LINE

Structural line, or that which stands for the initial form of the picture
and conjunctive line, or that which joins itself naturally to such form
are the two phases of line which engage the scientific study of the
artist. Line for line's sake is an opportunity offered him quite apart
from structural considerations. Line has a distinct aesthetic value no
less than one contributive to picture mechanics. Thus pictures conceived
in vertical lines bespeak dignity, solemnity, quietude; pillars, trees of
straight shaft, ascending smoke and other vertical forms all voice these
and allied emotions. With slightly less force does a series of
horizontals affect us and with a kindred emotion. But when the line
slants and ceases to support itself, or becomes curved, movement is
suggested and another set of emotions is evoked. The diagonal typifies
the quick darting lightning. The vertical curved line is emblematic of
the tongue of flame; the horizontal curve, of a gliding serpent. In the
circle and ellipse we feel the whirl and fascination of continuity. The
linear impulse in composition therefore plays a part in emotional art
independent of the subject itself.

[Aesthetics of Line; The Altar; Roman Invasion--F. Lamayer (Vertical line
in action; dignified, measured, ponderous); The Flock--P. Moran (The
horizontal, typifying quietude, repose, calm, solemnity); The curved line:
variety, movement; Man with Stone--V. Spitzer (Transitional Line,
Cohesion); The Dance--Rubens (The ellipse: line of continuity and unity);
Swallows--From the Strand (The diagonal: line of action; speed)]
[Aesthetics of Line, Continued, Where Line is the motive and Decoration is
the Impulse; Winter Landscape--After Photograph (Line of grace, variety,
facile sequence); Line Versus Space (The same impulse with angular energy,
The line more attractive than the plane); Reconciliation--Glackens
(Composition governed by the decorative exterior line); December--After
Photograph (Radial lines with strong focalization)]

Pictorial art owes a large and increasing debt to decorative art and no
small part of this is its simple beauty of line. It is rare however to
find the painter governed in his first conception by any _positive_ linear
form. The outlines of great compositions only hint of decorative
structure and give no evidence that they were planned as linear designs.
The requirement of linear design that she beautifu