Anatomy And Drawing, A response to Ms. Johnson
zi...@interport.net
I was not the writer of a question that I needed decided. You might
better post it to the group.
I have spent much of my life in New York City where for at least 35
years the most important school which stood as an alternate to on the
one hand the academic and dead ways of the anatomists at the
Art Student's League and on the other the votaries of whatever was new
on the face of the New York Art scene. The second group had no
interest in representation of any kind including not only anatomy,
but more important direct perceptual drawing. It was the espousal of
direct perceptual drawing which made the New York Studio School an
important place. Theartists who taught there had no interest in
anatomy. They wer interested inthe anatomy of the page or thecanvas,
and how the figure would fit into that. Now I distinguish myself
from them in many ways, including the fact that I have studied
anatomy. But my study of anatomy occurred when I was already
anexhibiting artist andI was interested to find out ewhat value
anatomy might have in my interestsd, which included figure
painting. I do not believe in anatomy as something to study in the
beginning brecause -among other things it presupposes that the
student can draw already, and has been drawing all along. The student
in Renaissance and Baroque and even nienteenth century times indeed
had been doing this. And until very recently there were no really bad
models in the arts of their time who did not know how to
compose, how to think about space making when drawing. It was so
common and conventional by the 1890s [or still in the 1890s] that
Vuillard and Bonnard felt that theyhad to paint flatly and come
upon space almost against there will, almost accidentally so as notto
be drawn into the conventional spacemaking of their time.
This is not then. This is now. Now almost everyone going to school is
not taught how to construct a space. Almost no one with an MFA can do
so. Almost none of the exhibiting artists can do so.
Studying human anatomy means studying how one thing is made to the
explcusion of the space which it inhabits. Studying him,an anatomy in
our day makes sense only after the student can instinctually
make a space. I have been to many shows at the New York Academy. In
fact in its early years I participated in several of them. But I
have not seen student work coming out of there which has the
most important, revisionist qualities of spacemaking. The anatomy they
practice demands a spatial context inwhich to operate, but they don;t
know how to make it. They are the bad examples. They are the reason
that I do believe in anatomy AFTER the artists has learned how to
make a space.
Sincerely,
Gabriel
Blue Moon
>They are the reason
>that I do believe in anatomy AFTER the artists has learned how to
>make a space.
Dear Gabriel, Do us all a great favor and explain to us what
you mean by 'creating a space' in terms of the METHODOLOGY
you would use to teach someone such an approach. It is very
important for me to understand the exact implementation you
may be referring to. Thanks in advance for expanding on your
belief/idea...