Drawing from Masters

It takes two artists to make a drawing, even if one of them is dead. — Anonymous\”The artist accustomed to copying the best from the masters, if he has any wit about him at all, should have no trouble knowing how to pluck flowers from thorns.\” — Cellino CelliniThis course will introduce the student of drawing to the master drawing collections at the Fogg Museum as an introduction to drawing from observation. A portion of the semester will be spent within the Mongan Drawing Center 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 works of Ingres, Turner, Corot, Constable, Cezanne, Sargent, Seurat, Downs, Bellows, Homer, Inness, Whistler and Natapoff. The intent of this study is to develop our understanding of the three major concepts of representational drawing: touch, narrative, and visual structure (composition).The course will also include Museum visits to the Metropolian Museum of Modern Art to view the concurrent exhibitions of drawings and paintings by Poussin and Courbet, and to the Boston Museum of Art to view the Antonio Lopez Garcia exhibition, both scheduled for the Spring of 2008. The main portion of the semester will be spent in the studio practice of observation drawing from prepared installations. In studio lectures concerning the analysis of drawing and drawing exercises designed to increase the students knowledge of perception, visual and tactile control, spatial invention, and the development of material/medium technique will be conducted. Medium will be limited to dry media and a variety of paper supports. Each student will also maintain a semester long analysis of an individually chosen artists works, culminating in a class presentation. A final subject for drawing study will be also be chosen by each student and a final review amongst guest artists will be held at the end of the semester.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.