Etching, pen drawing and pencil sketching are line‐arts. The needle, pen
and lead pencil are tools for drawing lines, and there is much reason in
Whistler’s contention that tone and shading should not be attempted with
them. The tool always gives character to work, and the best results are
obtained when the possibilities of tools and materials are fully
appreciated. If a sharp point is used in drawing, it will produce pure
line, whose quality may reach any degree of excellence. Whistler, in his
etchings, worked for the highest type of line‐beauty; shadows and tones
were felt, but not expressed. On the other hand the artist is not subject
to restrictions and fixed laws. He cannot allow even a master to interfere
with his freedom; there is no “thou shalt” and “thou shalt not” in art.
Admitting the value of all the arguments for restricting the use of the
needle to line only, the artist observes that clustering of lines
inevitably produces tone and suggests massing (notan of line, page 54)
that this effect is developed in rich gradations by wiping the etching‐
plate in the process of printing. Etchers are thus tempted to use tone,
and many masters, from Rembrandt down, have worked in tone more often than
in line.