INTRODUCTION
This book started with a quotation from the art historian E. H. Gombrich which may be worth repeating here:
“…all representations can be somehow arranged along a scale which extends from the schematic to the impressionist.”
The impressionist representation (in Gombrich’s use of the word) is a duplicate of what can be seen in a viewfinder. For practical purposes this is almost the same as a photograph.
In contrast, the schematic representation is an invention. Initially it is a child’s scribble which may develop into lines and rough circles, schemata which can be pressed into service in order to represent something seen or imagined.
The Best Style Consists of the Best Schemata Combined in the Best Way.
(Where ‘best’ means a balance of the characteristics listed by B.R. Haydon, below).
Schemata form the basis of all styles. When these schemata are themselves beautiful, and are held in the most satisfying relationship to one another, then the highest possible style has been achieved. While subjects for representation will vary from culture to culture, this sense of a perfect relationship between schemata is universal.
In cultures which derive from that of ancient Greece, this may be called the Classical Style, or, in Renaissance Italy, the Grand Style, but, as it forms the basis of style in all cultures which have practised representational art, it may be called the Core Style.
Other styles are lesser versions of this style. For example, caricatures emphasise distortion rather beauty of form, and so depart from the balance that characterises the Core style, even though caricatures may be perfectly suited to their purpose.
The next chapter looks at the ideal in more detail.