to lecture, while Dow was to teach studio art courses. Fenollosa left Pratt after a year, but Dow stayed for another. Dow filled the space that Fenollosa left and accepted an instructorship at the Art Students' League in New York (Lancaster, 1969). In 1904, Dow became the Director of Fine Arts in Teachers College, Columbia University, New York (Dow, 1920). He further developed and taught his structural system in design, which became known as the “Synthetic Method, to distinguish it from the academic, which is analytic” (Dow, 1912, p. 6). “Dow’s focus on line, dark-and-light, color, beauty of arrangement over truthful representation, and individual exercise of creative ability,” (Stankiewicz, p. 89, 2001) became the new system for design. Dow (1920) states the following about his system:
I have not attempted to overthrow old systems, but have pointed out their faults while trying to present a consistent scheme of art study. The intention has been to reveal the sources of power; to show the student how to look within for the greatest help; to teach him not to depend on externals, not to lean too much on anything or anybody. (p. 128)
On the cover of Dow’s book Composition, is the word word "SYNTHESIS" in Greek letters, as well as a simplified brush landscape painting to show his indebtedness to his mentor and friend, Ernest Fenollosa. Throughout Dow’s teachings, he uses Japanese pictorial sources to clarify his principles (Lancaster, 1969). In this system, Dow wanted to focus on the expression of beauty, not representation. Beauty was a major factor to his system, but he also wanted to teach appreciation (Dow, 1903). Without appreciation, the student would not be able to produce works of beauty. Art was meant to be an experience, and in the experience, the student would gain appreciation and the “training of mind and hand to create” (Dow, 1903, p. 6). He felt that students of any level could create beautiful artwork, but in the previous systems, were stifled in their creative work. They were given the knowledge to create work, but never got to use that knowledge in their own work. Dow worked with Fenollosa to create a series of exercises to encourage self-expression (Stankiewicz, 2001). Dow (1912) states that “accuracy and finish in execution certainly have great value, but more important is the personal feeling, the fresh individual way of expressing ideas in art-form” (p. 7). In 1909, Dow wrote, “I believe the teaching of art by ‘styles’ and ‘periods’ to be fundamentally wrong. One who is trained in principles and has his appreciation developed can do anything in any style—invent a style of his own” (Frank, 2008, p. 258). Dow demonstrated how his universal principles could be found in different cultures by showing students Japanese prints, decorative objects, or art from local museums (Stankiewicz, 2001). Through the creation of these exercises, his work influenced how students were taught art in public schools because his exercises were being published in Prang’s magazines (Mock-Morgan, 1985). The goal of these exercises were not to produce finished masterpieces, but to cultivate creativity (Frank, 2008). Dow (1903) even talks about Realism as the death of art due to the lack of creativity in it. “No work is of value unless it expresses the personality of its creator. That which anybody can do is not worth doing” (Dow, 1903, p. 18). They focused on the basic building of a composition, which he describes as the building up of a harmony (Dow, 1920), by teaching separate elements and principles of art.
In the space-arts the elements are but three: Line — the boundary of a space. Dark and Light — the mass, or quantity of light. Color —the quality of light. (Dow, 1912, p. 5)
“Under the heading of Line may be grouped all kinds of line harmony, beauty of contour, proportion of spaces, relation of size — all drawing, whether representative or decorative” (Dow, 1912, p. 6). Through Dow’s book, Theory And Practice, of Teaching Art, the first activity begins with spacing and proportion. Dow used line to fill up spaces and observe how the spaces interacted with each other. “The effort must be toward making a fine arrangement: mere difference of spacing would have no art value” (Dow, 1912, p. 8). The element of Dark and Light was also referred to as notan. Dow (1912) notes “we have no one word in English for this idea. The Japanese word notan, “dark, light” is a very expressive and more direct than the Italian word chiaroscuro (p. 24). Notan was also favored because it stressed overall pictorial organization, while chiaroscuro was used as an academic tool for shading and representation (Frank, 2008). This element uses positive and negative space throughout the exercises that were developed.
The study of color proceeds in three stages: 1. Theory of color, with exercises. 2. Observation of, and copying of good color. 3. Original color composition. (Dow, 1912, p. 42)
In the study of color, Dow used a system of charts and scales. The scales and charts addressed the difference in colors that were done in the following:
1. Difference of Hue, as red from green. 2. Difference of Dark-and-Light, as dark blue, light blue. 3. Difference of Intensity — as gray yellow, and bright red. (Dow, 1912, p. 43)
The focus of the lessons in color were to create color harmony and to experience color. Color is still used in the elements of art today. The same emphasis is on hue, dark-and-light (what is now called value), and intensity. His system followed a natural sequence that started with “line, but there should be no rigid division. It is quite possible to begin with Color, or even with all three of the elements, provided the progression is maintained, and the appreciation of harmony be the main purpose” (Dow, 1912, p. 6). Dow starts with line in his teachings because he felt that it was the simplest (Dow, 1903). Dow (1903) gives a good example as to why you should start with the simplest line in the following: The student who is set down before an outdoor landscape and directed to paint it, is at once embarrassed by many different kinds of obstacles; the choice of the subject, placing it on the canvas, managing the darks, mixing the colors, handling the brush, all confuse him because he is attempting an advanced stage of his art, and lacks education and experience. (p. 14) Even though the synthetic system focuses on these terms, Frank (2008) notes that “verbal explanations or rules in no way equaled the direct experience of seeing and feeling, yet art educators had failed to realize this: (Dow) ‘We have educated our children too much to think, too little to see and feel wholes’ ” (p. 251). Dow’s principles of design were the following: Subordination, Repetition, Opposition, Transition, and Symmetry (Dow, 1912). While these are not what Dow is most known for, it is still the beginning of our current principles which are important to note. Dow describes Subordination as the “principle by which the parts are mutually dependent upon some dominating part or group of parts...There is a central or dominating idea and all others are contributory” (1912, p. 17). This principle is a combination of the elements of shape and space, and the principle of emphasis that we use today. Dow (1920) states, “It governs the distribution of masses in Dark-and-Light composition, and of hues in Color Schemes” (p. 23). Repetition is a well known principle in art. “This name is given to the opposite of Subordination — the production of beauty by repeating the same lines in rhythmical order. The intervals may be equal, as in pattern, or unequal, as in landscape” (Dow, 1920, p. 24). The exercises developed for this principle were the designing of decorative borders and surface patterns. Opposition is the principle of the meeting of two lines going in different directions. Examples of this are in, “Greek doorways, Egyptian temples and early Renaissance architecture; in plaid design; also in landscapes where vertical lines cut the horizon” (Dow, 1920). As a landscape painter, Dow felt great value in this. Transition refers to the intersection of more than two lines. This is a step further using Opposition because Transition softens the “abruptness, severity, or even violence” (Dow, 1920) of the lines. The third line create unity and completeness. Dow (1920) talks about the example of Transition in adding a curved line at the 90 degree angle created in doorways, as well as corner designs on metal work for cabinets and book covers. “Accidental transitions occur in nature in the branching of old trees, where the rhythmic lines are thus unified” (Dow, 1920). Symmetry, which we use in the principle of balance, is used to create harmony and unity. “The principle of Composition — when united to fine spacing, — produces, in architecture an effect of repose and completeness; in a design a type of severely beautiful form” (Dow, 1920, p. 28) The equal parts of a composition are described in “the human body; ships; Greek and Renaissance architecture; furniture; pottery; books” (Dow, 1920, p. 28). Dow felt that Symmetry and Repetition were being used in “cheap and mean design where no regard is paid to beauty of form” (Dow, 1920, p. 28), which he focused on heavily in his teachings. Dow also talks about Proportion or Good Spacing as a Principle of Art. In the following passage, Dow (1920) discusses more about his Principle of Composition:
Principles of Composition, I must repeat, are only ways of arranging lines and shapes; art is not produced by them unless they are used in combination with this general principle, — Good Spacing. They are by no means recipies for art, and their names are of little consequence...It is possible to use all the principle here discussed, and to complete all the exercises, without gaining much, if any, art experience. (p. 28)
It is no surprise as to how Dow’s teachings became so popular. As an educator, Dow gave each student the attention they needed to be successful. Many students were devoted to his teachings and practices. Stankiewicz (2001) notes that his former students would invite him to lecture and speak, this helped the spread of the synthetic teaching approach. His teachings even influenced artists like Max Weber and Georgia O’Keefe. Both of these artists were public school teachers at one time (Stankiewicz, 2001). Weber was a student of Dow’s at Pratt, and in the 1940s, he explained that he still used Dow’s principles in his own work. O’Keefe heard about Dow from a former student and, in 1914, enrolled in the Teachers College to study under him . She spread Dow’s methods throughout Texas, where she was the head of the art department at West Texas State Normal College (Lancaster, 1969). Zilczer (1999) notes that O’Keefe talks about her learning with Dow in the following passage: I got very interested in teaching... What I enjoyed was teaching people who had no interest in becoming artists. Dow's teaching had been based on the idea that the same principles applied no matter what sort of work you were doing... Dow gave us exercises in the arrangement of color and shape, dark and light, smooth and rough, and so forth. (p. 194) Arthur Wesley Dow was a major staple in the art education world. His synthetic method of art teaching brought new meaning and structure to teaching. While Dow did not want a rigid method of teaching, the system provided a framework that teachers could adapt to their own classrooms. Public school teachers found the method to be beneficial because it could be tailored to their specific time frame of their classes (Stankiewicz, 2001). It also was a base method for future development of the elements and principles of art that we use today. Through the teachings of Dow, he ends his most famous book Composition, with the following passage: The book will have accomplished its purpose if I have made clear the character and meaning or art structure — if the student can see that out of a harmony of two lines may grow a Parthenon pediment...out of the totem-pole a Michelangelo’s “Moses”; that anything in art is possible when freedom is given to the divine gift APPRECIATION. (p. 128) Educators and art theorists continued to add and manipulate the synthetic system for years to come, each one building on to their predecessor, but Dow will always be regarded as the first art educator to classify and identify the Elements and Principles of Art. References Dow, A. W. (1903). Composition: A series of exercises selected from a new system of art education. New York, NY: The Baker and Taylor Company. Dow, A. W. (1912). Theory and practice, of teaching art. New York, NY: Teachers College Columbia University. Dow, A. W. (1920). Composition: Understanding line, notan and color. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. Frank, M. (2008). The theory of pure design and american architectural education in the early twentieth century. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 67(2), 248-273. Lancaster, C. (1969). Synthesis: The artistic theory of Fenollosa and Dow. Art Journal,28(3), 286-287. Mock-Morgan, M. (1985). The influence of Arthur Wesley Dow on art education. In B. Wilson & H. Hoffa (Eds.), The history of art education: Proceedings from the Penn State conference (pp. 234-237). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association. Stankiewicz, M. A. (2001). We aim at order and hope for beauty. In M. A. Stankiewicz, Roots of art education practice (pp. 85-103). Worcester, MA: Davis Publications. Zilczer, J. (1999). "Light Coming on the Plains:" Georgia O'Keeffe's Sunrise Series. Artibus Et Historiae,20(40), 191-208. doi:10.2307/1483675