I’ve been talking about how to use hands as expressive elements within a drawing. I love this idea so much, both for technical practice and for powerful personal expression, that I made a class to study expressive hands and heads, and I started collecting examples. Some I collected because I appreciated the rendering. Some I collected because the artist surpassed drawing and the art reads as pure expression. I collected so many I’m sending them in installments. This is Part 3 of…. several.
The face is expressive in this portrait of a preacher by Charles White (1952), but look how, similar to the drawings by Kathe Kollwitz, in this drawing the hands have been made large, crossing over each other in an imposing dynamic gesture, speaking simultaneously to a general people and directly halting us. Similar to the drawings by Henry Moore, The metaphorical weight of the subject has been intensified by the visual weight of the drawing. Notice how the dark volume and mass makes the arms and the composition appear physically heavy. If the same portrait was drawn with outlines, the metaphor of weight would not come through. Look how even though the figure is dark, it has been drawn to appear clean, structural, and controlled. See that soft dark mark that takes us from the shoulder, up and around the head to give it context and an aura, and then connect us back again with the hand? We’re not invited to leave this judgement. In a seemingly simple drawing, all the elements are working in unison to inform us of a full and powerful narrative.
1952
The Great Smog of London, or Great Smog of 1952, was a severe air-pollution event that affected the British capital of London. A period of unusually cold weather and windless conditions collected airborne pollutants—mostly arising from the use of coal—to form a thick layer of smog over the city. It lasted from December 5 to December 9 1952 and then dispersed quickly when the weather changed.
The smog caused major disruption by reducing visibility and even penetrating indoor areas. Government medical reports in the following weeks, however, estimated that up until 8 December, 4,000-6,000 people died as a direct result of the smog and 100,000 more were made ill by the smog’s effects on the human respiratory tract. (Source: Wikipedia)
The 1951 Black Lives Matter Campaign in America: In 1951, the Civil Rights Congress (affiliated with the Communist Party) engaged in a campaign to hold the United States accountable for genocide against African Americans. The Civil Rights Congress offered 152 incidences as evidence in support of this claim. These killings of unarmed Black men and women by police and by lynch mobs took place between 1945 and 1951. (Source: UW)
1952 in America: Despite the war in Korea Americans considered themselves to be prospering with average worker earning $3,400 per year, a college teacher could expect to earn $5,100 per year. Three out of 5 families owned a car, 2 out of 3 families now had a telephone, 1 in 3 homes had a television. The average woman in America would be married by 20 years of age looking forward to raising a family but few continued with a career after children were born. Fast Food restaurants were growing in popularity, but the scourge of Polio hit many thousands of families (50,000 estimated ) . The worlds first passenger jet is produced in UK signaling the start of faster and cheaper air travel. (Source: The People History)
A search for indigo dye brought me a glimpse of these stunning treasures. While indigo is common as a clothing dye and (often now synthetic) indigo is worn all around the world as a near religious love of blue jeans, these Buddhist works on indigo-dyed paper are anything but common. In the 11th century, many …
According to her website, Carol Marine was showing in 7 galleries, but still not making a living on her artwork. In addition, since art school she thought paintings had to be big, and that was causing her a lot of misery. After adopting her baby son, she had no time for painting, but when her …
Today is the 26th day of our 30 day creative challenge. Wednesday is specifically a word challenge. Today’s word is an art vocabulary word, great for drawings and paintings. Sometimes when you draw with soft graphite and then erase your drawing, you can still see a some of the previous lines on the paper. Those …
How did it happen that all of our drawings and paintings are in rectangles? In my online figure drawing class last Sunday, I showed drawings by Matisse, Modigliani, and the very Matisse-like Pierre Boncompain. I talked about positioning the figure within the rectangle, thinking about how the shape of the figure and the shape of …
Drawings of Hands: Charles White
I’ve been talking about how to use hands as expressive elements within a drawing. I love this idea so much, both for technical practice and for powerful personal expression, that I made a class to study expressive hands and heads, and I started collecting examples. Some I collected because I appreciated the rendering. Some I collected because the artist surpassed drawing and the art reads as pure expression. I collected so many I’m sending them in installments. This is Part 3 of…. several.
The face is expressive in this portrait of a preacher by Charles White (1952), but look how, similar to the drawings by Kathe Kollwitz, in this drawing the hands have been made large, crossing over each other in an imposing dynamic gesture, speaking simultaneously to a general people and directly halting us. Similar to the drawings by Henry Moore, The metaphorical weight of the subject has been intensified by the visual weight of the drawing. Notice how the dark volume and mass makes the arms and the composition appear physically heavy. If the same portrait was drawn with outlines, the metaphor of weight would not come through. Look how even though the figure is dark, it has been drawn to appear clean, structural, and controlled. See that soft dark mark that takes us from the shoulder, up and around the head to give it context and an aura, and then connect us back again with the hand? We’re not invited to leave this judgement. In a seemingly simple drawing, all the elements are working in unison to inform us of a full and powerful narrative.
1952
The Great Smog of London, or Great Smog of 1952, was a severe air-pollution event that affected the British capital of London. A period of unusually cold weather and windless conditions collected airborne pollutants—mostly arising from the use of coal—to form a thick layer of smog over the city. It lasted from December 5 to December 9 1952 and then dispersed quickly when the weather changed.
The smog caused major disruption by reducing visibility and even penetrating indoor areas. Government medical reports in the following weeks, however, estimated that up until 8 December, 4,000-6,000 people died as a direct result of the smog and 100,000 more were made ill by the smog’s effects on the human respiratory tract. (Source: Wikipedia)
The 1951 Black Lives Matter Campaign in America: In 1951, the Civil Rights Congress (affiliated with the Communist Party) engaged in a campaign to hold the United States accountable for genocide against African Americans. The Civil Rights Congress offered 152 incidences as evidence in support of this claim. These killings of unarmed Black men and women by police and by lynch mobs took place between 1945 and 1951. (Source: UW)
1952 in America: Despite the war in Korea Americans considered themselves to be prospering with average worker earning $3,400 per year, a college teacher could expect to earn $5,100 per year. Three out of 5 families owned a car, 2 out of 3 families now had a telephone, 1 in 3 homes had a television. The average woman in America would be married by 20 years of age looking forward to raising a family but few continued with a career after children were born. Fast Food restaurants were growing in popularity, but the scourge of Polio hit many thousands of families (50,000 estimated ) . The worlds first passenger jet is produced in UK signaling the start of faster and cheaper air travel. (Source: The People History)
Related Classes
Expressive Portraits starts 9/18
Head & Hands starts 9/25
Beginning Figure Drawing starts 9/30
Woodblock Portraits starts 10/19
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A search for indigo dye brought me a glimpse of these stunning treasures. While indigo is common as a clothing dye and (often now synthetic) indigo is worn all around the world as a near religious love of blue jeans, these Buddhist works on indigo-dyed paper are anything but common. In the 11th century, many …
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