When Frank Vincent Dumond (1865-1951) taught at the Art Students League, he said that the center of interest or focal point of the work could be in any of the four quadrants of the canvas but not in the middle-too dull and boring, he said.
One former student, Gifford Beal, wrote an account of his painting annual painting demonstration:"Clad in his customary pink smock and talking as he painted on a small canvas, he began what he called a 'smear.'"
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