Master Drawings Teacher Handout

SMART MUSEUM OF ART UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Master Drawings from the Yale University Art Gallery October 4, 2007–January 6, 2008 Teacher Handout

The eighty-three drawings on view at the Smart Museum of Art are on loan from the Yale University Art Gallery’s permanent collection and reflect all stages of the creative process in varied drawing media. Whether intended as compositional sketches, figure studies, modellos, cartoons, or as fully finished works, these drawings reflect a creative shift in function. From the fifteenth century on, there was a gradual shift in viewer’s appreciation of original creative ingenuity. Connoisseurs began to appreciate unique compositions, and artists relied less on copying forms. Drawings and the artist’s drawing process served as more of a “thinking sketch” and less as an “exemplar template” from which other artists could copy. The oldest work on view in the exhibition reflects an early function of drawings—for the purpose of instruction or as part of a model book. Up to the fifteenth century, artists prepared model books of subjects from which other artists could study and copy. A drawing of a lion (circa 1480) on view in the exhibition illustrates this practice. Model books were typically passed Anonymous Artist, Venetian, last third of the fifteenth century, A Lion, ca. 1480, pen and brown ink from master artist to studio assistant. over leadpoint or black chalk, 5 11/16 x 9 1/16 inches, Collection of the Yale University Art Gallery Because of their existence, artists didn’t need to do preparatory sketches if they could look to another’s work in a model book. Many figural problems in essence, were already worked out—an artist would only need to copy. Few drawings survive prior to the fifteenth century due to the use of model books—studio artists didn’t make many preparatory drawings. Following the mid fifteenth century, however, a shift occurred. The creative act and the demonstration of virtuosity and invention gained value. Artists were judged on their technical ability and ingenuity. The invention of moveable type also contributed to an increase in drawing; the demand for a greater supply of paper for printing meant more paper was available as a material for artists’ use. With the invention of the printing press, there was also an increase in the number of printed images. Drawings often served as the preparatory phase for making prints. A drawing was made of the image that an artist wished to engrave—it was then copied line for line by an engraver. Drawings that included broad areas of light and dark, however may have required printmakers to interpret these areas with cross-hatched lines to suggest shading. The line-for-line transfer became less important to artists, as long as the concept and general form of the original drawing was conveyed. Some artists made drawings to work out compositional problems, as a way to clarify parts of the whole. The exhibition contains a number of compositional sketches. Italian artist Ludovico Cardi (Il Cigoli) (1559–1613) for example, quickly sketched a composition that most likely assisted him in working out design problems for paintings of the Resurrection he later executed in 1590 and 1591. Using pen and brown ink and reddish-brown wash on both sides of the paper, he experimented with various compositional arrangements. Many drawings were created as figural studies—artists drew from life in order to understand human

or animal anatomy. Often, figural studies served as preliminary sketches for artists who planned to include these figures in a painting. Dutch artist Jacob Jordaens (1593–1678) often made life drawings of animals (goats, sheep, dogs, horses, etc.) which he would later use as resources for future paintings. A chalk drawing of a goat included in the exhibition is an example of this seen in Jordaens’ painting, Adoration of the Shepherds, painted in 1657 and reproduced here.

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Modellos, drawings created as small-scale versions of large paintings, were executed by artists for a patron’s approval before

Ludovico Cardi, called Il Cigoli, Resurrection,1590–91, pen and brown ink and reddish-brown wash, 10 11/16 x 7 9/16 inches, Collection of the Yale University Art Gallery

beginning a commissioned work. These “contract” drawings were the means by which an artist could present ideas before undertaking a large project—often an artist could not proceed with a painting until details were worked out and agreed upon by the patron commissioning the work. On view in the exhibition is a drawing by French artist Jean Jouvenet (1644–1717) in pen and ink, wash, and chalk on paper, made for the approval of the Longueil Jacob Jordaens, A Goat, ca. 1657, red, black, Jacob Jordaens, Adoration of the Shepherds, and yellow chalk, with touches of red and 1657, Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art brown wash, heightened with white, family. 9 15/16 x 7 7/8 inches, Collection of the Yale University Art Gallery Jean de Longueil commissioned Jouvenet to paint a canvas, The Departure of Phaeton. The composition details the mythological Phaeton, son of the god Apollo and the Queen of Ethiopia, who asked to drive his father’s chariot across the sky to bring dawn to earth. As the story goes, Phaeton lost control of the chariot and subsequently scorched the Earth, inciting the god Jupiter to intervene. Jean Jouvenet, Phaeton Driving the Chariot of Apollo, ca. 1680, pen and brown ink with gray and black wash over black chalk, heightened with white on gray-brown paper, laid down, 18 7/16 x 13 11/16 inches, Collection of the Yale University Art Gallery

Artists also made cartoons—these were drawings that served as a full-scale and detailed plan for a tapestry, painting, or fresco. Many cartoons do not survive as these drawings were typically transferred with punched holes using a sharp stylus that made incisions in the outline of the image. One cartoon on view in the exhibition is the work of Netherlandish artist Bernard van Orley (1488–1541). His 35 x 18 inch chalk drawing comprises three sheets of paper joined together and was probably designed for the creation of a stained glass church window that illustrated scenes from the Passion.

Bernard van Orley, The Resurrection, ca. 1525–30, black chalk, with white heightening, squared in red chalk, on three sheets joined together, 34 7/8 x 18 7/8 inches, Collection of the Yale University Art Gallery

Finished drawings—those created as ends in themselves— became more common following the “creative shift” in the function of drawings in the mid fifteenth century. Landscapes and scenes of everyday life appeared with greater frequency in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. An interest in nature, realism, and drawing from life (also seen in the rise of plein air painting) is reflected in many finished drawings of this era. French artist François Boucher’s (1702–1770) The Dilapidated Farmhouse, ca. 1740, is such an example. Sometimes the limitations of the medium determined the form of the drawing. The medium of chalk, for example, François Boucher, The Dilapidated Farmhouse, ca. 1740, black and white chalk, heightened with white, on blue paper, 13 5/8 x 18 7/8 inches, might be used to create elaborately highlighted renderings Collection of the Yale University Art Gallery due to its ability to suggest great variation in tone. Ink on coarse paper might be most suitable for making quick sketches. Metal point technique might be best suited for subtle shading or outlining. The marks made and forms created in many of the works in the exhibition were often suggested and directed by the limitations or possibilities of the materials. As a result of the shift in the function of drawings and the accompanying rise in appreciation of the creative process, a culture of collecting drawings ensued. These eighty-three works—whether collected by individuals and given to the Yale University Art Gallery or purchased for their collection—help portray the history of drawing through form and function.

Questions and Topics for Discussion: Consider the model book tradition in which artists used a book of drawings from which to copy subjects. Study the drawing A Lion. What would be the advantages and disadvantages of using a model book from which to draw? What do you notice about this rendering of a lion? Examine the compositional sketches that Ludovico Cardi drew on both the front and back sides of the sheet of paper. Why do you think this artist chose this particular medium? Why were both sides of the paper used? If you needed to sketch something quickly, what would be your preferred medium? Study works in the exhibition (or as reproductions here). What medium is best for creating an extreme range of contrast (range from light to dark—also known as chiaroscuro)? Compare and contrast François Boucher’s drawing with that of Jacob Jordaens. Which appears more finished? What do you see that makes you think that? Which functions as a study? Many of the works in the exhibition were preliminary sketches or were intermediary steps toward making a final product. If these works were not viewed as the “finished product,” how and why do you imagine these drawings survive? As an artist, what do you see as the value in saving studies or “exercises” in creation?

Alignment with Illinois Learning Standards & Goals for the Visual Arts Docent-led tours of Master Drawings from the Yale University Art Gallery, related discussion in the Museum or classroom, and an exhibition-inspired classroom hands-on activity, reinforce elements of the Illinois standards and goals for the visual arts by encouraging students to recognize and solve artistic problems, express and interpret information and ideas, work as a team as part of a larger group handson project, and make connections between the visual arts and other disciplines (history, social studies, language arts). STATE GOAL 25: Know the language of the arts. A. Understand the sensory elements, organizational principles and expressive qualities of the arts. B. Understand the similarities, distinctions and connections in and among the arts. STATE GOAL 26: Through creating and performing, understand how works of art are produced. A. Understand processes, traditional tools and modern technologies used in the arts. B. Apply skills and knowledge necessary to create and perform in one or more of the arts. STATE GOAL 27: Understand the role of the arts in civilizations, past and present. A. Analyze how the arts function in history, society and everyday life. B. Understand how the arts shape and reflect history, society and everyday life.

Additional Resources Bambach, Carmen C. Drawing and Painting in the Italian Renaissance Workshop: Theory and Practice, 1300–1600. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp. 33–47, 56–73, 91–99, and 122– 126. Boorsch, Suzanne, and John Marciari. Master Drawings from the Yale University Art Gallery. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006. http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/fogg/drawingglossary.html http://metmuseum.org/TOAH/hd/drwg/hd_drwg.htm