Day 7: Luncheon on the Grass #30SAL

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Today’s TRANSCRIPTION Challenge: Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass. Media is artist’s choice.

In recent V. Notes I talked about how artists learn and get inspired by studying works by other artists. In art, to transcribe is to copy or record information in a different form than the original. To transcribe a painting or drawing is not to copy the artwork exactly, but instead to record certain observations in a different form. A transcription also doesn’t need to copy everything in an original. An artist can choose to pull selected aspects of information here and there from within an artwork. An artist can choose to transcribe a color palette, size relationships, or an idea from an original. For many artists, the goal is not a perfect and complete copy of an artwork, but instead to use the artwork as a jumping off point to further their own work.

Manet’s uncomfortable take on a classical genre is one of the most transcribed paintings in modern art. You may have seen some spoofs

But did you know Manet’s painting is a transcription itself? Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass is taken right from Marcantonio Raimondi’s The Judgement of Paris. But the respectable artist theft doesn’t stop there: Raimondi took the figures from Raphael’s drawing of The Judgment of Paris. The drawing is lost, but we have the painting, which was painted after Raimondi’s print, which caused me some confusion in a previous post about who did what first.

We can discover this inspiration source even farther back in history. Take a look at this detail of a Roman sarcophagi from the Villa Medici in the 2nd-3rd century AD. See the resemblance to Raphael & Raimondi’s Judgement of Paris, and Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass?

You can find all manner of riffs off of this scene with a simple Google search. For this post, instead of sharing a lot of different artist’s transcriptions, I’m sharing one person’s transcriptions over many paintings, so you can see the variations he went through. I hope you’re able to find inspiration in these ideas, and enjoy playing around with the subjects.

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Picasso’s Transcriptions of Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass

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Post your work

Post to Instagram with #30SAL so we can find it.

To be eligible for prizes, (yes prizes!) post your work to Instagram with #30sal. To find more followers for your page, you can cut/paste these to your post: 

#30sal #transcription #manet #luncheononthegrass #raphael #raimondi #vnotes #creativechallenge #januarychallenge #drawingchallenge #drawing #art #sketch #artchallenge #artist #draw #artistsoninstagram #sketchbook #instaart #artwork #drawingoftheday #dailydrawing #inkdrawing #drawingsketch #artoftheday #creativity

Padlet

Don’t have Instagram? You can post your work to Padlet. You don’t need a Padlet account – but remember to add your name to your picture.

DAY 7: LUNCHEON ON THE GRASS

DAY 6: COPTIC

DAY 5: VENUS

Don’t Delay!

Deadline for submissions: 3 days after each challenge post.

To learn more about the 30SAL Challenge, click here.

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