The group forms a headline, the head of the single figure merely a spot. In Fig. 141 we have Diag. 54 a, in Fig. 130 version b, and in Fig. 134 version c. In Eastman Johnson's "Milton Dictating to his Daughters," Fig. 130, the figures are placed in a rather monotonous way. They are too far away from each other and there is nothing to connect them. The foreground is too bald, and the bookcase with its horizontal lines is in no relation to the shapes of the figures. The picture has many excellent qualities but is not satisfactory as a composition.

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a shortcoming of the artist as we have encountered it before. The types of the villagers are carefully chosen and posed in characteristic attitudes, in particular the shoemaker and the old man behind the stove. The shoemaker on the bench with the sunlit background covered with all sorts of accumulations is a picture in itself, and really a better one than the entire one. You will often

come across pictures that contain a picture within a picture. Whenever this is the case you may be certain that there is something wrong about the composition. In a good composition nothing is isolated.

Fig. 137 on the other hand is an excellent example of the triangular cut in figure composition. The place is well filled and the irregular lines of the huskers have the right accents to make them agreeable to the eye. Local events like a husking bee are well worth depicting. They have a human interest and can be treated in a broad picturesque manner.

The "Division Stock Co.," by J. A. Hood, Fig. 140, is an ordinary group photograph, although fairly well done from the professional point of view. The grouping itself is not so bad, but the figures are all posed in a stereotyped manner. There is no life in the picture and no pictorial quality whatever. I merely show it as an example of what to avoid. As a portrait it has merits but as a picture, despite the triangular cut and the undulating headline, it is a failure.

Fig. 129 is good in detail and texture but spotty. Each figure taken by itself is a good portrait and tonal composition, but grouped together the impression is one of monotony. You may argue that Franz Hals has done the same thing, simply combined five or six separate portraits into a group. True enough, but he had some light conception that formed the connecting link and

put life and virility in the picture. He did not treat five figures in exactly the same manner, and placed them in a straight line so that they formed a zigzag repetition of shapes. Professionals should stick to portraiture, they rarely make a hit as pictorialists.

Even Eickemeyer's "The Dance," looks posed and consequently somewhat stiff. The trouble with photographic genre is that it depends too largely on the models and their ability to pose, and to remain natural looking during a long studio exposure is almost a physical impossibility. Eickemeyer made a most ambitious attempt to overcome these difficulties; he had the proper models and studio outfits on hand, he thought out the composition carefully, altered it frequently, made study after study until he finally succeeded in getting an excellent result. But pictures of this kind will always lack virility.

"On the Dyke," Fig. 134, by Elizabeth Nourse, an American woman painter living in Holland is interesting as a rectangular composition with a diagonal division in the seascape. The parallelism in the group, reminding one of Japanese figures, is decorative in tendency. You will notice that the group has a quadrilateral shape. The severity of the rectangular idea is somewhat broken by the curve form of the little child.

A repetition of shapes we have in W. G. Corthell's "Waiting for Fair Weather," Fig. 136. It never fails to produce an effect, but the figures in the middle distance are badly placed and the sky line is too straight.

"Colonial Days," by Jeanne E. Bennett, shows a repetition of forms in the seated figures and of angles in all three. Together they make a triangular

shape. But I fear there are too many lines in the foreground and background. If the diagonal division of light and shade had been carried out more poignantly the picture might have fared better. As it is there is too much even light distribution and the picture looks flat.

A very fine triangular group of three female figures, each decided and individual in its linear form, is shown by Herbert Denman in his "At the Well."

Photographers who appreciate the variety and distinction of linear expression will find valuable information in the study of Japanese prints. The Japanese were first of all draughtsmen and laid special stress upon the detail of line. To produce a combination of easy flowing lines full of life and character is nearly as valuable an accomplishment as to concoct an even tonality which hides so many shortcomings in its dismal seas of brown.

Fig. 141 shows a fairly well managed group, but there is nothing special to comment upon. It lacks concentration. A darker background caused by the closed lower windows would have made the figures more interesting.

The "Caritas," by Abbott Thayer, Fig. 133, is a beautiful sample of symmetrical composition. It represents perfect balance, beauty, and repose, and is achieved by the simplest means. A long parallelogram supported by two smaller ones, with a equilateral triangle formed by the head and extended The light plane of the figures is balanced by the two long curves of the

arms.