Course in Pencil Sketching: Four Books in One by Ernest W. Watson, and: The Ted Kautzky Pencil Book (review)

166 Books allowed him to spend much of 1949 in Italy. He taught at Columbia University and Pratt Institute. Throughout his life he frequently returned to Paris to make prints. Some of his latest works were book illustrations: colour lithographs for Edgar Poe's 'The Mask of the Red Death' (1969) and Sir Walter Scott's 'The Talisman' (1967). Castellon was one of those rare individuals who possess the prerequisites for producing significant art. His work reflects integrity. He had an extraordinary visual imagination combined with a phenomenal technical facility. Thus, he was able to communicate his messages through depictions in such an optimal manner that many viewers are impelled by their expressive effect. I am in full accord with the excellent appraisal of Castellon's work made by the dean of printrnakers in U.S.A., Fritz Eichenberg: 'Fred has created out of the litho stone, a lasting memorial for himself, thinking and caring deeply, working steadily towards perfection on a large body of work which deserves admiration and lasting recognition.' Course in Pencil Sketching: Four Books in One. Ernest W. Watson. Van Nostrand Reinhold, London, 1978. 208 pp., illus. Paper, £6.25. The Ted Kautzky Pencil Book. Van Nostrand Reinhold, London, 1979. 111 pp., illus. Paper,£6.70. Reviewed by Jean C. Rush' The first book by Watson (1884-1969) contains the contents of four books on pencil sketching entitled Buildings and Trees, Trees and Landscapes, Boats and Harbors and Perspective for Sketchers. The book by Kautzky (1897-1953) includes the contents of his two previously published books Pencil Broadsides and Pencil Pictures, together with a portfolio of his drawings. The enduring popularity of these pedagogical books on pencil drawing reflects both the interest of many nonprofessionals to depict aspects of the world and their need for instructional alternatives to formal art education. The skill of drawing can be taught to many adults, but a drawing with aesthetic qualities demands more than technical proficiency and teachers cannot clearly show how to achieve the qualities. The fact that few adults have drawing skills is a reflection of a society's educational priorities. Some adults who lack them often mistakenly assume that their lack of education is a lack of artistic talent. An artistic talent is not required when one wishes only to learn the application of drawing techniques. (In this connection, see my comments on the book The Adult Learner in Leonardo 13, 135 (1980).) Watson and Kautzky appeal primarily to novices and attempt to help them to improve their pencil drawing skills or draftsmanship. To that end they teach the broad-stroke method and emphasize rendering, that is depiction of, an object as accurately as possible on a flat surface. They also attempt, as Kautzky (p. 9) says, 'to show how there is picture material everywhere and how the artist can... convey the real truth and beauty in the scene that lies before him so that others may enjoy it'. Their subjects, however, are chiefly picturesque New England and European villages, rural farmlands and landscapes with boats. Both books seem to be aimed at students wishing to learn the art of sketching for commercial illustration and for the architectural rendering of buildings. Architects formed the majority of students in Watson's classes , by his own account. The authors advocate mastery of basic pencil strokes to produce a variety of visual textures. They provide reproductions of their own drawings as models for their students and encourage tracing and copying from these as methods of study. Although Kautzky (p. 34) states that while he expects beginners to follow 'certain principles that experience has found generally reliable', both he and Watson apparently hope that students in time will develop their own approaches to drawing imaginatively. Kautzky (p. 32) expresses the opinion that ultimately 'the quality of the results obtained springs 'Dept. of Art, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, U.S.A. from some inborn artistic sense which you either have or do not have'. Preoccupation with techniques is characteristic of novices and may account for the popularity of these two books. Learning a technique can foster self-expression or, conversely, can hinder it. By presenting only one drawing technique and...