DRAWING - INTRODUCTION – GENERAL Lecture: Sept. 28

Quotes on Drawing:

Gerhard of Brugge, 1674...

" The art of drawing may justly be called bearing mother of all arts and sciences whatever.....the art of drawing is the beginning and the end, or finisher of all things imaginable.

What is drawing?

Dictionary definitions tend to be exclusive and usually mention "delineation by pencil, pen or crayon" but disregard other media such as silverpoint, brush etc. Drawing is often identified as being “graphic” which suggests that the colour is secondary.

Most drawings explore the difference between what we know and what we see. This notion is well defined by Matisse: one sees tomato differently if one is going to paint it or eat it! If the artist is going to eat the tomato he/she will see it like everybody else.

There is also a perceived difference between the way an artist would approach a drawing as opposed an amateur. Artist records visual relationships between points, lines, spaces, and tones. Information is selected from chaotic mass of visual information, processed and often re-organized into a new visual idiom. Amateur is more compelled to record the visual reality. Depending on skill and talent an amateur is more likely to give an accurate rendering of objects, i.e. tree, dog, house etc.

Terminology: the word disegno prior to the Trecento meant generally a “project.” In the early Quattrocento it was understood as a drawing or a design “drawn up” or drafted to serve as a model. Disegno and modello were often used synonymously, especially in legal documents/contracts until “disegno” was understood as a “drawing” and “modello’ as a “plastic model.” Disegno implied drawing as a technique to be distinguished from colouring, but also as a creative idea made visible through a sketch. Leonardo considered disegno not only a science, but also a "deity", because it offered a replica of all the visible works of God. (look up Neo Platonic Philosophy which took from Plato the idea that the object of one’s senses is as real as tangible objects that can be actually touched.)

1/ Pre-Renaissance role of drawing:

Major concept of drawing up to Medieval times was informative. Drawing is usually a copy of something and the style is very accurate. The emphasis is upon a single outline - which usually provides the most precise information:

• identification
• decoration
• structure

Late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance (especially in Italy) drawing is often an autonomous work of art, and starts to exist in its own right.

READING A DRAWING

LEONARDO: In drawing consider three things: first the position of the eyes that see, second the position of the object seen, third the position of the light that illuminates the object.

In analyzing and assessing a drawing (regardless of the aesthetic value-judgment the following questions could be of use: How does the eye travel over a line?

• quickly over some
• slowly over others
• forced to make abrupt stops?
• continues over a great length uninterrupted
• implies a sense of motion?
• does it have a quality of "free-hand" or denotes a feeling of a "copy" (Copy often shows “hesitations”)

The function of light and dark (positive and negative space

• line exists only by a contrast of light and dark
• areas of gray soften the transition
• placement of lightest and darkest areas affect the degree of contrast seen between them

CONTRAST: Contrast can create a sense of: movement, weight, touch (tactile) and space.

TERMINOLOGY: point, shape, tone (creating the effect of light and shade), chiaroscuro, contour (outline), cross-section (Henry Moore often uses it), dragging (brushing dry), stippling (using tip (pen or brush) to produce texture etc.

Initial technical choices to be considered before executing a drawing :

• wet vs. dry (or a combination)
• broad (brush, ink etc) vs. fine (pen, quill, metal point)
• colour vs. monochrome

1) carrier:

• flexible (paper)
• rigid (board, cardboard)

2) surface:

• monochromatic
• coloured
• coloured establishing a mid-tone

3) scale of the drawing

4) amount of detail:

• contour
• chiaroscuro
• hatching/cross-hatching

5) purpose

• preliminary sketch for a client
• preparatory drawing for a project
• end unto itself

Drawing Classification:

• fine drawing media
• broad drawing media,
• overlapping of the two is common

Implements:

The "feel" and visual impact of the drawing will depend greatly upon the implements used:

• metal point - the fineness of the implement dictates intricate movements resulting in small works
• charcoal, encourages the artist to work in broad sweeps and the works are conceived on a broader scale.
• pen and/or brush are implements that had to be replenished or filled will give a different quality of line than the line produced with graphite or chalk which provide an interrupted supply of medium.

Dry Technique: requires a mechanical bonding between colourant and support, i.e. the abrasive action of surface and friable quality of a colourant. The colorant lies loosely lodged between interstices of substrate or is deposited onto the surface and held in place by way of electrical charges. The latter causes a great likelihood that the colorant will be partly lost through life of the object. To minimize the losses fixatives are often used but they drastically alter the drawing’s visual/aesthetic qualities.

Wet technique: the colorant is either suspended in a liquid medium or it is a dye. The solution must have a particular intensity and fluidity (especially if pen is used). The binder is either inherent or is added.

Suggested reading on drawing vs. painting see: Marsha Morton, “Malerei und Zeichnung:: The History and Context of Max Klinger’s Guide to the Arts”, Zeitschrift fü r Kunstgeschichte, 58 Bd.,H.4(1995), pp. 542-569 Publ. by Deutcher Kunstverlag GmbH Munchen, Berlin.

ACADEMY AND DRAWING: Academies of Art, especially the French Academy, later, the Ecole des Beaux Arts placed emphasis on training intellectual abilities and being able to draw was the basic requirement to achieve a status of “artist”. One aspect of art instruction was without reproach: drawing a human body occupied a central role - and no artist could avoid proficiency in this field.

The Florentine Accademia del Disegno (founded in 1560's) had the following curriculum:

• Mathematics: was considered a foundation of knowledge, as a means to rationalize the external world. Mathematics would give artist a “key” for comprehending the world around him.
• Anatomy & drawing the figure from life
• Natural philosophy
• Study of inanimate forms: drapery etc...

N.B.: no mention of painting instructions.