Arthur Wesley Dow
• Arthur Wesley Dow was an artist and teacher who wrote a book that
became the bible of art students and teachers and provided the standards by
which art was taught at all levels from grade school to college.
•
With a clear insistence on the basic principles, Dow made his design
program easy to follow. His goal was to give students simple compositional
techniques to create beautiful objects.
• Dow was the first Art Educator or Artist to identify and classify the
elements
•
He described the elements as LINE, NOTAN or dark & light, and
COLOR
By turning away from the direct
replication of nature to a synthetic
art emphasizing the essential –
shapes, flattened forms, and
decorative line and using a
prescribed formula that could aid
the student in making individual
choices. Dow gave students a vital,
unrestrictive tool with which to
work.
The elements of line, notan, and
color were modified by 5
supportive principles:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Opposition
Transition
Subordination
Repetition
Symmetry
•
•
•
•
Dow championed the arts and crafts aesthetic
and never considered crafts inferior to fine arts.
He taught his students to appreciate the elegance
of pure design, based on nature but not
replicating it.
Dow’s own approach to the arts and crafts
aesthetic came as much from his appreciation of
the decorative arts of non-Western cultures,
particularly Japan and China.
His book Composition is widely recognized as
having laid the stylistic foundation for the
American Arts & Crafts movement.
•
Dow influenced many of America’s
leading artists.
•
Georgia O’Keefe
•
Max Weber - considered one of the most
significant early American Cubists
Refereneces:
http://archive.org/stream/compositionserie00dowauoft#page/n5/mode/2up
Green, N. E. (1999). Arthur Wesley Dow: His Art and his Influence, New York:
Spanierman Gallery, LLC.
Arthur Wesley Dow. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.ipswicharts.com/artists/dow
Green, N. E. (1999). Arthur Wesley Dow. New York: The American Federation
Of Arts.
Mock-Morgan, M. (1985). The influence of Arthur Wesley Dow on art
education. In B. Wilson & H. Hoffa (Eds.), The history of art education: Proceedings
from the Penn State conference (pp. 234-237). Reston, VA: National Art Education
Association.
http://www.tfaoi.com