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WHAT THE WOOD-CARVER SHOULD SEE
WHEN HE TRIES TO MAKE DECORATIVE USE
OF ANIMAL OR PLANT LIFE
N the last number of THE CRAFTSMAN
    we published several designs suggest-
    ing the use of animate forms as sub-
    jects for the wood-carver. As we
stated then, these designs were chiefly in
the nature of suggestions and were in-
tended to turn the attention of the student
toward the possibilities to be found in a
simple and rather impressionistic treat-
ment of such subjects. Whether he suc-
ceeds or not in getting into his treatment
of these subjects the element of vitality
and almost of humor that gives them their
most lasting interest, depends entirely upon
what he sees in the subject. If he sees the
right thing, his method of treatment can-
not go far wrong, that is, if he possesses
sufficient technical skill to give shape to his
own conception of the object before him.
  The wood-carver or the designer who
wishes his thought to be carried out in
carving must see his subject very clearly,
but the seeing must not be that of the
schools. Ordinarily, when the designer
looks at a bird or a beast, a fruit or a
flower, he sees too much, and instead of
selecting its salient characteristics, his in-
stinct is to tell the truth about it, the whole
truth and nothing but truth,-a very laud-
able desire if one wishes to produce some-
thing for a museum of natural history, but
hardly the most effective way to obtain a
decorative effect.
  To the wood-carver the first question in
seeing his subject must be: What makes
it different from other things, what gives
this thing I am looking at its character-
its soul? After this comes the second ques-
tion: Will this character apply in a deco-
rative way to the space I have at com-
mand? Is the suggestion of action re-
quired, or should it be repose? What
should be done to make this carving more
like the creature it depicts than the crea-
ture itself?
  It is this faculty for elimination,-for
seizing upon the salient characteristics of
the subject and ignoring all the rest,-that
gives such force and vitality to the carving
and metal work of the Japanese. A very
good illustration of this point was found
in the experience of a prominent firm of
jewelers who make a specialty of beautiful
metal work. The designer wished to use
a lizard as the subject for a bronze paper
weight; so a live one was caught, killed,
put into the right position and a cast made
of it. The subject was, down to the most
minute detail, absolutely true to life, and
yet the paper weight gave no strong sug-
gestion of the living lizard. If they had
gone to a Japanese artist, the chances are
that they would have had a bronze which
would have possessed the peculiar quality
of looking more like a lizard than the
lizard itself,-because it would show only
the things that make the lizard different
from other reptiles. To the Oriental
artist, there would be merely a keen reali-
zation of the fact that the lizard is a snake
with small hands at the end of little arms,
soft sides and a knowing face. Any other
facts concerning it are of little use to the
artist who wishes to make a decorative use
of its curling form.
   In the same way a bird, if reproduced
with absolute accuracy, is not much more
than an oval body with legs and neck. It
is of smooth, rather graceful outline, but
nothing about it is strongly characteristic.
To one who sees rightly and can carve, the
bird has feathers and scaly legs, and it
flies, or swims, or walks, or wades; the
feathers and scaly legs are the differen-
tiating characteristics.
  To get at the soul of things in carving,
the student must be taught to model and
to draw accurately the natural objects
which may be used for decoration. When
the right forms are mastered so that the
knowledge of them is sure, then the things
that do not belong to the decorative use of
them may be omitted, and the process of
discarding can go on until only the vital
principle of the thing is left. to be secured
as the final result.
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