Running head: INTEGRATING WALTER SMITH’S DRAWING MANUALS IN TODAY’S ART CLASSROOM
The History of Walter Smith and Integrating Walter Smith’s Drawing
Manuals in Today’s Art Classroom
Joe Burns
University of Florida
INTEGRATING WALTER SMITH’S DRAWING MANUALS IN TODAY’S ART CLASSROOM- 1
Abstract
This paper will explore the history of the life and work of late nineteenth century art educator
Walter Smith. The paper will start by explaining the law passed by Massachusetts requiring
drawing be taught to all people. From there, the paper will chronologically detail Smith’s
drawing curriculum, taking specific lessons from Smith’s drawing manuals and giving examples
of how a teacher could integrate Smith’s instruction into their own. As a conclusion, the paper
will discuss how the drawing methods of Walter Smith became dismissed within art schools
across the United States. The information gathered for this paper has been located in scholarly
articles, books, and online sources. The goal of this paper is to highlight the often times
dismissed works of Walter Smith and give examples of the historical staying power of Smith’s
drawing curriculum.
INTEGRATING WALTER SMITH’S DRAWING MANUALS IN TODAY’S ART CLASSROOM- 2
Introduction
Events Leading up to Walter Smith’s Arrival
During the middle to late nineteenth century, the World’s Fair traditionally
“demonstrated the success England achieved and the United states remained at the foot of the
column” (Green, 1966, p.4). The dominance in the world trade was largely due to the aesthetics
that were being created at the School of Design in South Kensington. The system served as a
reminder that the United States industrial and educational system was not up to European
standards. Green illustrates this point stating, “Hard-headed merchants and manufacturers,
sensitive to balance sheets and fiscal statements were beginning to feel uneasy in the marts of
world trade” (p.4). With an unwillingness to concede large world trade markets to European
business owners who were employing the graduates of the South Kensington School of Design,
“Civic leaders, including such men as Frances C. Lowell and the Reverend Mr. Edward Hale,
were urging some action in the field of art education to aid American industry in its competition
with European manufacturers” (p.4). On May 16, 1870, the governor of Massachusetts signed
into law the following legislative bill:
AN ACT RELATING TO FREE INSTRUCTION IN DRAWING
Be it enacted, c., as follows:
SECTION 1. The first section of chapter thirty-eight of the General Statutes is
hereby amended so as to include Drawing among the branches of learning which
are by said section required to be taught in public schools.
SECTION 2. Any city or town may, and every city or town having more than ten
thousand inhabitants, shall annually make provision for giving free instruction in
INTEGRATING WALTER SMITH’S DRAWING MANUALS IN TODAY’S ART CLASSROOM- 3
industrial or mechanical drawing to persons over fifteen years of age, either in day
or evening schools, under the direction of the school committee.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. (Secretary of the
Commonwealth, 1870, pp. 183-184).
From this law the history of art education was changed forever. For the first time in the
history of the United States, a law made it necessary to teach art in public schools. The law also
“created free adult evening classes for cities over 10,000 people” (Bolin, 2004, p. 102). This law
was “justified as a means to furthering industrialization and as an end in itself, enhancing the
observational powers and cultural values of individuals” (Plummer, 1977, p. 3).
A committee was created to oversee the integration of this legislation by the
Superintendent of Schools in Boston (Cole, 2009, p. 3). The Standing Committee on Drawing’s
main purpose was to successfully satisfy business owners by creating a drawing curriculum “that
should be taught not by specialists but by the regular teachers, as was already done with music;
and that therefore a highly qualified supervisor of drawing must be sought” (Green, 1966. p.4).
The result of this drawing program would lead to more skilled workers which would eventually
lead to a commercial retail system rivaling European products.
Body
Walter Smith Comes to America
According to the Standing Committee on Drawing’s search for a supervisor “led them to
South Kensington—and so to Walter Smith, the art master at Leeds” (p. 4). “Walter Smith, who
had been born in 1836, was a product of the South Kensington training school and a professional
sculptor” (p.4). After small salary negotiations, Smith agreed to come on board and integrate an
art education plan “that encompassed all grade levels and which by progressive, developmental
INTEGRATING WALTER SMITH’S DRAWING MANUALS IN TODAY’S ART CLASSROOM- 4
stages carried art instruction from the elementary learning given in the lowest grade to
preprofessional training in the highest” (p. 4).
Walter Smith’s Curriculum and Integration Possibilities into Today’s Art Classrooms
This section of the essay will introduce Smith’s philosophy of teaching drawing and also
provide teachers possible ways to integrate Smith’s instructional strategies into contemporary
classrooms. Smith’s philosophy was based on the “belief that drawing was the basis of all
industrial art, and that any average person could learn to draw” (Green, p.5). Smith (1875)
instructs teachers to expect accuracy when teaching his suggested drawing fundamentals. Yet,
Smith also suggests using a light touch when teaching younger students, and therefore reminds
the instructor to “be a very merciful one.” (p. 10). Smith’s success lies within this idea, and he is
aware of the difficulty of drawing, especially for young inexperienced students. Smith also gives
time suggestions for his lessons. He states that these drawing activities “should be practiced at
least once a week by all pupils” (p. 12). Further in the handbook, Smith examines a
psychological aspect to teaching art. He states, “Short lesson[s], often repeated, are better for
young pupils than long ones at greater interval” (p. 12). The idea of knowing your students’
attention span is a great tool for teachers to use in every classroom no matter the subject or
activity. Just through these very few examples, Smith still has a credible argument for the
inclusion of his practices in contemporary classrooms.
Smith’s drawing fundamentals start off by clearly defining the purpose of the manual.
Smith states in his Teachers Manual for Freehand Drawing that the “picture-element, as such, is
almost entirely excluded” (p. 5). This statement reinforces the underlying reason for the
integration of drawing into public schools. The drawing courses were to teach teachers and
reinforce their reason for teaching from his manual; “this study (of drawing) is one of great
INTEGRATING WALTER SMITH’S DRAWING MANUALS IN TODAY’S ART CLASSROOM- 5
industrial value” (p. 5). Smith’s drawing curriculum was broken up into two levels. In reference
to the primary level, Smith explains “the exercises are so simple, and so gradually progressive,
the teachers, though they may have had no previous instruction in drawing, can master them, if
they choose, without assistance, and intelligently lead any class of young pupils” (p. 7). After
stating the manual’s pedagogy, Smith moves on to instructing teachers how to create the setting
for successfully instruction of the manual’s exercises. Smith clearly states, “Teachers should
make themselves sufficiently familiar with the exercises, by drawing them, to be able to point
out their features readily and clearly” (p. 7). This aspect of knowing subject matter for a teacher
is not anything new for teachers. However, this familiar instructional strategy allows a teacher to
become comfortable with the methods that Smith is asking the teachers to integrate. From there,
Smith actually asks that the teacher be able to scale instruction from the book to the blackboard.
He asks for “a scale of one foot for every half inch of the copy (from the manual)” (p. 8). From
the teacher’s scale on the board, students will then learn to scale “governed by the size of the
pupils’ slate” (p. 8). During this simple “enlargement” exercise, students will also learn one
element of design still in use today, proportion (p. 9). In today’s art classroom, a teacher may
find students do not have the ability to correctly use a ruler. Asking students to understand scale
and demonstrate scale could lead to students successfully understanding a variety of methods,
from the use of a ruler, to scale, and even possibly to mathematical vocabulary such as ratio.
Just within the introductory chapter of Smith’s 1875 drawing manual, the contemporary art
teacher could realize the manual still has tremendous value to today’s art classroom.
After the environment and process has been explained to students, the actual drawing
practice starts. Smith asks that students reproduce “an ornamental and partially shaded wineglass” (Sabin Americana, 1874, p. 9.) In the suggested classroom exercise, Smith asks that
INTEGRATING WALTER SMITH’S DRAWING MANUALS IN TODAY’S ART CLASSROOM- 6
students first analyze the image through the use of a possible discussion or written exercise. This
strategy is a brilliant way to engage and make students familiar with a subject’s details when
students’ observational skills are not fine-tuned. Smith states, “First of all, then, the eye is to be
educated to distinguish form” (Smith, 1875, p. 11). Smith is referring to an artist’s ability to
observe objects and recognize details such as shadows and folds more accurately than people
who are not engaged within the practice of drawing. Students are normally asked to create a
narrative or conceptual map prior to creating a work of art in most classrooms.
As the Teachers Manual for Freehand Drawing increased in popularity, so did the
criticism of some of Smith’s techniques. Smith published three versions of the manual with the
last manual titled, The American Text-book for Art Education. This book differed from the first
in that it was much more specific in the setup of lessons. Smith outlines for teachers how to
integrate drawing lessons into their instruction. For example, on page 11 of the manual, Smith
actually designs a week’s worth of work with each day building on the last. Smith asked that
students learn terminologies on Mondays. Then on Tuesdays, Smith asked that students draw
from the example provided on the blackboard. On Wednesdays, students were asked to draw
from memory and so on. These requirements were a pacing guide for the integration of the
Smith drawing curriculum.
Smith’s drawing methods are simple but are also very successful in instructing students
from the very simplistic idea of copying images from the blackboard to the formation of a
correctly proportioned curved line. Smith has no doubt had a tremendous impact on our
classrooms and should be remembered for the pioneer in the art industry that he was.
INTEGRATING WALTER SMITH’S DRAWING MANUALS IN TODAY’S ART CLASSROOM- 7
The Downfall of Walter Smith in American Schools
After receiving tremendous support from the state of Massachusetts’ legislative body and
merchants, Smith’s teachings began to spread throughout the United States. Very soon after
integrating the above mentioned drawing practices, other industrial cities such as St. Louis asked
Smith to create a curriculum for their schools. With this notoriety, Smith began receiving
competition from other people and organizations that had created their own drawing programs
that rivaled his.
For example, Bartholomew, supervisor of the Study of Drawing in the Boston Schools,
created a National System of Industrial Drawing. The Bartholomew system was thought of as
being superior by many of Boston’s educators to that of Smith’s. Considering the criticism
Smith actually adapted many aspects of the Bartholomew system to create a more American
friendly system. It was said within the Smith system “there is not a word or hint about original
design” (Sabin Americana, 1874, p. 9). All throughout Smith’s drawing manuals, the South
Kensington influence can be found. Another example of the influence of the Bartholomew
system was the teacher manual that was soon adapted after Smith found other drawing systems
included them. Smith is still however given credit for changing the American system because of
the success of the European Industrial System and European aesthetic that was largely desired in
America. Smith was ultimately given the responsibility of integrating South Kensington methods
to drawings in major industrial cities across the United States.
Conclusion
As a conclusion to this essay, Smith’s drawing manuals should not be forgotten;
regardless of how many drawing manuals are published that discount his works. These drawing
manuals are simple reminders of valid art practices. Smith instructs teachers to teach students
INTEGRATING WALTER SMITH’S DRAWING MANUALS IN TODAY’S ART CLASSROOM- 8
from the very simplest idea of enlargements to the most complicated principle of a correctly
proportioned curved line. In an era where budgets are being stretched and the arts in public
schools are sometimes being tossed to the curb, let us not forget the legislative body of the state
of Massachusetts that produced a legislative act seeking the integration of drawing within public
schools and night classes for adult learners. As a result of this major historic act, Smith brought
forth his expertise and created these drawing manuals, which are terrific reminders of the historic
nature in which society needed the arts. Now, in the twenty-first century of technology, with
hands-on approaches becoming obsolete, Smith’s journals should be used as a foundation for
some arts classes even computer-based drawing programs such as industrial arts or drafting
programs.
INTEGRATING WALTER SMITH’S DRAWING MANUALS IN TODAY’S ART CLASSROOM- 9
References
Cole, A. (2009). In quest of walter smith: The past, present, and future impact of visual art in
adult education. Retrieved from ProQuest Digital Dissertations. (AAT197675051)
Green, H. (1966). The forgotten man. Art Education, 19 (1), 3-9.
Plummer, G. (1977). The historic context for visual literacy: Walter smith and others.
Publisher Unknown.
Sabin Americana. (Eds.). (1874). Drawing in public schools by the use of the Smith books
condemned. New York, 81pp. Gale, Cengage Learning.
Secretary of the Commonwealth. (1870). Acts and resolves passed by the general
court of Massachusetts, in the year 1870. Boston: Wright & Potter.
Smith, W. (1875). Teachers manual for freehand drawing in primary schools. Boston: James R.
Osgood and Company.