Classical Drawing Atelier: A Complete Course in Traditional Studio Practice

318 Pages·2011·13.18 MB·English

by  Juliette Aristides

Randolph Melick, Study for Headless Man on Topless Bar, 2001, green wax-based pencil on paper, 11½ x 83⁄8
inches, courtesy of Hirschl & Adler Gallery

Copyright ©2006 by Juliette Aristides
First published in 2006 by WatsonGuptill Publications, an imprint of Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random
House, Inc., New York
www.crownpublishing.com
www.watsonguptill.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Aristides, Juliette.
The classical drawing atelier : a contemporary guide to traditional studio practice / by Juliette Aristides.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
eISBN: 978-0-82300837-7
1. Drawing—Technique. 1. Title.
NC730.A68 2006
741.2—dc22
2006006985
Executive Editor: Candace Raney
Editor: Alison Hagge
Editorial Assistant: Maureen Lo
Designer: Christopher Cannon and Eric Baker, Eric Baker Design Associates
Production Manager: Ellen Greene
Every effort has been made to trace the ownership of and to obtain permission to reproduce the material in this book.
The author, editors, and publisher sincerely apologize for any inadvertent errors and will be happy to correct them in
future editions.
All rights reserved.
v3.1
To Constantine Aristides
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my gratitude to all the people who helped make this book
possible: thanks to Candace Raney for believing in the merits of this book before there
was anything to see; and to Pamela Belyea and Gary Faigin, Director and Artistic
Director respectively of the Gage Academy of Art, without whom this project would
never have been started. I appreciate the amazing generosity of those who contributed
work from private collections, especially Fred and Sherry Ross from Art Renewal Center,
and Allan Kollar from A. J. Kollar Fine Paintings. Special thanks to Dino Aristides for
your mathematical expertise applied in chapter two. Much gratitude goes to Al and
Kathy Lopus for being the patron saints of art, in word and deed. I greatly appreciate
gallery contributors: Ramon Frey from Frey Norris Gallery; Dr. Gregory Hedberg,
Director of the Department of European Art at Hirschl & Adler Galleries; Steven
Diamant, Director of Arcadia Gallery; and Nicola Lorenz from Forum Gallery. Thank you
to all the models who spent many long hours posing and to the students, photographers,
and professional artists who contributed such beautiful work to this book. Special
thanks to D. Jeffrey Mims, who provided so much encouragement. Much appreciation
goes to Mark D. Mitchell, Assistant Curator of Nineteenth-Century Art at the National
Academy Museum. This project could not have been completed without the help of my
editors. Many thanks to Sarah Campbell, Sarah Jardine, and Alison Hagge for your
valuable insights. I am very grateful to design diva Susan Bari Price for your labor of
love in providing tireless assistance on many aspects of this project. Thanks to Carol
Hendricks, the Gage Academy resident art historian and friend, for your help with art
historical references. Also many thanks to Roy Zuniga for all the Saturdays you spent
designing the diagrams, done only for the love of art. Finally, deepest thanks to my
teachers to whom I am forever grateful, especially Myron Barnstone, Carlos Madrid,
Jacob Collins, and Steven Assael.
Matthew Grabelsky, cast drawing of Orfeo Boselli’s San Benedetto, 2004, charcoal on paper, 24 × 14 inches,
courtesy of the Angel Academy of Art
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
PART ONE: WELCOME TO THE ATELIER
CHAPTER ONE: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Artistic Training in the Twenty-First Century
PART TWO: TIMELESS PRINCIPLES
CHAPTER TWO: DESIGN
Nature and the Golden Ratio
CHAPTER THREE: LINE
Two-Dimensional Dynamics
CHAPTER FOUR: VALUE
The World in Black and White
CHAPTER FIVE: FORM
The Third Dimension
PART THREE: TIMELESS SUBJECTS
CHAPTER SIX: MASTER COPY DRAWING
Learning from the Past
CHAPTER SEVEN: CAST DRAWING
Lessons from Master Sculptors
CHAPTER EIGHT: FIGURE DRAWING
Man as the Measure
CHAPTER NINE: PORTRAIT DRAWING
Window to the Soul
PART FOUR: PUTTING THEORY INTO PRACTICE
CHAPTER TEN: ATELIER DISCIPLINES
Finite Principles, Infinite Applications
LESSON ONE: SPHERE DRAWING
LESSON TWO: MASTER COPY DRAWING
LESSON THREE: CAST DRAWING
LESSON FOUR: REDUCTIVE FIGURE DRAWING
LESSON FIVE: PORTRAIT DRAWING
Appendix
Bibliography
Index
Edgar Degas, Study for the Semiramis, late nineteenth century, gouache on blue paper, with watercolor
highlights, 113⁄8 x 85⁄8 inches, Louvre, Paris, France
Photo Credit: Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Art Resource, NY