Drawing from Masters

\’It takes two artists to make a drawing, even if one of them is dead.\’AnonymousThis course will introduce the student of drawing to the master drawing collections at the Fogg Museum and at the Boston MFA as an introduction to the drawing of the urban environment from observation. The first half of the semester will be spent within local drawing collections to observe, copy, and analyze the concepts and inventions within the drawings of 19th and 20th century masters. The student will complete master studies from the original landscape works of Ingres, Turner, Corot, Cotman, Constable, Cezanne, Sargent, Seurat, Downs, and Natapoff. The intent of the study is to develop our understanding of the three major concepts of representational drawing; touch, narrative, and visual structure (composition).In the second half of the semester we will conduct our drawing out-of-doors, under the constraint and challenge of time and weather. The drawing sites that the seminar will use are chosen for their applicability to the master drawings from the first half of the seminar, limiting our use of material to dry medium and selected papers.This seminar is designed for those who wish to acquire greater skill and understanding of drawing and, most importantly, to develop a critical dialogue with an established master of the art of drawing.Course Time: Friday, 10 am to 1 pmCourse Enrollment Limited: 10