Best of Drawing 2009 cover:Portrait Highlights cover CRASH COURSE ON DRAWING PEOPLE 11/2/10 11:44 AM Page C1 AMERICAN MATERIALS MADE EA SY ARTIST ® The Best of www.myAmericanArtist.com Drawing ® Learn the Secrets of The Most Comprehensive Collection of Drawing Instruction Ever to Appear in Any Magazine! 52 ARTISTS More Than 150 Drawings from Top Draftsmen SUREFIRE TIPS & HELP For Dramatic Improvements 3-Part Drawing Course that trained Van Gogh Strathmore Paper ad:best of drawing 2009 9/18/09 9:32 AM Page C2 We care for artists and their environment No need to compromise We know that as a professional artist, you have always chosen the highest qualtity papers for your creations You have also been green long before it became the latest trend By selecting Strathmore®, you don’t need to choose between the two We offer artists more choices in the finest quality art papers that are also kind to the environment Green is in our nature You’ll find a longstanding tradition of environmental stewardship at Strathmore From pioneering the industry’s first line of recycled artist papers in 1972, to today’s first line of artist papers manufactured with 100% certified renewable energy, we continue to develop the finest in eco-friendly products And our support of environmental solutions does not compromise our paper performance, appearance, or price It’s all part of our commitment to give you the greener choices you want, with all the Strathmore quality you’ve come to expect for more than 100 years Look for all of our environmentally friendly papers at fine art and craft stores Windpower™ Energy Recycled Materials Tree-Friendly Fibers Learn more about our “Greener Options in Naturally Fine Art Papers” at www.strathmoreartist.com ® used under license from Mohawk Fine Papers Inc Blick Colored Pencils ad:best of drawing 2009 9/18/09 9:36 AM Page huge selection of colored pencils from the premier artists’ resource Prismacolor Faber-Castell Derwent Caran d’Ache Stabilo Cretacolor Koh-I-Noor Lyra Staedtler Blick and more at DickBlick.com/ColoredPencils Best SERVICE, Best SELECTION, Best PRICE DickBlick.com 800.828.4548 CATALOG • WEB • STORES DRAW SIP 09 Contents:AA feature 9/18/09 2:45 PM Page AMERICAN ARTIST The Best of ® Drawing ® M AT E R I A L S Materials and Techniques of Renaissance Drawing by M Stephen Doherty Graphite: The Drawer’s Humble Tool by Bob Bahr 20 Custom and Handmade Paper by Bob Bahr 36 MASTE R S & APPROAC H E S The Revival of an Influential Drawing Course by M Stephen Doherty 44 Studying Drawing With Professor Eakins by Gerard Haggerty 58 THE FIGURE The Human Form: How to Put It All Together by Dan Gheno 64 Representing a Studio Model in an Outdoor Setting by Sharon Allicotti 84 The Creative Possibilities of Draping a Model by Sharon Allicotti 86 Eleven Reasons to Attend Figure-Drawing Sessions by Sharon Allicotti 88 LANDSCAPES Constable’s Sketchbooks by Lynne Bahr 96 44 Master Landscape Drawings: Evidence & Interpretation by M Stephen Doherty 104 D R AW I N G F O R O T H E R M E D I A From Drawing to Canvas by Joseph C Skrapits 116 The Tradition of Drawing From Memory by Joseph C Skrapits 124 Capturing the Muse: Drawings by Sculptors by Joseph C Skrapits 132 Drawing Logic: Drawing for Sculpture by John Taye 88 20 142 DRAW SIP 09 Contents:AA feature 9/18/09 4:54 PM Page COVER Bargue plate drawing by Jayme del Rosario, courtesy of Judith Pond Kudlow’s NYK Academy Photo by Nathan Kraxberger 104 Copyright © 2009 by Interweave, a division of Aspire Media, all rights reserved Title registered ® in U.S Patent Office The contents of this publication may not be reproduced either in whole or in part without consent of the copyright owner American Artist The Best of Drawing is printed in the U.S.A 124 36 64 96 132 DRAW SIP 09 Editor's Note:Editor's Note 9/18/09 2:52 PM Page AMERICAN ARTIST Editor’s Note The Best of Drawing ® EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF The Big Picture M Stephen Doherty We’ve tried to present a wide range of articles in Drawing magazine over the last six years so that our readers could find stories in every issue that addressed their exact needs To so, we needed to space out articles on particular topics across several years—we may have to wait a while to run another article on landscape drawing, for example, if we are going to make an effort to present all the topics readers want covered That’s why a special issue such as this one is so exciting—it allows us to group together previously published articles to create a very focused publication that’s a perfect fit for readers who want something specific from our artist-writers The title of this publication is The Best of Drawing, but it may be better to think of this as a carefully curated overview of the drawing process We went through all our issues of Drawing and chose articles that covered the essential areas of draftsmanship We start with materials, the first thing a draftsman must have to begin Our editor-in-chief, M Stephen Doherty, fully explored the materials of the Renaissance and the artwork of a great Italian Renaissance draftsman, Parmigianino, to help readers understand Western drawing’s classical roots (page 6) I had much too much fun researching and writing the lengthy piece on graphite—arguably the most common drawing material of the modern world (page 22) A look at custom-made paper closes out that section (page 36) Two popular articles were chosen for the Masters & Approaches section— one on the Bargue drawing course, which Van Gogh utilized early in his career (page 44), and a look at American master Thomas Eakins’ systematic approach to draftsmanship (page 58) Drawing the figure is a practice that can immensely help artists from their beginning exercises to their dying day—we can express the breadth of human emotion and experience through depictions of the human body, a neverdepleted well of inspiration Dan Gheno offers an overview of figure drawing in his piece (page 64), which was previously only available in a special issue published two years ago Specific instruction on figure drawing from Sharon Allicotti (pages 84, 86, and 88) round out this section Prehistoric artists depicted the land (and the beasts that inhabited it), and this subject matter has never left the draftsman’s repertoire Lynne Bahr and Steve Doherty cover this aspect of drawing on pages 96 and 104 In many cases drawings of landscapes were done as preparatory work for paintings or other forms of art The last section of this special issue addresses this function of drawing You’ll find informative, instructional articles on drawing for sculpture (page 132), transferring drawings to another substrate (page 116), and honing your drawing skills through memory training (page 124) The Best of Drawing is, we hope, the best way to survey the essential aspects of draftsmanship through Drawing magazine’s lens—one that places an emphasis on traditional techniques, competence in key skills, and representational art as the ideal jumping off point for any kind of art you may choose to pursue MANAGING EDITOR Brian F Riley SENIOR EDITOR Allison Malafronte ART DIRECTOR James B Bogner III ASSOCIATE EDITOR Austin R Williams (646) 841-0050 PROJECT MANAGER Bob Bahr PUBLISHING PUBLISHER David Pyle MEDIA SALES DIRECTOR Jim McIntosh (513) 961-0034 MEDIA SALES MANAGER Mary McLane (970) 290-6065 ONLINE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Karyn Meyer-Berthel AD TRAFFICKERS Teresa Warren • Melissa Brown CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Bob Kaslik CIRCULATION MANAGER Sheila Derrington WEB BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Tricia Gdowik MARKETING MANAGER Annie Hartman Bakken PRODUCTION PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Nancy M Pollock PRODUCTION EDITOR Nancy Arndt FOUNDER, CREATIVE DIRECTOR: CEO: PRESIDENT Linda Ligon Clay B Hall : Marilyn Murphy CFO: Troy Wells VICE PRESIDENT, CONSUMER MARKETING: Bob Kaslik & MARKETING: Stephen Koenig : Trish Faubion VICE PRESIDENT, TECHNOLOGY: T.J Harty VICE PRESIDENT AND DIVISION PUBLISHER FOR ART AND JEWELRY: David Pyle VICE PRESIDENT, SALES VICE PRESIDENT, PRODUCTION Send editorial mail to American Artist magazine, 29 W 46th Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10036 The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the consent of the copyright owner, Interweave Press, a division of Aspire Media Attention Retailers: To carry AMERICAN ARTIST in your store, call IPD at 1-866-473-4800, or write: American Artist Dealer Dept., c/o IPD Source Interlink Companies, 6195 Lusk Blvd., San Diego, CA 92121-2729 PRINTED IN U.S.A Bob Bahr Project Manager mail@myAmericanArtist.com THE BEST OF DRAWING DRAW SIP 09 Contribs:AA feature 9/18/09 4:55 PM Page Contributors Sharon Allicotti ("Representing a Studio Model in an Outdoor Setting," "The Creative Possibilities of Draping a Model," "Eleven Reasons to Attend Figure-Drawing Sessions") is an artist who lives and works in Glendale, California View her art or contact her at www.allicotti.com Course,” “Master Landscape Drawings: Evidence & Interpretation”) is the editorin-chief of Drawing Dan Gheno (“The Human Form: How to Lynne Bahr (“Constable’s Sketchbook”) is a freelance editor and writer based in New York City Put It All Together”) is a New York artist whose work can be found in many private and public collections, including the Museum of the City of New York and the New Britain Museum of American Art, in Connecticut He teaches drawing and painting at the Art Students League of New York and at the National Academy School of Fine Arts, both in New York City He is a professor emeritus at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in Old Lyme, Connecticut M Stephen Doherty (“Materials and Techniques of Renaissance Drawing,” “The Revival of an Influential Drawing Gerard Haggerty (“Studying Drawing With Professor Eakins”) is an artist and writer who teaches at Brooklyn College Bob Bahr (“Graphite: The Drawer’s Humble Tool,” “Custom and Handmade Paper.”) is a freelance editor and writer based in New York City Here is your ticket for sketching, designing and writing while you're away from your home base This style features a lovely imitation leather cover with a magnetic closure flap Sketch style books feature 60 sheets of paper (150 grms) that will accept virtually any media Grid style books feature 96 sheets (80 grms) These books are stylish and dependable! Available only in Black Item Squares Squares Squares Sketch Sketch Sketch Size A6-4.1x5.8" A5-5.8X8.3" A4-8.3X11.7" A6-4.1x5.8" A5-5.8X8.3" A4-8.3X11.7" Cat # 83464 83465 83466 83467 83468 83469 His work has won the support of the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Ford Foundation Joseph C Skrapits (“From Drawing to Canvas,” “The Tradition of Drawing from Memory,” “Capturing the Muse: Drawings by Sculptors”) is an artist and freelance writer who frequently contributes to American Artist, Watercolor and Drawing John Taye (“Drawing Logic: Drawing for Sculpture”) is a Fellow in the National Sculpture Society He is an emeritus professor at Boise State University, in Idaho, and has taught many drawing and sculpture classes and workshops Taye has exhibited widely, and his work has appeared in many publications Elite is the choice of professionals looking for an upscale book but still within a reasonable price point Sketch style books have 80 sheets of paper (110 grms) for a total of 160 pages The grid paper style has 96 sheets of paper (80 gram) for a total of 192 pages List $9.95 17.95 29.95 9.95 17.95 29.95 Sale! $4.97 8.97 14.48 4.97 8.97 14.48 Item Squares Squares Squares Sketch Sketch Sketch Squares Squares Squares Sketch Sketch Sketch Color Black Black Black Black Black Black Red Red Red Red Red Red Size A6-4.1x5.8" A5-5.8X8.3" A4-8.3X11.7" A6-4.1x5.8" A5-5.8X8.3" A4-8.3X11.7" A6-4.1x5.8" A5-5.8X8.3" A4-8.3X11.7" A6-4.1x5.8" A5-5.8X8.3" A4-8.3X11.7" Cat # 83470 83471 83472 83473 83474 83475 83476 83477 83478 83479 83480 83481 List $11.95 21.95 34.95 11.95 21.95 34.95 11.95 21.95 34.95 11.95 21.95 34.95 Sale! $5.99 10.99 17.49 5.99 10.99 17.49 5.99 10.99 17.49 5.99 10.99 17.49 $10 Off Any Purchase of $50 or More at www.jerrysartarama.com Order by phone at 1-800-827-8478 Use Source Code DR0709 when calling or upon checking out of our website Offer valid for one order only and is not combinable with any other coupons or discounts See website or call for appropriate shipping and handling charges Offer Expires December 31st 2009 DRAW SIP 09 Parmagianino:AA feature 9/18/09 1:09 PM Page Materials Techniques Renaissance Drawing and of A 2004 exhibition at the Frick Collection included a rich collection of drawings by Parmigianino, “one of the most undeniably distinguished but also endlessly surprising artists of the Italian Renaissance,” writes the show’s curator by M Stephen Doherty DRAW SIP 09 Parmagianino:AA feature 9/18/09 5:48 PM Page Self-Portrait in Profile ca 1530–1540, brown ink, x 41⁄2 Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, Austria THE BEST OF DRAWING DRAW SIP 09 Parmagianino:AA feature 9/18/09 Drawings often reveal more about an artist’s personality, ideas, and methods than any other aspect of their art That is certainly the case with Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (1503–1540), known as Parmigianino, whose remarkable drawings provide evidence of his prodigious talent, his quick hand, and his fatal tendency to procrastinate In honor of the 500th anniversary of his birth in Parma, Italy, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa (October 3, 2003, through January 4, 2004) and The Frick Collection in New York (January 27 through April 18, 2004) presented a major exhibition titled “A Beautiful and Gracious Manner: The Art of Parmigianino.” The show included 51 exquisite drawings, seven jewellike oil paintings, and a dozen historic prints considered to be some of the first ever created personally by an artist (as opposed to a professional engraver) It was curated by David Franklin, the deputy director and chief curator of the National Gallery of Canada, and coordinated by Denise Allen, an associate curator at The Frick Parmigianino was fortunate to have been born into a family of artists when some of the greatest artists of all time were active, including Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo Although he was orphaned at age 2, Parmigianino was raised by two uncles who were well-established painters and ran the Mazzola family workshop The prodigious young man received training in a workshop filled with prints and plaster casts of antique sculptures, as well as copies of contemporary works in Florence and Rome, and there is some indication he may have also studied with Correggio As a telling indication of events to follow, Parmigianino’s talent was first recognized in his drawings His repre8 THE BEST OF DRAWING 1:09 PM Page DRAW SIP 09 Memory:AA feature 9/18/09 7:55 AM Page 130 The Tuileries Gardens by Édouard Manet, ca 1862, graphite and ink wash, 71⁄4 x 81⁄2 Private collection Manet made numerous sketches of his friends and Paris celebrities, along with sketches of people in the park, to use as studies for his 1862 painting Music in the Tuileries Gardens The complexity of the subject matter ensures that Manet worked from memory and light “The abler ones may begin with the big lines of the mass, that is, the simplified impression of the whole effect, before attending to details The weaker ones, being unable to grasp the whole subject at once, will have to make imaginary drawings of one part only over and over again, and stroke by stroke, in order that the impression may be, so to speak, incrusted on their mind.” Repetition and rehearsal, either by actually copying the image on paper or by making imaginary drawings in the air, were evidently key components of Lecoq’s method, which was geared to turning the visual memory into a preci130 THE BEST OF DRAWING sion instrument Surviving works by his students show that they learned to record and retain vivid impressions of complex objects and scenes with nearphotographic detail Such training paid off handsomely for some of Lecoq’s pupils, who included the sculptor Auguste Rodin and the painter James McNeill Whistler Their art forms were based on their ability to understand and remember transient effects: the human body in motion, in Rodin’s sculpture; subtle atmospheric moods, often nocturnal, in Whistler’s paintings In his later years, Rodin often had models moving around him in his studio while he drew them, a practice reminiscent of Lecoq’s exercises with moving models in the open air Rodin’s drawings and watercolors of dancers are made with confident, sweeping contours that are accurate, not because they were painstakingly rendered from life, but because they are so well observed and remembered that Rodin could draw them with his eyes closed—which he sometimes did Whistler developed an interesting idiosyncratic variation on Lecoq’s memory techniques; he depended on verbal, rather than visual, cues to help him visualize a scene Happening upon a subject he wished to remember, he observed it intently for a few minutes, then turned his back and described its essential points out loud, as if reciting a poem Lecoq would have heartily approved of Whistler’s adaptation His greatest desire was to DRAW SIP 09 Memory:AA feature 9/18/09 7:55 AM empower his students to discover their own inventiveness, to unlock the powers of their own imagination As another of Lecoq’s pupils, Henri Fantin-Latour, said in honoring his teacher, “Cultivating the memory, as he especially recommends, means nothing less than cultivating more intensely the personality of each one of us.” LECOQ’S I N FLU E NC E, direct and indirect, was greatest among the generation of artists who came of age in the middle to last part of the 19th century The Impressionists’ interest in painting figures in the open air may have been stimulated by Lecoq’s exercises using models posed outdoors in the early 1860s Édouard Manet’s famous Déjeuner sur l’herbe, a studio painting of an outdoor subject that combines elements of direct observation and references to the grand tradition, is very much in the spirit of Lecoq’s teaching, though Lecoq probably would have objected to the inclusion of so much observed “ugliness.” Page 131 tence that students in his class initially produce exact copies of memorized models was but one step in a long process, the ultimate goal of which was—paradoxically—to free the artist’s imagination from the grip of literalness “In the execution of such drawings and paintings in our heads,” he wrote, referring to the formula of tracing in the air with a finger, with eyes closed, “our ideas and feelings are unhampered by material difficulties and have free play to follow their natural inclination They need not be slavishly bound by the exact appearance of things, which they may modify at pleasure by selection, by abstraction, by adding to them or taking away from them, by emphasis or embellishment, in short, by grafting, as it were, the ideal upon the real “Is not that truly an act of assimilation, whereby an artist, once he has made nature his own, is able, so to speak, to infuse her with his own personal sentiment? “Thus the procedure that I advocate must be admitted to exercise and the trouble of committing a complex subject to memory when you can simply take a picture of it? Lecoq’s elegant system fell into disuse in the schools, and today, is all but unknown except among scholars of 19th-century art and a handful of perceptive teachers That’s unfortunate, because there are real advantages to cultivating the visual memory, and serious disadvantages to an overreliance on photographic material As he demonstrated, Lecoq’s methods, when practiced conscientiously over a long period of time, can be a way of growing those “higher faculties” of art: not only memory, but imagination, intelligence, and feeling Relying on photographs may be a shortcut, but ultimately, it’s a shortcut to nowhere Not only are the “higher faculties” not stimulated, they might actually atrophy in the long run I N CONTE M PORARY society, awash with generic mechanical memories— photographic and electronic imagery— there is less occasion than ever to As another of Lecoq’s pupils, Henri Fantin-Latour, said in honoring his teacher, “Cultivating the memory, as he especially recommends, means nothing less than cultivating more intensely the personality of each one of us.” Manet would have known of Lecoq’s methods through his friendship with Fantin-Latour, as would another member of their circle, Edgar Degas, who shared Lecoq’s belief in the importance of cultivating the memory Alone among the Impressionists, Degas scoffed at the idea of painting directly from nature Though he did make life studies of his beloved dancers, laundresses, and horseracing scenes, Degas relied on his memory when composing his finished oils and pastels, drawing and redrawing the lines of his figures until they satisfied the demands of his inner eye The connection between memory and the creative imagination, so abundantly demonstrated in Degas’ achievements, is a theme that Lecoq emphasizes again and again in his book Lecoq’s vision was holistic His insis- cultivate simultaneously artistic memory, artistic intelligence, and artistic feeling It is equally well adapted for advanced as for elementary study Besides tending to develop the memory and the higher faculties, it will lead to the early formation of the excellent habit, only too rare, of devoting a few moments of head work to considering the model, before the hand work is allowed to begin.” LECOQ’S BOOK was translated into English in 1911, and his methods had some impact on art education in Great Britain and the United States during the early 20th century But artists’ increasingly widespread use of mechanical memory—that is, photographic reference material—made the arduous training of the visual memory seem like a waste of time Why go to exercise and develop our natural powers of visual recall As we witness a growing epidemic of memory loss among the aging in our general population, is there a connection? Studies have shown that memory training can benefit patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s It couldn’t hurt those of us who don’t have an organic brain disease, but want to improve our drawing skills—or maybe just remember where we put the car keys As with physical fitness, the lesson for memory fitness is simple: Use it or lose it There is, potentially, a lot to lose Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran understood that the ability to remember is not merely a mechanical aptitude, a parlor trick; it is the key feature of our individuality, as artists and human beings Without our memories, we literally don’t know who we are ❖ THE BEST OF DRAWING 131 DRAW SIP 09 Sculpture:AA feature Madonna Breastfeeding the Christ by Michelangelo, ca 1525, red and black chalk, 211⁄3 x 153⁄5, Collection Casa Buonarroti, Florence, Italy Photo courtesy © Alinari/Art Resource, New York, New York 9/18/09 12:56 PM Page 132 DRAW SIP 09 Sculpture:AA feature 9/18/09 12:56 PM Page 133 A comparison of drawings by Michelangelo, Rodin, and Henry Moore shows that while the means may have changed, the aim of sculptors in making drawings has remained remarkably consistent over five centuries by Joseph C Skrapits Capturing the Muse Drawings by Sculptors “MY DRAWINGS ARE ONLY MY WAY OF TESTING MYSELF,” wrote French sculptor Auguste Rodin “My object [in drawing] is to test to what extent my hands already feel what my eyes see.” Rodin’s linking of visual perception to tactile, emotional expression establishes the vital, but often overlooked, role of drawing in the art of sculpture Rodin is one among many master sculptors—from Michelangelo in the 16th century to Henry Moore in the 20th— who have also been superb, prolific draftsmen They drew to understand and explore anatomy, mass, and movement, and to try out possible compositional solutions before translating their ideas, irreversibly, into marble or bronze For many sculptors, drawing is thus both a preliminary and a necessary accompaniment to the realization of their three-dimensional conceptions THE BEST OF DRAWING 133 DRAW SIP 09 Sculpture:AA feature 9/18/09 12:56 PM Page 134 modeling His restatement of contour lines and his treatment of the body as a fluid “machine” of interlinked spheres, cylinders, and cones give these drawings a shimmering, abstract dynamism not seen again in European art until the late 19th century, in the drawings of Paul Cézanne Michelangelo produced drawings for every stage in the creation of his sculptures, using a range of styles that varied with the functional requirements of the process He began with quick summary sketches that helped him visualize his thoughts about possible treatments of the subject Once he’d more or less settled on a pose, he concerned himself with how his sculpture would look from different vantage points Relying on his imagination, Michelangelo could picture the front, back, and sides of his figures without having to look at a model Only when he was almost ready to carve would he make life studies, and these were, most often, not drawings of the entire body but of details, such as the views of an arm, hand, and upper body in Study for the Figure of Adam Priceless treasures today, these painstaking renderings of the architecture of human beauty were treated roughly by their creator They were working drawings, and since paper was expensive and Michelangelo exceedingly frugal, he had no qualms about drawing over them for other projects, or tearing a large sheet with a gorgeous drawing on it Michelangelo The rarity of Michelangelo’s talents as sculptor, painter, and architect tends to obscure the fact that he was, in some respects, a typical product of the Renaissance studio system, which valued skillful drawing as indispensable to serious accomplishment in any of the visual arts The 15th-century sculptor Donatello demonstrated this attitude when he told his students, “The art of sculpture could be summed up in one word: Draw.” Michelangelo learned to draw as an apprentice to the painter Domenico Ghirlandaio, who used an elaborate technique of crosshatching in pen-and-ink over preliminary drawings in graphite or chalk to build up a rich range of values and a convincing illusion of volumes in space Among Michelangelo’s earliest surviving drawings are copies of robed figures from the frescoes of Giotto and Masaccio, also know as Three Figures From a Group of Spectators, in which the young sculptor-to-be transformed the flat patterns of wall paintings into startling convex forms that appear to bulge outward from the paper He produced this effect by carefully emphasizing the play of light on the folds of heavy drapery, moving the viewer’s eye from highlight to midtone to deep shadow in regular intervals, as would happen when viewing a sharply lit figure in the round In black-chalk studies of a fragment of ancient sculpture made later in his career, Michelangelo continued to refine the crosshatching technique, employing subtler internal 134 THE BEST OF DRAWING DRAW SIP 09 Sculpture:AA feature 9/18/09 12:56 PM Page 135 Study for the Figure of Adam by Michelangelo, 1511, red chalk, 471⁄5 x 10 Collection Teylers Museum, Haarlem, The Netherlands OPPOSITE PAGE, LEFT Study of an Antique Venus by Michelangelo, black chalk, 10 x 71⁄10 Collection the British Museum, London, England OPPOSITE PAGE, RIGHT Three Figures From a Group of Spectators by Michelangelo, pen-and-ink, 111⁄2 x 47⁄8 THE BEST OF DRAWING 135 DRAW SIP 09 Sculpture:AA feature 9/18/09 12:57 PM Page 136 Portrait of Andrew Quaratesi by Michelangelo, ca 1532, black chalk, 161⁄5 x 111⁄2 Collection British Museum, London, England into pieces in order to give one of his students something on which to practice Fearing that rivals might steal his ideas, Michelangelo himself destroyed many of his own drawings The artist’s rare and exquisite, highly finished drawings in red or black chalk, such as his famous Portrait of Andrea Quaratesi, required weeks if not months of labor and were usually made as presents to friends and patrons auguste rodin Rodin’s encounter with Michelangelo’s work in Italy in the spring of 1875 has rightly been called one of the seminal events in modern art But among the more than 7,000 drawings that Rodin produced, only a very few show that he made direct copies of Michelangelo’s sculptures Rather, he would visit churches and museums during the day and make multiple sketches in his room at night Rodin explained to his wife that his sketches were “not of his 136 THE BEST OF DRAWING [Michelangelo’s] works but of figures imagined and elaborated in order to understand his technique.” Later Rodin would hire a model and pose him in the remembered gestures of Michelangelo’s statues, which he would then use to make rapid outline drawings Rodin’s habit of drawing from memory, at a remove from his object of study, was formed during his early years as a pupil of the artist Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran, who had developed a course of studies for educating the visual memory The aim was the preservation of direct observations, proceeding from simple shapes to complex three-dimensional objects and whole scenes Late in his life, Rodin claimed to be still using Lecoq’s methods, which he found particularly effective in capturing the transitory gestures of figures in motion As Michelangelo obsessively studied the rippling musculature of bodies straining in heroic effort, so Rodin intensely observed movement “The human body can be compared to a striding temple, and like a temple, it has a center of gravity around which the volumes are distributed and ordered,” he wrote “Once you have realized this, you know everything It is simple, but you have to see it.” Although Rodin could model small clay figures with amazing facility and speed, drawing offered him an even quicker means to comprehend movement He made almost no preparatory drawings for specific pieces of sculpture, though he often drew his figures after they had been cast Instead, drawing served him in this more general way: To test the coordination between his eye and his hand, and to improve his chances of seizing and retaining not just the physical appearance but also the emotional essence of a gesture In the 1880s, the artist developed a style of pure contour drawing that dispensed entirely with internal modeling and the illusion of depth In making these later contour drawings, Rodin had his models move around him in the studio as he worked He drew without taking his eyes off the model, because he believed that the success of the drawing depended on a continuous flow of feeling from his eye to his hand “The moment I drop my eyes, that flow stops,” he said The blend of precision and expressiveness in such contour drawings as Reclining Female Nude, One Foot Propped on DRAW SIP 09 Sculpture:AA feature 9/18/09 5:31 PM Page 137 ABOVE Study After Night by Michelangelo by Auguste Rodin, ca 1877, charcoal, 191⁄8 x 245⁄8 Collection Musée Rodin, Paris, France BELOW Study After Day by Michelangelo by Auguste Rodin, ca 1877, charcoal, 191⁄8 x 245⁄8 Collection Musée Rodin, Paris, France ABOVE Tomb of Giuliano Dé Medici by Michelangelo, 1526–1531, marble, 248 x 1652⁄5 Collection New Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence, Italy On this tomb sit the figures Night (left) and Day (right) THE BEST OF DRAWING 137 DRAW SIP 09 Sculpture:AA feature 9/18/09 12:57 PM Page 138 Her Thigh depended as well on Rodin’s practice of keeping his arm still while allowing his wrist to move freely The stability of the arm delimited the scale and proportion of the figure—confining it to an area within the borders of the paper—while the freedom of the wrist allowed him to search for the truth of what he called the “great line,” which could describe both volume and movement in a rapid, varying, but unbroken mark of his pencil Rodin sometimes later added a wash of watercolor to the graphite outlines of his drawings, which strengthened the sense of massiveness of the forms and also enabled him to make minor corrections of the contours, as he did with Cambodian Dancer en Face Formal perfection in drawing was not Rodin’s aim “It is a false idea that drawing itself can be beautiful,” stated the sculptor “It is only beautiful through the truths and the feelings that it translates.” Henry Moore Henry Moore belonged to a generation of modernist sculptors who seemed to reject the Renaissance tradition and the vigorous naturalism of Rodin Moore eventually looked to the art forms of non-Western cultures and the dream imagery of the collective unconscious for inspiration Yet his many early drawings from life prove that he began his career with a sound grasp of traditional methods and a very personal, fun138 THE BEST OF DRAWING damentally sculptural way of thinking about the figure In these early drawings Moore discovered the theme that would preoccupy him for much of his career as a sculptor: a vision of the body as a heavy object; an expression, not of internal dynamism, but of the force of gravity acting upon it Life studies such as Standing Figure have a palpable weight that grows from the artist’s use of pen-and-ink to develop thick outlines and a dense network of shadows Pen over chalk or graphite was the combination of materials used by Michelangelo to make his early studies of fresco paintings Moore has used a hatching technique with the pen that is reminiscent of Michelangelo’s crosshatching, though Moore’s seems sketchy and random rather than orderly and deliberate Moore’s figure exudes the feeling of having been desperately scratched or carved into existence out of some hard, resistant material Around 1930, Moore began to experiment with the Surrealist practice of “automatic” drawing, through which he generated hundreds of ideas for sculptures by initially letting go of conscious control He explained, “I sometimes begin a drawing with no preconceived problem to solve, with only the desire to use pencil and paper, and make lines, tones, and shapes with no conscious aim But as my mind takes in what is so produced, a point arrives where some idea becomes conscious and crystallized, and then a control DRAW SIP 09 Sculpture:AA feature 9/18/09 12:58 PM Page 139 OPPOSITE PAGE, LEFT Reclining Female Nude, One Foot Propped on Her Thigh by Auguste Rodin, ca 1900, graphite, 121⁄8 x 77⁄8 Collection Musée Rodin, Paris, France OPPOSITE PAGE, RIGHT Cambodian Dancer en Face by Auguste Rodin, ca 1906, graphite and watercolor, 125⁄8 x 93⁄4 Collection Musée Rodin, Paris, France RIGHT Standing Figure by Henry Moore, 1923, pen-and-ink, and ink wash, 16 x 81⁄4 Private collection and ordering begin to take place.” Once an idea had crystallized, Moore used complex combinations of media—chalk, ink, gouache, and wax crayons—to give a sense of bodily substance to the creatures of his imagination Drawings such as Ideas for Sculpture in Metal and Wire are, in effect, highly realistic renderings of abstract forms that might potentially be carved or cast Moore translated only a small fraction of these ideas into wood, stone, or metal; his method of drawing produced far more ideas than he could ever carry out Moore’s well of inspiration was virtually inexhaustible During World War II, Moore’s drawing gained him his first wide recognition outside the small circle of enthusiasts for avant-garde sculpture Commissioned as a war artist, he documented the condition of Londoners who took refuge from German bombing in the “tubes” of THE BEST OF DRAWING 139 DRAW SIP 09 Sculpture:AA feature 140 THE BEST OF DRAWING 9/18/09 12:58 PM Page 140 DRAW SIP 09 Sculpture:AA feature 9/18/09 the Underground Today, Moore’s Shelter Drawings are considered among his greatest achievements Although stylistically related to his drawings for abstract sculpture, they have a timeless humanity that reconnects Moore’s art to Renaissance traditions Pink and Green Sleepers has a powerful simplicity and monumentality worthy of Giotto Shortly after he completed the Shelter Drawings, Moore received a commission to carve a Madonna and Child for a church in Northampton, England Michelangelo had received a similar commission for a church in Bruges, Belgium, in 1504 Comparing Moore’s study drawing for his commission with one by Michelangelo shows the extent to which drawings by sculptors have changed over five centuries— and the degree to which they have remained, in essential ways, unchanged In Michelangelo’s chalk drawing, the mother and child are depicted with an astonishing economy of line In Moore’s Seated Studies of Mother and Child, he has shown a movement of the child toward the mother for nourishment and protection, but his drawings are much more heavily worked Using a combination of chalk, graphite, watercolor, and pen-and-ink, Moore works each drawing, searching for the right composition for his piece Michelangelo’s drawing encapsulates the lucidity and confidence of the Renaissance, Moore’s the woe and foreboding of a world at war Yet the germ of the sculptural idea in both drawings is identical: A large shape encloses and shelters a small one Whether the idea is carried out in marble or wood, cast bronze or welded steel, whether it is modeled or carved, made rough or smooth, grand or sweet, realistic or abstract, these issues, which bring trouble and joy and ultimately success or failure to the sculptor, are determined by individual talent, historical conditions, and the dictates of fashion But the process of germination transcends individuals and historical trends; and it begins, very often, with a drawing ❖ 12:58 PM Page 141 ABOVE Seated Studies of Mother and Child by Henry Moore, 1940, graphite, wax crayon, penand-ink, gouache, and watercolor, 104⁄5 x 15 Collection Henry Moore Foundation, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom LEFT Madonna and Child by Henry Moore, 1943, bronze, height 71⁄6" Collection Henry Moore Foundation, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom OPPOSITE PAGE, ABOVE Ideas for Sculpture in Metal and Wire by Henry Moore, 1939, graphite, chalk, watercolor wash, and pen-and-ink, 11 x 15 Private collection OPPOSITE PAGE, BELOW Pink and Green Sleepers by Henry Moore, 1941, graphite, crayon, watercolor wash, and pen-and-ink, 15 x 22 Collection Tate Gallery, London, England THE BEST OF DRAWING 141 DRAW SIP 09 Taye:AA feature 9/18/09 1:01 PM Page 142 Study for The Awakening 2001, graphite, 36 x 24 Study for The Awakening 2001, graphite, 36 x 24 All artwork this article collection the artist These two drawings emphasize proportional relationships and contain measurements that were used to create a large wood sculpture The Awakening 2001, wood, 76" high Drawing Logic: Drawing for Sculpture by John Taye IT HELPS TO DRAW BEFORE YOU START A SCULPTURE I find that if I draw first, I become more familiar with the model’s proportions and body type It also makes me more awake visually, and warms me up to that particular model I recommend doing sketches of the model from four views: front, back, left side, and right side These are contour drawings that simply show the proportional relationships, rhythms, and masses of the model Quick gesture studies help me find a pose that is interesting I often have students gesture drawings of the same pose from different places in the room to better analyze the form and be able to visualize it in three dimensions Another helpful approach is to draw cross-contour lines that explore the form at right angles to the direction of the form These lines help record the surface topography of the model and are especially useful on complex areas A lot of 142 THE BEST OF DRAWING people ask about using photos, but there are distortions in photos, and unless the lighting is good they will not be that useful They don’t record a lot of the information one can see and thus depict in a careful drawing Drawings record in a more personal way the information needed to create a sculpture I also use written notes, such as, “sharp edge” or “shallow indentation.” I may record actual dimensions if I plan on doing a life-size piece If there’s time, fully shaded drawings with strong sidelighting will give a good sense of the form It’s crucial to carefully render the light and shade seen on the model, then recreate the same light conditions on the sculpture as you work This can be a problem in a classroom because the light is usually uneven in different parts of the room If the shadows on your sculpture appear the same as the shadows on your drawings, then the form should also be fairly accurate DRAW SIP 09 Taye:AA feature 9/18/09 1:01 PM Page 143 LEFT High Step 1996, bronze, 12" high BELOW BOTTOM Standing Woman 1997, graphite, 15 x Cross-contour lines are used here to show planes and surface topography of the model Proportion and Movement Studies for High Step 1995, graphite, 12 x 16 Another helpful step in using drawings to plan a sculpture is marking where the armature will be If you mark where the support will be on a full-size drawing with red crayon, and also indicate the elbow and knee joints, it helps when you’re bending the wire in place In a nutshell, be more sensitive to what you’re seeing, and plan the sculpture as much as you can before you get into it The better you draw, the better you are going to be able to sculpt I’ve never seen a good figurative sculptor who wasn’t a good draftsman Many students have told me that sculpture helped them draw better The two certainly reinforce each other, as careful observation is important for both I like what the Italian sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti said: “Supremacy in sculpture is only attainable by a superior draftsman.” ❖ THE BEST OF DRAWING 143 Multi-Mags Sub promo ad:best of drawing 2009 9/18/09 For over 70 years, American Artist has been a well-respected resource and essential tool for artists, professional and beginner Drawing is the foundation of most art and Drawing magazine provides information and inspiration you can use to enhance your skills to start any project in any medium Workshop magazine will bring top oil and acrylic instructors right into your studio with advice and samples of their work Watercolor is the leading magazine for watermedia artists providing advice, instruction and inspiration 9:48 AM Page 144 Bdijfwf! sftvmut!pg!uif! qspgfttjpobm! bsujtu" Subscribe today and you’ll get a '3&& trial issue of any publication shown and TBWF
VQ
UP
 off the annual newsstand price! We’ll help you master professional materials, break into new markets and find solutions to common problems Every issue of each magazine will be jam-packed with images of original artwork and advice from expert artists :PVµMM
BMTP
HFU t Step-by-step instructions t Helpful reviews of the best new materials, books and videos t New ideas and innovative techniques t In-depth artist profiles XXXNZBNFSJDBOBSUJTUDPNTVCTDSJCF