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 the spaces around the figure interact with the shape of the compositional rectangle.
Matisse
Modigliani
Color pencil figure drawing by Pierre Boncompain
Looking at the drawings by Pierre Boncompain led me to his ceramics, and I remembered something my painting teacher Ed Bereal asked: What if the shape you’re painting on isn’t a rectangle, and what if the surface isn’t flat?
In Fran O’Neill’s recent online drawing class, she had us draw quick thumbnail sketches in a variety of rectangular, triangular and circular compositions. In most cases, the sketches drawn in triangles and circles were the most interesting… and then once released we all went back to drawing in rectangles, because a habit is a habit. Darnit!
With that in mind, here are some figure drawings on ceramics by Pierre Boncompain (born May 17, 1938, in Provence, France).
Pierre Boncompain: figures on ceramic vessels
It could be said that some of these are decorations for the pot. Were the drawings above decorations for the paper?
Matisse observing a vase by Picasso. Photo by Henri Cartier-Bresson
Carmen Herrera is a Cuban-American abstract, minimalist painter. She was born in Havana and has lived in New York City since the mid-1950s. She studied alongside famous painters such as Ellsworth Kelly, but because she’s a woman her work and place in history wasn’t recognized wasn’t recognized until recently. Despite the lack of recognition, Herrera …
Paul Cezanne ranks as one of the most celebrated artists of the 19th century, and is known as the father of modern art. Cezanne’s revolutionary and masterful work inspired, and continues to inspire, generations of artists. Cezanne painted from intense observation, but it seems he was seeing differently than the other painters at the time, …
Seattle Artist League student Judy Chia Hui Hsu has 18 abstract paintings in Gage Academy of Art’s Holiday Small Works Exhibition. Hsu is among about 40 artists exhibiting in the show. Please join her at the opening reception Saturday, November 19 from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm. The show can be viewed on Saturday, November 19 from 10:00 am to 4:00 …
[image_with_animation image_url=”10600″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus (c. 1484-86). Tempera on canvas, 67.9 in × 109.6 in We’ve all seen Botticelli’s Birth of Venus until we could just about throw up. But have you ever noticed the feet? I hadn’t noticed them until recently, now that I’m preparing to teach …
Figures on Vessels: Pierre Boncompain
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 the spaces around the figure interact with the shape of the compositional rectangle.
Looking at the drawings by Pierre Boncompain led me to his ceramics, and I remembered something my painting teacher Ed Bereal asked: What if the shape you’re painting on isn’t a rectangle, and what if the surface isn’t flat?
In Fran O’Neill’s recent online drawing class, she had us draw quick thumbnail sketches in a variety of rectangular, triangular and circular compositions. In most cases, the sketches drawn in triangles and circles were the most interesting… and then once released we all went back to drawing in rectangles, because a habit is a habit. Darnit!
With that in mind, here are some figure drawings on ceramics by Pierre Boncompain (born May 17, 1938, in Provence, France).
Pierre Boncompain: figures on ceramic vessels
It could be said that some of these are decorations for the pot. Were the drawings above decorations for the paper?
Related Posts
Carmen Herrera
Carmen Herrera is a Cuban-American abstract, minimalist painter. She was born in Havana and has lived in New York City since the mid-1950s. She studied alongside famous painters such as Ellsworth Kelly, but because she’s a woman her work and place in history wasn’t recognized wasn’t recognized until recently. Despite the lack of recognition, Herrera …
What was Cezanne doing that was so revolutionary?
Paul Cezanne ranks as one of the most celebrated artists of the 19th century, and is known as the father of modern art. Cezanne’s revolutionary and masterful work inspired, and continues to inspire, generations of artists. Cezanne painted from intense observation, but it seems he was seeing differently than the other painters at the time, …
Judy Chia Hui Hsu
Seattle Artist League student Judy Chia Hui Hsu has 18 abstract paintings in Gage Academy of Art’s Holiday Small Works Exhibition. Hsu is among about 40 artists exhibiting in the show. Please join her at the opening reception Saturday, November 19 from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm. The show can be viewed on Saturday, November 19 from 10:00 am to 4:00 …
Botticelli’s Squidgy Feet
[image_with_animation image_url=”10600″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus (c. 1484-86). Tempera on canvas, 67.9 in × 109.6 in We’ve all seen Botticelli’s Birth of Venus until we could just about throw up. But have you ever noticed the feet? I hadn’t noticed them until recently, now that I’m preparing to teach …