Detail. Madame Grand, 1783. Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
There were a small number of eighteenth century women artists that became prominent for their talent and teaching, the stylistic innovations they created, and their influence on other artists. Nowhere can this be better seen than in the life and works of the French painter Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. Read more
Battle of the Nude Men by Antonio del Pollaiuolo, 1465–1475. Engraving 42.4 x 60.9 cm
Italian Renaissance artists became anatomists by necessity. They were attempting to refine a more lifelike human figure, even though opportunities to help their knowledge by direct anatomical dissection were restricted. In Vasari’s Lives of the Artists, he states that the sculptor, painter, and printmaker Antonio Pollaiuolo (1431–1498) was the “first master to skin many human bodies in order to investigate the muscles and understand the nude in a more modern way.” We can see his knowledge displayed beautifully in Pollaiuolo’s engraving Battle of Naked Men. The nude warriors are in extreme action showing their nearly flayed musculature. Read more
Pierre-Paul Prud’hon Black and white chalk on blue paper
I am passionate about drawing the body, drawing out the human, representing the person, presenting the individual. Read more
As a reaction against the constricting teaching of the Parisienne École des Beaux Arts, the Grande Chaumière (academy of the large thatched cottage) was founded on the left bank of Paris in 1902, which at the time was the heart of forward thinking intellectual and artistic life. Read more
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he human figure has been a subject in art for thousands of years, since prehistoric times. The classical Greek style is firmly rooted in analytical corporal observation, such as this inspirational late hellenistic era Laocoön and his Sons in the Vatican Museum. Read more
Pierre-Paul Prud’hon (1758–1823)
An académie is an observational figure study drawn from a live model over many days such as that of French artist Pierre-Paul Prud’hon, who used drawings as the foundation for his work.
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In the midst of the contemporary art scene in Chelsea, New York, Xanda McCagg has a wonderful studio and gallery space, the Xanda McCagg Project Gallery. In 2014, she invited me to show some of my drawings of figures that were created in Paris over the winter. Read more
The Winged Victory of Samothrace, also called the Nike of Samothrace, is a 2nd-century BC marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike. She is one of the most beautiful statues at the Louvre, and one of their most famous. Read more
These drawings are from life, and are created over days. They are coloured pencil and white charcoal on a toned Stonehenge paper, and they are mostly 29cm x 38cm or 11″ x 15″, although some are smaller. Read more