In Mr. Orchardson’s _“__Mother and Child__”_ the first place is given to the child in white; the background carries the middle tint and the mother has been reserved in black. Greater sacrifice of one figure to another, the mother to the child, is seen in Miss Kasebier’s picture of a nude infant held between the knees of the mother whose face is so abased as to be unseen; or in John Sargent’s portrait of a boy seated and gazing toward us into space while his mother in the half-shadow of the background reads aloud. The greatest contributing force to contrast is sacrifice. The subject is known to be important by what is conceded to it.
The portrait of two gentlemen by Eastman Johnson is one of the most successful attempts at bringing two figures of equal importance on to one canvas. They are in conversation, the one talking and active, the other listening and passive, and the necessary contrast is thus created.
In the combination of three units the objection of formal balance disappears. If one be opposed by two, the force gained by the one through isolation commensurates the two. In such arrangement the two may be united by overlapping so that though the sense and idea of two be present it is shown in one mass as a pictorial unit. This general disposition, experience shows to be the best. Two other good forms are two separated units joined by other items and opposed to one, or the three joined either directly or by suggestion, the units balanced like a triangle by opposition. The _Madonna and St. John with the Infant Christ_ is a sample of the first. In the “Connoisseurs” by Fortuny we have the second form, and in the _“__Huntsman and Hounds__”_ the third. A most original and commendable arrangement of three figures by W. L. Hollinger appears in “The Pose in Portraiture,” the members of a trio, violin, cello and piano. The pianist is designated by the suggestion of her action which is completed out of the picture. In her position however she accomplishes the balancing of two figures against one.
A writer on the use of the figure in out-of-door photography after leading the reader through many pages concludes by saying: after all you had better leave them out.
In two works on photography from an English and American press the writer has seen this article quoted in full and therefore infers that the author has been taken seriously.