Customer Reviews

On Painting and Drawing by William Morris Hunt

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I have read dozens of books on painting method and this one is the best. It does have shortcomings, the language is dated, it is disorganized and some printings have the text running at 90 degrees to a conventional book, but for overall content, practical & inspirational, it tops my list. It's a challenging read but it is packed with useful information. I've read that it was Robert Henri's (the important Ash Can painter and "author" of "The Art Spirit") "bible" and that for years he carried it around with him. In many ways it is comparable to "The Art Spirit" though to me, it is even better. Hunt hammers on the importance of value relationships and painting broadly. These are two issues that most painters would benefit from understanding better. Of course, many other topics are discussed, here are a few quotes: "Think all that you can! Put down as little hand-work as possible, and as much intelligence" ... "In trying to paint sunlight behind those trees, bang away, and get it light enough! What color to use? I don't care what colors you use, only get it light where it is light!" ... "In painting the stem of a flower, put your brush in the right place, and draw it down at once, firmly. Don't go along tick, tick, tick! and don't be afraid of it!" ... "Instead of one canvas, ready to paint on, you ought to have forty, and paint for a joke. I have a hundred and fifty in the waiting" ..."It is impossible to make a picture without values. Values are the basis. If they are not, tell me what is the basis!" ... "It has been said that 'genius consists in the power of taking a hint'. Genius is nothing but love. If you love to paint, if you love to sing, if you love to black boots, you are a genius. The reverse is hatred" ... "I should never alter that picture. You must not get into the habit of allowing outsiders to interfere with your work. It is fatal. It will ruin you as a painter" ..."Remember that there must be an accent to everything: to a landscape, a head, or a loaf of bread. There must be one light. If you make your reflected lights too strong, your object becomes concave." ... Paint every day as a matter of course; just as you would eat your breakfast. Paint a hundred sketches, of anything you please, and stack them up. Perhaps one of them will be a picture" ... See what the vital things are! Give up all idea of 'finish'! Nobody ever finished. Keep the canvas as a slate to do your sums on. Don't expect to finish it, sign your name and present it to your grandmother." ... "Be frank and fearless about your work! Get rid of the timidity that makes you fear to hurt your drawing." ... "you can't do good work unless you are physically in order for it. It requires as much strength to paint well as to plough." ... "Hold a sheet of white paper behind that head, and see how dark the outline of that face is in light" ..."Everything is interesting if only you make a study of it, aiming to do it simply. Fifteen minutes' work done at white heat, as it were, is better than all day's working at anything." As you may be able to see, the book is entertaing, heartwarming and very useful. It's great!

I cannot recommend this book enough. It rewards reading for short periods as well as long periods and it is full of things that are so difficult to keep in mind when you are struggling with a painting.
He says, never TRY with art, simply do it, enjoy it, and when you start to try and no longer enjoy what you are doing, STOP. do something else and come back refreshed.
Oh god, how amazing would that be to remember.
His perspective is incredibly modern: think Anne Gale, Rita Natarova, Antonio Lopez Garcia etc.
One of my favorite artists on art books :)