I was asked recently why I take the trouble to drive over to Ilkley each week to take part in a life-drawing class. Let’s face it, I do seem to go to a lot of trouble (and expense!) in order to do this, and it’s certainly not unreasonable to enquire why an activity is worth doing which must seem odd to say the least to a non-artist. I came up with the following.
As I said in a recent blog, being an artist is all about looking. So, in essence this is a formal exercise in just that. Whatever else one is doing as an artist, this habitual commitment is a little like the devotion of the Roman Catholic to staying the rosary. It its a regular reminder of where the essentials are to be found.
Does our subject have to be the human body? Well, there is a very good reason for that. This must be one of the most complex forms readily available to us. Under any circumstances to draw the human body well is a challenge. What is more, our bodies are astonishingly varied. None of us is exactly like any other. If the purpose of the exercise is to make us look, then we can’t be content with some kind of generic drawing. The task in front of us on this occasion is to draw this body, and not the body in general. What is more, our bodies are astonishingly flexible, and can be arranged into an infinite variety of positions. You have to draw this body now, and under these conditions.
My teacher adds another layer to the problem. From week to week he makes sure that the medium in which we are required to work is never the same. (Last week it was oil pastels. God knows what will confront us tonight!) The connection between looking and mark-making can never be taken for granted.