the attachment becomes stronger and at the same time the positiveness of
outline on the light side finds its contrast and balance in this area of
mystery and envelopment.

A development by chiaroscuro is a necessity to the pictorial unity of the
single figure.

In the portrait of Olga Nethersole (see "The Pose in Portraiture"), the
photographer presents the section of a figure; not a picture. The spaces
in the background form no scheme with the figure and have not been used to
relieve the lines of the skirt. The sacrifice in half-tone of the lower
part would have given prominence to the upper and more important part.
Owing to the interest and attraction of the triplicated folds of the dress
the vision is carried all the way to the lower edge, where it is irritated
by the sudden disappearance. The picture has no conclusion. It is simply
cut off, and so ended.

It is the opinion of some artists that the portrait having for its purpose
the presentation of a personality should contain nothing else. With the
feeling that the background is something that should not be seen, more art
is often expended in painting a space with nothing in it than in putting
_something there_ that may not be seen. In doing nothing with a
background a space may be created that says a great deal that it should
not.

There is nothing more difficult than the composition of two units
especially when both are of equal prominence. The principle of
Principality sets its face sternly against the attempt.

One must dominate, either in size, or attraction, either by sentiment or
action.

Art can show distinguished examples of two figures of equal importance
placed on the same canvas, but pictorially they lack the essential of
complete art,--unity. The critical study of this problem by modern
painters has secured in portraiture and genre much better solutions than
can be found in the field of good painting up to the present. We may
look almost in vain through old masterdom and through the examples of the
golden age of portraiture in England, discovering but few successes of
such combination in the works of Gainsborough, Reynolds and others.

The foreplacement of one figure over another does not always mean
prominence for it. Light, as an element, is stronger than place. On this
basis where honors are easy with the two subjects one may have precedence
of place and one of lighting.

The difficulty in the arrangement of two is in their un