Models for American Gothic

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvc9BKZ7htI6gHRkL_Qf9tkKK0EAdUqvlG_0PaVuIV5wqfvs84rb1CKU1AIUDjDk099-yI17E6Po9rhKlEJyZ2ADWOxAOmc971HtQbw3bQkuZh_t7rpeQ2bx2Y9AjMfxtZbFK69t8fWno_/s1600/Grant_Wood_-_American_Gothic_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvc9BKZ7htI6gHRkL_Qf9tkKK0EAdUqvlG_0PaVuIV5wqfvs84rb1CKU1AIUDjDk099-yI17E6Po9rhKlEJyZ2ADWOxAOmc971HtQbw3bQkuZh_t7rpeQ2bx2Y9AjMfxtZbFK69t8fWno_/s320/Grant_Wood_-_American_Gothic_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The models for Grant Wood's "American Gothic" were the artist's sister Nan and his dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1odFFa34zDtKqpyR18w3HKAWayJ_-51k2MLl4wZc2m4lepA1d58kKBSAtXz9q-PGUNj0Q3cY0ej11F5HNgv3r36R-IxnVARu-KwznoMjYrzTkCeEvabaQiAwNgclNdYmzHb8Gvp-c-ypI/s1600/American-Gothic-620x463.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1odFFa34zDtKqpyR18w3HKAWayJ_-51k2MLl4wZc2m4lepA1d58kKBSAtXz9q-PGUNj0Q3cY0ej11F5HNgv3r36R-IxnVARu-KwznoMjYrzTkCeEvabaQiAwNgclNdYmzHb8Gvp-c-ypI/s400/American-Gothic-620x463.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">As the painting became more and more famous, his sister was embarrassed to be seen as the wife of someone twice her age, so she began telling people the painting portrayed a man and his daughter, a reading that Grant Wood confirmed. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vk2GvyNmYD0" width="450"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The painting, which resides in the Art Institute of Chicago, has invited many <a href="http://americangothicparodies.blogspot.com/">parodies</a> and commentaries, and has become something of a symbol of American life. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vk2GvyNmYD0">In this video</a> art historians Steven Zucker and Beth Harris explore the biography of the painter and the ambiguities of the image.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.retronaut.com/2012/07/the-models-for-american-gothic/">via Retronaut.</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gothic">More about "American Gothic" on Wikipedia</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://americangothicparodies.blogspot.com/">American Gothic parody blog</a></div><br />

Models for American Gothic

The models for Grant Wood's "American Gothic" were the artist's sister Nan and his dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby.  As the pai...

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Kids Riding Dinosaurs

In 1996, Storyworks magazine <a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/483643/UTAH-GIRL-TO-ROAM-WITH-DINOSAURS-ON-PAGES-OF-BOOK-AFTER-WINNING-NATIONAL-DINOTOPIA-POSTER-CONTEST.html?pg=all">sponsored a national poster contest</a> inviting school kids to portray an answer to the question "If the residents of Dinotopia came to your hometown, how would you welcome them?"<br /><br />I selected the six winning posters out of hundreds that were submitted. The grand prize winners, it turned out, came from all across the USA.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjePdpD2QlDWAMNPkvvXZrgq-O2nzFdKwZX6DoRrcnSO7g0KoC5YWuP6C7KiSf-3AF3NyQd2ue8ButcUqrw9Tqj4L-ijoaT-2qKyLDvbc5UfS51d6o505jH1vcVMkJmtxfEFR75pAEHMus/s1600/Dinosaur_Carousel.sm" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjePdpD2QlDWAMNPkvvXZrgq-O2nzFdKwZX6DoRrcnSO7g0KoC5YWuP6C7KiSf-3AF3NyQd2ue8ButcUqrw9Tqj4L-ijoaT-2qKyLDvbc5UfS51d6o505jH1vcVMkJmtxfEFR75pAEHMus/s400/Dinosaur_Carousel.sm" width="400" /></a><br /><br />The prize for each of the six winners was not only a signed book, but a chance to pose for a new Dinotopia painting. My original idea was to show the six kids riding around in a dinosaur version of a merry-go-round or carousel, maybe flying through the air with a blue sky background. That's my concept sketch above.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid_OrNtNtvp3kLRrrDN9KW_LL1TYufCiJtXgHrsx1ovNvdZFTbmdOc5ABOc1XHkZNHGIm5XnptDwjmEDhUvEJ8czscmyrbKnvmY2zFpzk-fFBrdc7rtR2svDKS3_Zmck_ifD-kyeSQT9s/s1600/Kids.and.Dinos.ref.vsm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid_OrNtNtvp3kLRrrDN9KW_LL1TYufCiJtXgHrsx1ovNvdZFTbmdOc5ABOc1XHkZNHGIm5XnptDwjmEDhUvEJ8czscmyrbKnvmY2zFpzk-fFBrdc7rtR2svDKS3_Zmck_ifD-kyeSQT9s/s320/Kids.and.Dinos.ref.vsm.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>From the beginning, I knew that the logistics of transporting each of the winners and their parents to my studio would be impossible, so I would have to take the risk of working from reference that they provided.<br /><br />I asked them to find a parent or helper to set them up with a "Dinotopian" costume and to take a few dozen photos, facing to the right, and not looking at the camera. The photos were even better than I expected, and the costumes and expressions were really fun to work from.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlBuhkkrml2ltj2KttiQD6vPZzFnWqpyKxS2TxirqRgANPF7B3HMmNe9c5twoFj8ARHkOKEGN9vetBcRmHsBZ334pDL78oKW6MoqVCBx5MIx05JqVlEDHehassHNBt3mJe9xLy2AkSEQk/s1600/Field+of+Flowers+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlBuhkkrml2ltj2KttiQD6vPZzFnWqpyKxS2TxirqRgANPF7B3HMmNe9c5twoFj8ARHkOKEGN9vetBcRmHsBZ334pDL78oKW6MoqVCBx5MIx05JqVlEDHehassHNBt3mJe9xLy2AkSEQk/s640/Field+of+Flowers+copy.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />It dawned on me, though, that it made more sense to show them on real dinosaurs instead of on a carousel. So I switched the concept when I did the final painting, a large oil panorama.<br /><br />• <a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/483643/UTAH-GIRL-TO-ROAM-WITH-DINOSAURS-ON-PAGES-OF-BOOK-AFTER-WINNING-NATIONAL-DINOTOPIA-POSTER-CONTEST.html?pg=all">Read about the experience of Kathryn Noel of Utah, who appears on the left</a><br />• Some of the reference photos, as well as the final painting will be part of the Lyman Allyn Art Museum exhibition "Dinotopia: Art, Science, and Imagination" <a href="http://www.lymanallyn.org/exhibitions.html">http://www.lymanallyn.org/exhibitions.html</a>opening on September 22.<br />• More about the exhibition on the blogs <a href="http://www.linesandcolors.com/2012/09/20/dinotopia-art-science-and-imagination-at-lyman-allyn-art-museum-in-ct/">Lines and Colors </a>and <a href="http://underpaintings.blogspot.com/2012/09/sneak-peek-james-gurney-at-lyman-allyn.html">Underpaintings</a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">• The final painting appears in <a href="http://jamesgurney.com/site/253/dinotopia-journey-to-chandara">Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">• The art also appeared as an accordion-fold greeting card, but I'll show that in a future post.</div>

Kids Riding Dinosaurs

In 1996, Storyworks magazine sponsored a national poster contest inviting school kids to portray an answer to the question "If the res...

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From the reference files

Sometimes the photo reference is more entertaining than the final painting.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibzf4phfP0UVA3CIw3yCx8VMTpqSa71oR5Grr5AnII7S9_V-zWH27rnFfBocpcBqJm3XmhF7Lunw4SyIyOMpqOdHwpD8hcQ0tBLxmU8aZyUMsQXZ_LloehuwDyxXMxIzxgwpcJXo_HZg4/s1600/wet+arthur+montage.sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="385" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibzf4phfP0UVA3CIw3yCx8VMTpqSa71oR5Grr5AnII7S9_V-zWH27rnFfBocpcBqJm3XmhF7Lunw4SyIyOMpqOdHwpD8hcQ0tBLxmU8aZyUMsQXZ_LloehuwDyxXMxIzxgwpcJXo_HZg4/s400/wet+arthur+montage.sm.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />I'm posing as Arthur Denison. From <i>Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara. </i>The book is still currently available at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0740764314/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0740764314&linkCode=as2&tag=gurnjour-20">Amazon</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gurnjour-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0740764314" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, but the publisher's warehouse is sold out, awaiting a reprint. We have <a href="http://jamesgurney.com/site/253/dinotopia-journey-to-chandara">signed copies here at the Dinotopia Store</a>.<br /><br />

From the reference files

Sometimes the photo reference is more entertaining than the final painting. I'm posing as Arthur Denison. From Dinotopia: Journey to Cha...

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Posing for Will Denison of Dinotopia

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaVXm6sV30oq28vK5V0OU544YtmOCSlqzIwDpjYI9Z002Kf4VXq8Cq4MRldKJI2Isq39m5Q0e8fTCMGvU1V8JNL1KhLu0YWJYKh0UY78Ws91mgyyrNFi-TTqOk9jbh3_OkdvelNUv5HNk/s1600/Will+and+Skybax_Ref.sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaVXm6sV30oq28vK5V0OU544YtmOCSlqzIwDpjYI9Z002Kf4VXq8Cq4MRldKJI2Isq39m5Q0e8fTCMGvU1V8JNL1KhLu0YWJYKh0UY78Ws91mgyyrNFi-TTqOk9jbh3_OkdvelNUv5HNk/s400/Will+and+Skybax_Ref.sm.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>When you need the right reference photo, you do what you gotta do.<br />----<br />From <i><a href="http://jamesgurney.com/site/253/dinotopia-journey-to-chandara">Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara</a></i>, 2007.<br />Previously on GurneyJourney: <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2007/10/new-use-for-refrigerator-cartons.html">New Use for Refrigerator Cartons</a>

Posing for Will Denison of Dinotopia

When you need the right reference photo, you do what you gotta do. ---- From Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara , 2007. Previously on GurneyJour...

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Posing Animals

<div class="p1"><span class="s1">The best way to learn to draw and paint animals is observe them from life. But since they generally don’t pose, you’ve got to catch them sleeping, or hope they feel like standing still for a while.</span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><br /></span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1tTKmOFUsSph0qFJiQJ7p9KgUiWOaDVjZnyy49IHlRZMZwMB0L16kA2ywdUSA3C8u4fnhA54WchLsBPaAq53OK3mr1pmM4ic06yU34HJEiuXHyn9tuXytn6oEyyrW8S0VDs4FfgPg3UU/s1600/zuegel-teaching.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1tTKmOFUsSph0qFJiQJ7p9KgUiWOaDVjZnyy49IHlRZMZwMB0L16kA2ywdUSA3C8u4fnhA54WchLsBPaAq53OK3mr1pmM4ic06yU34HJEiuXHyn9tuXytn6oEyyrW8S0VDs4FfgPg3UU/s400/zuegel-teaching.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">Some of the great 19th century teachers organized schools that included painting animals, and they would often hire a farmhand to hold the animals steady. <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/12/heinrich-von-zugel.html">Heinrich von Zügel </a>was photographed here with his students in Germany. </span><br /><span class="s1"><br /></span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">According to his account, they spent their time “drawing and painting in the daytime and discussing and drinking until midnight.” His students made precise studies indoors in the winter. In the summer they went outdoors and captured fleeting impressions of Nature. But thanks to those farmhands, the cows held fairly still.</span></div><div class="p3"><span class="s1"><b></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_5cgdLG3Od30Qe3qGiskCfl5rnKc4OV3f0K716f3NWMEaozUeUKkTPJPpI4y9ZEOhb8064vTgAI4IcrCqGqa_bsZTNa0bH9BG-FJUDv_tvUGpRpG7v3mYaDcqZo5gxI2n-4_tdL4AQEE/s1600/Meyerheim_Students.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_5cgdLG3Od30Qe3qGiskCfl5rnKc4OV3f0K716f3NWMEaozUeUKkTPJPpI4y9ZEOhb8064vTgAI4IcrCqGqa_bsZTNa0bH9BG-FJUDv_tvUGpRpG7v3mYaDcqZo5gxI2n-4_tdL4AQEE/s400/Meyerheim_Students.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Paul_Meyerheim">Paul Meyerheim </a>(1842-1915), another great German animal painter, had his master students set up in a courtyard of the Berlin academy, where they worked on oil studies of a mounted horseman.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiddvOcyFNK5NRvmJnUBodJavDtTX8hS0l9P43-IbpWooXYRDq3jID-O77sVi7kqfjssD9p7rPJLOKrE0w-dNOHyV4ex1gwYCW6X-vehHaB5m67ip1k-zgwR8sxfGYIbkbY62deFHY8Chc/s1600/James+Gurney+Class+WSA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiddvOcyFNK5NRvmJnUBodJavDtTX8hS0l9P43-IbpWooXYRDq3jID-O77sVi7kqfjssD9p7rPJLOKrE0w-dNOHyV4ex1gwYCW6X-vehHaB5m67ip1k-zgwR8sxfGYIbkbY62deFHY8Chc/s400/James+Gurney+Class+WSA.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="p3"><span class="s1"></span></div><br />When I taught my creature design class a couple of years ago, I brought my neighbor's goat Billy, who stood very patiently for my students as they drew studies of him. Billy seemed to enjoy posing. The farmer, Lenny, knew he would. "He'll love the attention," he said, as I lifted Billy into our van.<br />-------<br /> Thanks my friends and blog readers <a href="http://www.christophheuer.com/">Christoph Heuer </a>and <a href="http://christianschlierkamp.de/">Christian Schierkamp</a>, who are doing some terrific research on 19th century German realists.<br />----<br />Previously:<br /><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009/07/woodstock-3-goat-day.html">Day 3: Goat Day</a><br /><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/12/heinrich-von-zugel.html">Heinrich von Zugel</a><br /><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Paul_Meyerheim">Paul Meyerheim</a>

Posing Animals

The best way to learn to draw and paint animals is observe them from life. But since they generally don’t pose, you’ve got to catch them sle...

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Artists' Lay Figures, Part 4 and Final

Jean-Léon Gérôme painted “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89minence_grise">The Grey Eminence</a>” in 1873. It shows a powerful Capuchin friar descending a flight of stairs. He has his nose in a book while worldly nobles ascend the stairs, bowing in homage.<br /><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTMes7tjz3eHphdYd7HcF8tPoLfRL9kqXEIwGQNz_R2CB3jQQf0nVI7AlvgiTRUJwsOjCdxUC6Hmn_nulte7jWBORYLod0kiDUywo31bH5_hVqPEIvizmBlms67wfh8MSy2InfrmBDw4aU/s1600/Gerome+Eminence+Gris+Grey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTMes7tjz3eHphdYd7HcF8tPoLfRL9kqXEIwGQNz_R2CB3jQQf0nVI7AlvgiTRUJwsOjCdxUC6Hmn_nulte7jWBORYLod0kiDUywo31bH5_hVqPEIvizmBlms67wfh8MSy2InfrmBDw4aU/s400/Gerome+Eminence+Gris+Grey.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="p1">R. Ives Gammell wrote of this work: “No painter today would know the procedures necessary to make such a picture even if he possessed the technical skill to carry them through.” (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0940160455/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=gurnjour-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0940160455">Twilight of Painting</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gurnjour-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0940160455" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-color: initial !important; border-image: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-width: initial !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important;" width="1" />)</div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><br />Mr. Gammell is right. A great deal of the knowledge needed to create such a work has been forgotten. The perspective alone is a daunting prospect. And consider the value-control needed to set up for those slashes of window light. Securing all those models and all those costumes would have been a formidable undertaking, a lot like the job of producing and directing a scene in a modern live action movie.<br /><span class="s1"><br /></span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p2"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqtrorUTh2KG2mCb7bliWj0Oe57xgMobKx1S7BgsTh9T1_cJ_G1yGJq4Ht2WMeD-1KFQas_S4IpxzuOG9beeW6klXgnO8ropiLur740WCbN-pnD8cylKBbdnWbtLOos5Mn3Br0GirGRC4O/s1600/Gerome+Photo+reference.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqtrorUTh2KG2mCb7bliWj0Oe57xgMobKx1S7BgsTh9T1_cJ_G1yGJq4Ht2WMeD-1KFQas_S4IpxzuOG9beeW6klXgnO8ropiLur740WCbN-pnD8cylKBbdnWbtLOos5Mn3Br0GirGRC4O/s400/Gerome+Photo+reference.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="p1">Once Gérôme had the models and reference, how did he use them? Although he was known to use photography as reference, I don’t think he would have used photos for a richly colored indoor subject such as "The Grey Eminence." He generally preferred to work from observation, as did his contemporaries, such as Ernest Meissonier. </div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><br /></span></div><div class="p1"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaxneqSTnDkIgSmOykv29UiTbWC5SYuNU7rXg8mvQLn1TpgHHKoOOTqLsDtheUwTSGVFs0uS3_R5yjMqfQjwAb4O8RqtnmKcj0R4ZEISYn8zB-qb5XWFMByaRsiU1MfhxNrd25BC8bGeLe/s1600/Gerome+Gray+Eminence+Detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaxneqSTnDkIgSmOykv29UiTbWC5SYuNU7rXg8mvQLn1TpgHHKoOOTqLsDtheUwTSGVFs0uS3_R5yjMqfQjwAb4O8RqtnmKcj0R4ZEISYn8zB-qb5XWFMByaRsiU1MfhxNrd25BC8bGeLe/s400/Gerome+Gray+Eminence+Detail.jpg" width="323" /></a><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">But it’s impossible to get models to hold such long bowing poses and keep the drapery consistent. How did he do it?</span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><br />I don’t know for sure, but I suspect Gérôme would have used the lay figure here. </div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><br />In his <i><a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/The_manual_of_oil_painting_for_young_art.html?id=IB8CPgAACAAJ">Manual of Oil Painting</a></i> of 1847, based on French sources, John Timbs describes how lay figures were properly used. The artist, Timbs declares, should first pose a living human model in costume.<br /><span class="s1"><br /></span><br /><span class="s1">From that living pose, a rapid sketch in pencil or crayon should be made, capturing the most desirable folds. </span>These ideal folds are almost always the result of accident, and captured in the fleeting moment. </div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><br />Later, the costume on the lay figure can be arranged to match the model. The artist strives to reproduce the original arrangement, so that it can be copied at leisure.  If the artist uses a miniature lay figure, Timbs says, a small wooden stick or knitting needle helps to arrange the tiny folds. </div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><br />But the lay-figure should be brought in only after the artist has made the guiding sketch from the human model. Using the lay figure as the initial reference was regarded as a bad practice. (Timbs, page 46.)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="s1"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="s1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_de_L%C3%A1szl%C3%B3">Philip Alexius de László</a>, a student of John Sargent, concurs. "Once </span>the head and hands are finished, I could, if I wished, complete the draperies and accessories with the help of a model or lay figure, without losing the qualities of the picture, because I have already painted all the main facts of the draperies on the sitter."</div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p2"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZSzvyTsS249D326VQD4tdOf9i5W3UIzjDjqzW8bjWIk_AduVHbQWqi8SAFAVaQikNax9X5hmex_RWDUhQQQS0zPByI6ctGlQhkmSyxIZ-87jB_UrcP5DOqwrZY4NyqyW-kQVWfTzqMqve/s1600/Bouguereau+at-work.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZSzvyTsS249D326VQD4tdOf9i5W3UIzjDjqzW8bjWIk_AduVHbQWqi8SAFAVaQikNax9X5hmex_RWDUhQQQS0zPByI6ctGlQhkmSyxIZ-87jB_UrcP5DOqwrZY4NyqyW-kQVWfTzqMqve/s320/Bouguereau+at-work.jpeg" width="245" /></a><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">When William Bouguereau had himself photographed working in his studio, he had live models posing in the background. Whether he really used only live models, especially children, for the many hours it took to do the painting, or whether he worked from a lay figure, or from photography, is an open question.</span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><br /></span></div><div class="p1"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0486448479/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=gurnjour-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0486448479">Daniel Parkhurst</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gurnjour-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0486448479" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, a student of Bouguereau, said this about the use of lay figures: </div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><br /></span></div><div class="p3"><span class="s2">“</span><span class="s1">The use of a lay figure will help you somewhat if you can get one which is true in proportion. It will not help you much in the finer modeling, but it will at least insure your structural lines being in the right place, and that is as much as you can hope for without the special study of the nude."</span></div><div class="p3"><span class="s1"><br /></span></div><div class="p3"><span class="s1"> "A lay figure is expensive," he continues, "costing about three hundred dollars in this country. You will hardly be apt to aspire to a full-sized one, as only professional painters can afford to pay so much for accessories. But small wooden ones are within the means of most people, and will be found useful for the purpose I have mentioned, and one should be obtained.”</span><br /><span class="s1"><br /></span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSt4-RWpePG-dp1nfk23kyHvruPRAIDBAiqYrJMt4YI1YufOJQhjv74e3CsUcOdSnFTz8clIGP774lxy0I7bK89F8BfcwW5t6wNhObCZJMB1wQB3GeKSLfhonmzLXXD1YqzJUvQsyWOys/s1600/John+Ferguson+Weir+Painting+with+lay+Figure%2528My+Favorite+Model%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSt4-RWpePG-dp1nfk23kyHvruPRAIDBAiqYrJMt4YI1YufOJQhjv74e3CsUcOdSnFTz8clIGP774lxy0I7bK89F8BfcwW5t6wNhObCZJMB1wQB3GeKSLfhonmzLXXD1YqzJUvQsyWOys/s400/John+Ferguson+Weir+Painting+with+lay+Figure%2528My+Favorite+Model%2529.jpeg" width="322" /></a><br />"My Favorite Model" by John F. Weir (<a href="http://gregnewbold.blogspot.com/2012/01/my-favorite-model.html">Thanks, Greg</a>)<br />Once photography became well established as a reference tool in the late 19th century, the use of costumed lay figures became less crucial. Artists could now paint from photos of the costumed model. Lay figures gradually fell out of usage, and most practitioners didn’t talk about them anyway, for they were often disparaged. Benjamin Constant’s portrait of Queen Victoria was accused of looking like a "lay figure...arranged in shapeless, incoherent draperies." (<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=lAIyAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA470&lpg=PA470&dq=benjamin+constant+portrait+of+queen+victoria+lay+figure&source=bl&ots=XwyZ415g05&sig=fRPRzQNBFysenSKjAHL5BX_bwv0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=n2cBT4DGC6ry0gGvtMmtAg&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=benjamin%20constant%20portrait%20of%20queen%20victoria%20lay%20figure&f=false"><i>The Nation</i>, Vol. 72)</a></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><br />So as they became less useful, lay figures were discarded, and today the old ones are rather hard to find, either as working props or antique studio bric-a-brac. But I think there should be one in every art school, so that students can study costume patiently from observation.<br /><span class="s1"><br /></span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">Well, that’s it for this four part series. If you find more images or links, please pass them along in the comments.</span></div><div class="p1">-----</div><div class="p1">LINKS AND SOURCES</div><div class="p1"></div><div class="p1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89minence_grise">Grey Eminence (L' Ēminence Gris) on Wikipedia</a><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0940160455/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=gurnjour-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0940160455">Twilight of Painting by R. Ives Gammell</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gurnjour-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0940160455" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0486448479/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=gurnjour-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0486448479">The Painter in Oil by Daniel Parkhurst</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gurnjour-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0486448479" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br /><a href="http://gregnewbold.blogspot.com/2012/01/my-favorite-model.html" style="text-align: center;">Weir image from a post on lay figures by Greg Newbold </a></div><div><span style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_de_L%C3%A1szl%C3%B3">Philip Alexius de László on Wikipedia </a></span></div><div><i><a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/The_manual_of_oil_painting_for_young_art.html?id=IB8CPgAACAAJ">Manual of Oil Painting</a></i> by Timbs, free Google book<br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/8857207021/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=gurnjour-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=8857207021">Jean-Leon Gerome (recent exhibition catalog)</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gurnjour-20&l=as2&o=1&a=8857207021" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-color: initial !important; border-image: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-width: initial !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br /><div><a href="http://jamesgurney.com/site/213/color-and-light-a-guide-for-the-realist-painter">"The Grey Eminence" is reproduced in my book "Color and Light" </a></div></div><div><div><a href="http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/l-eminence-grise-31214">You can see the original painting at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston or check it out on their website</a><br />--------</div></div><div>Read the full GurneyJourney series on lay figures:<br /><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/12/artists-lay-figure-part-1.html">Part 1</a></div><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/12/artists-lay-figures-part-2.html">Part 2</a><br /><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2012/01/artists-lay-figures-part-3.html">Part 3 </a>

Artists' Lay Figures, Part 4 and Final

Jean-Léon Gérôme painted “ The Grey Eminence ” in 1873. It shows a powerful Capuchin friar descending a flight of stairs. He has his nose in...

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Artists' Lay Figures, Part 3

<div class="p1"><i>Happy New Year everyone! Continuing the series on lay figures...</i></div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p1">Painters before the era of photography often traveled with miniature lay figures that they carried around in boxes, along with finely made miniature costumes. </div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgceOISxjUDXlSHASE1DefLs9hyB_ZpA5hl-S63FpAIc-MOyWtw4rUEYata7oxel4P9QDm0ifII1cLKFQcNdx3rGuX0jQj8fVdgV4IzTq45Tkzf50R7npkGC9QPHQJEZdkCpmWQwPag509J/s1600/Portable+Lay+Figure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgceOISxjUDXlSHASE1DefLs9hyB_ZpA5hl-S63FpAIc-MOyWtw4rUEYata7oxel4P9QDm0ifII1cLKFQcNdx3rGuX0jQj8fVdgV4IzTq45Tkzf50R7npkGC9QPHQJEZdkCpmWQwPag509J/s400/Portable+Lay+Figure.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">Portrait painters could arrive at a client's palace and paint the head of their subject from observation, quickly sketching their actual costume. The miniature lay figure came in handy to help them finish the portrait at leisure.</span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><br /></span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV87DlShxNAd3un9F1azTxF_My3oAcD0mA8v590wmMM1ssO3eNAQdihZcTS0Wy7CkcNCAyS6HvjOY4PVfa9shgmcqAadqAHDyFA3u2BVSvextcxVmaTMgJvFyhvHtRAAIuKblBR1DLtzd5/s1600/Lay+Figure+with+Costumes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV87DlShxNAd3un9F1azTxF_My3oAcD0mA8v590wmMM1ssO3eNAQdihZcTS0Wy7CkcNCAyS6HvjOY4PVfa9shgmcqAadqAHDyFA3u2BVSvextcxVmaTMgJvFyhvHtRAAIuKblBR1DLtzd5/s400/Lay+Figure+with+Costumes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">Here’s a portable lay figure set from 1769 (<a href="http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=145364;type=101">Collection LACMA</a>). The figure is only 11 and a half inches tall, made of wood with metal screws.</span></div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM5tf9rFPIy3rkCpW33GJ__9XI1BAT10LjDIk9cP3lbjwKkQ9IkDQ2WLqIRxUAHNTFDtWZJrlyLTC3XmTgHCw4G-H3Ia3KCa4UM4xTfP09KRU_eN8uPiukySovV3AcI4NSEncl6U5QY8Nu/s1600/Miniature+Lay+figure+costumes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM5tf9rFPIy3rkCpW33GJ__9XI1BAT10LjDIk9cP3lbjwKkQ9IkDQ2WLqIRxUAHNTFDtWZJrlyLTC3XmTgHCw4G-H3Ia3KCa4UM4xTfP09KRU_eN8uPiukySovV3AcI4NSEncl6U5QY8Nu/s400/Miniature+Lay+figure+costumes.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">The set contains an assortment of tiny costumes, made from very delicate fabrics. Thin fabrics were required to get the folds and wrinkles in the proper scale. </span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">Sculptors and ceiling painters used miniature lay figures for angels and saints. These jointed dolls could be draped, and the fabric could be wetted to make it follow the form. Or it could be soaked in plaster to make it take spiraling folds that hardened into permanent form.</span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">-----</span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">Previously: </span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/07/baroccis-eight-step-program.html">Barocci's use of miniature figures in the 16th century</a></span></div><div class="p1"><br /><div>Read the full GurneyJourney series on lay figures:<br /><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/12/artists-lay-figure-part-1.html">Part 1</a></div><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/12/artists-lay-figures-part-2.html">Part 2</a><br /><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2012/01/artists-lay-figures-part-3.html">Part 3 </a><br /><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2012/01/artists-lay-figures-part-4-and-final.html">Part 4</a><br /></div>

Artists' Lay Figures, Part 3

Happy New Year everyone! Continuing the series on lay figures... Painters before the era of photography often traveled with miniature lay fi...

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Artists' Lay Figures, Part 2

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When Edgar Degas painted his friend Henri Michel-Levy in 1878, he included a lay figure sprawled on the ground below him. </div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_hwHkpVdyt8ti9PfVxVgD19MjQPYchY0XFB6Aqh7cH3Yro7Q1meurmUAHmmJGg5yEZP_8yZthkrjlyoGlbZu5S1QtdQe4ylYyWUguuCUc6kGXoFObC0qJYkGhJJfkiem0Z_Xtveafpjma/s1600/Degas+Lay+Figure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_hwHkpVdyt8ti9PfVxVgD19MjQPYchY0XFB6Aqh7cH3Yro7Q1meurmUAHmmJGg5yEZP_8yZthkrjlyoGlbZu5S1QtdQe4ylYyWUguuCUc6kGXoFObC0qJYkGhJJfkiem0Z_Xtveafpjma/s400/Degas+Lay+Figure.jpg" width="272" /></a></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">How did lay figures hold a pose? As we saw in the final illustration <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/12/artists-lay-figure-part-1.html">yesterday</a>, </span><span style="text-align: left;">lay figures could be held up with ropes attached to the extremities. But some of them also had adjustable screws in the joints.</span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><br /></span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeGcHuvvlPzIuZZ2joDdu9dN2FrOI_2jBsGYya82hwB5mkgSOY2QR6yYZPXaIUq46DxVjNMZFTWlMI1AHjON1xHrW40Qw3R9c-GlaOfRQwN0Q8NP5_tyPFF2Iirg6ixfs1cvNof5AOtKf2/s1600/Lay+Figure.sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeGcHuvvlPzIuZZ2joDdu9dN2FrOI_2jBsGYya82hwB5mkgSOY2QR6yYZPXaIUq46DxVjNMZFTWlMI1AHjON1xHrW40Qw3R9c-GlaOfRQwN0Q8NP5_tyPFF2Iirg6ixfs1cvNof5AOtKf2/s400/Lay+Figure.sm.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">For standing poses, the figure generally also had a support attached to the pelvis from behind. This wood and metal skeleton has many points of articulation, even separate radius and ulna “bones” in the arm.</span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><br /></span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQV3Y6rqtPW4pPqzKT7DSkORar8jT9GlCakXC8M-ZQ0fMx7aJJHtiFiGgIBLfGK0ZUR7SDRAg-mxeqCOccoJokFMk8bc2bMcdUd3devDHwU9S7koEsjW_AVIKp7adTPBp6aZK7spO9xGqu/s1600/Jointed_Artists_Lay_Figure.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQV3Y6rqtPW4pPqzKT7DSkORar8jT9GlCakXC8M-ZQ0fMx7aJJHtiFiGgIBLfGK0ZUR7SDRAg-mxeqCOccoJokFMk8bc2bMcdUd3devDHwU9S7koEsjW_AVIKp7adTPBp6aZK7spO9xGqu/s400/Jointed_Artists_Lay_Figure.jpeg" width="266" /></a></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">In this one, the arms also pronate, and the knees can rotate outward. All the joints can be tightened with screws. It has sort of a pre-Steampunk (“wood-punk?”) mech vibe to it. Imagine an army of these guys with crossbows. </span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><br /></span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0vMaAvjIYC0ECsF7_N3VdCepp_tJDT1ajNhe6CK2COQhhaHcnZjeHnqyIP8aBbNpB7Cp1LNxZyzgPPrCC25l7yRqdnIqCIk7DeqNAu9lU0IWGRv0oKN664rYjkWxzL8uIufUlcIuc_nfK/s1600/Jointed+Dummy.sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0vMaAvjIYC0ECsF7_N3VdCepp_tJDT1ajNhe6CK2COQhhaHcnZjeHnqyIP8aBbNpB7Cp1LNxZyzgPPrCC25l7yRqdnIqCIk7DeqNAu9lU0IWGRv0oKN664rYjkWxzL8uIufUlcIuc_nfK/s400/Jointed+Dummy.sm.jpg" width="260" /></a></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">This full size lay figure had sufficient bulk and volume to support the shape of the clothes. But such mannikins never looked completely natural, and artists were often embarrassed to use them, regarding them as a poor substitute for a live model. </span><br /><span class="s1"><br /></span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">For this reason, lay figures were not often discussed, or if so, they tended to be disparaged. <i><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=3FYmAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA402&lpg=PA402&dq=costume+%22lay+figure%22&source=bl&ots=SQX-bdCuzZ&sig=SjGz_BOLQTiuCueHJhlANviCfsM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wB79TpbaHIri0QHt9qTrCw&ved=0CCIQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=costume%20%22lay%20figure%22&f=false">The Journal of the Society of the Arts</a></i> in 1854 said that under pressing financial circumstances, a painter with a “mercantile spirit” might use a lay figure that “answers for both the male and female form,” which could lead to a disharmonious and incongruous figure. </span></div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><a href="http://nuthinbutmech.blogspot.com/">Check out the robot blog where I'm a guest contributor: "Nuthin' But Mech."</a></span><br /><br /><div>Read the full GurneyJourney series on lay figures:<br /><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/12/artists-lay-figure-part-1.html">Part 1</a></div><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/12/artists-lay-figures-part-2.html">Part 2</a><br /><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2012/01/artists-lay-figures-part-3.html">Part 3 </a><br /><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2012/01/artists-lay-figures-part-4-and-final.html">Part 4</a><br /></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p3"><br /></div>

Artists' Lay Figures, Part 2

When Edgar Degas painted his friend Henri Michel-Levy in 1878, he included a lay figure sprawled on the ground below him.  How did lay figur...

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Artists' Lay Figures, Part 1

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Artists’ lay figures are jointed dummies, used in place of living models for the purpose of studying costumes and drapery. For the next four posts, we’ll take a closer look at them.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">The little <span style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DKHN56/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=gurnjour-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001DKHN56">wooden mannikins</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gurnjour-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001DKHN56" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> </span>that they sell in art stores nowadays are cheap miniature versions, nothing like the originals. They are just a remnant of what was once a common studio tool. </span></div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcZZqsvVLipv-oOApXbfO0oh8kP1qjoSU8LhSeA0r7ELQt4oNXG1nnXB4ikuogc2LZH7688c9HgPYfOYDo4hgqYYzm2PaHdTvbqZbH_PHSX6wnAQLLmSxEcwA2pt96yTKAIUuz0DXRZLt9/s1600/lay-figure-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcZZqsvVLipv-oOApXbfO0oh8kP1qjoSU8LhSeA0r7ELQt4oNXG1nnXB4ikuogc2LZH7688c9HgPYfOYDo4hgqYYzm2PaHdTvbqZbH_PHSX6wnAQLLmSxEcwA2pt96yTKAIUuz0DXRZLt9/s400/lay-figure-2.jpg" width="293" /></a></div><div class="p3"><span class="s1">Lay figures are most useful when they are full-sized and when their forms and joints are accurate. That way they can be dressed with real human clothes. They can hold still with infinite patience in place of a human model, and the folds of the drapery will not change.</span></div><div class="p3"><span class="s1"><br /></span></div><div class="p4"><span class="s1"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX1sviV7RwhBuBrJsEyuZJKIEHReGvFsaqmBlmUWJC0dH212rmwef4AtQYCYA6t-1uhgIzeE5KBWS1n6RlIsVodRIIxFlh3UNOagcS78LWuw2DTeqhXVEECVqkimqAFG8yikbj5oAWTln0/s1600/Gerard_Ter_Borch.1660.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX1sviV7RwhBuBrJsEyuZJKIEHReGvFsaqmBlmUWJC0dH212rmwef4AtQYCYA6t-1uhgIzeE5KBWS1n6RlIsVodRIIxFlh3UNOagcS78LWuw2DTeqhXVEECVqkimqAFG8yikbj5oAWTln0/s400/Gerard_Ter_Borch.1660.jpeg" width="281" /></a></div><div class="p3"><span class="s1">Lay figures go back at least as far as Bartolommeo. When<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_ter_Borch"> Gerard ter Borch </a>(1617-1681) painted this figure</span><span class="s1"> of a woman in a dress, he almost certainly arranged the dress on a lay figure.</span></div><div class="p3"><span class="s1"><br /></span></div><div class="p4"><span class="s1"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv3uS-L4xzZpJ_r6epdnSSxQWkilKPEmxfVa6WlNrt83NXgp2ZlBVlHZBt-gYoa_JamY7fTxsbeAr2mNsU8n_UJrsxEYPpx29YbMzYp0MSd7Tdn1lJ0_oSJfvt6KJGApcpWcb31bxZ7SIZ/s1600/Artist+Lay+Figure.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv3uS-L4xzZpJ_r6epdnSSxQWkilKPEmxfVa6WlNrt83NXgp2ZlBVlHZBt-gYoa_JamY7fTxsbeAr2mNsU8n_UJrsxEYPpx29YbMzYp0MSd7Tdn1lJ0_oSJfvt6KJGApcpWcb31bxZ7SIZ/s400/Artist+Lay+Figure.jpeg" width="352" /></a></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">The Museum of London has a lay figure used by Louis François Roubiliac in the 18th century for his drawing and sculpting classes. According to the museum’s catalog, “The figure is articulated and can adopt a variety of poses. It has a skeleton of bronze overlaid with cork, horsehair, wool and an outer covering of silk stockinette. With a carved and painted wooden head that may be used as both male or female, the model has two sets of accompanying sets of clothes - one male and one female.”</span><br /><br />Other lay figures were made from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papier-m%C3%A2ch%C3%A9">papier-mâché</a>, similar to the dress forms used today in the fashion industry. Recently some manufacturers have produced<a href="http://www.mannequinstore.com/flexible_mannequins.htm"> full-sized mannikins</a> made of plastic or foam over a wire skeleton. These allow more flexibility in posing than a department store mannikins and cost about $200.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyQ1FyDvRHNpoD2YhDAuORv0f54Sf75J2_sK9QVfLI7EXw0zSOuovciSNmyEmrOY0iL4eIwyBjrHsrGY1VhyHhVZCApyxhZpiTdlYQopjN7xI6yOKX7675QNGunKNVrA8H-YC8ULejZtbW/s1600/Working+for+the+Prix+de+Rome%252C+Paris+%25281900%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyQ1FyDvRHNpoD2YhDAuORv0f54Sf75J2_sK9QVfLI7EXw0zSOuovciSNmyEmrOY0iL4eIwyBjrHsrGY1VhyHhVZCApyxhZpiTdlYQopjN7xI6yOKX7675QNGunKNVrA8H-YC8ULejZtbW/s400/Working+for+the+Prix+de+Rome%252C+Paris+%25281900%2529.jpeg" width="270" /></a></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">Added image: Blog reader </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px; white-space: nowrap;">अर्जुन </span><span class="s1">shared a link for this 1900 illustration by Andre Castaigne showing art students working on their Prix de Rome image with a lay figure gussied up in costume and a fellow art student posing, kissing the lay figure's hand. Thanks, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px; white-space: nowrap;">अर्जुन </span><br /><br />Tomorrow we’ll see more old-style lay figures and how they were constructed.</div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">------</span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><a href="http://www.museumoflondonprints.com/image/139665/louis-francois-roubiliac-artists-lay-figure-18th-century">Roubilliac image from Museum of London Prints</a></span></div><div class="p2"><a href="http://www.mannequinstore.com/flexible_mannequins.htm">The Mannikin Store</a><span class="s1"></span><br /><br /><div>Read the full GurneyJourney series on lay figures:<br /><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/12/artists-lay-figure-part-1.html">Part 1</a></div><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/12/artists-lay-figures-part-2.html">Part 2</a><br /><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2012/01/artists-lay-figures-part-3.html">Part 3 </a><br /><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2012/01/artists-lay-figures-part-4-and-final.html">Part 4</a><br /></div>

Artists' Lay Figures, Part 1

Artists’ lay figures are jointed dummies, used in place of living models for the purpose of studying costumes and drapery. For the next four...

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Riding a Pterosaur

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju5NDRRzp19om0wtiOHz1OuqPsi0O6Kaueo46LBazbUUlnZC0YsjQlI_D28Om1tHuZXMYOw_F8MHpg5SmmrKZv63SQLZ0Y2vsm8TjSTRVkFmoBKILjDdZyok_A9_-4b-zasi2UsfdGtDo/s1600/Air.Joust.ref.sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>Sometimes when you're developing a fantasy painting, it's fun to act out a scene, even if the photo reference that you get out of it isn't that useful directly.<br /><br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju5NDRRzp19om0wtiOHz1OuqPsi0O6Kaueo46LBazbUUlnZC0YsjQlI_D28Om1tHuZXMYOw_F8MHpg5SmmrKZv63SQLZ0Y2vsm8TjSTRVkFmoBKILjDdZyok_A9_-4b-zasi2UsfdGtDo/s1600/Air.Joust.ref.sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju5NDRRzp19om0wtiOHz1OuqPsi0O6Kaueo46LBazbUUlnZC0YsjQlI_D28Om1tHuZXMYOw_F8MHpg5SmmrKZv63SQLZ0Y2vsm8TjSTRVkFmoBKILjDdZyok_A9_-4b-zasi2UsfdGtDo/s400/Air.Joust.ref.sm.jpg" width="332" /></a><br />The idea is to get into the spirit of the action, feel the wind in your face and hear the screech of the pterosaur. <br /><br />I think that's more important than getting a photographically real piece of reference to copy. If you can identify with the weight and balance of things, and especially the emotion, you've got 90% of the problem solved.<br /><br />The painting of "Air Jousting" is from <a href="http://jamesgurney.com/site/253/dinotopia-journey-to-chandara">Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara</a>.<br /><br />Previous and related posts:<br /><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/search?q=air+jousting">Air Jousting</a><br /><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-preference-for-reference.html">My Preference for Reference</a><br /><a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2007/10/new-use-for-refrigerator-cartons.html">New Use for Refrigerator Cartons</a>

Riding a Pterosaur

Sometimes when you're developing a fantasy painting, it's fun to act out a scene, even if the photo reference that you get out of it...

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Blum’s Mendelssohn Music Hall Murals

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiQJIgFZCNr2sdKTn6xoYlLp5w7P5ES_f8iQCms4IKQQKCFwr9i8ImO5KZZSpZ-uyFZ1lXlKCRcsMZb6DoEkLHDex39P06t80dod0WBKqWrL-0mOkdWSxLtWePuYnDtzYMF87DtmeApSI/s1600/MendelssohnHallDrw.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>Cincinnati-born <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Frederick_Blum">Robert Frederick Blum</a> (1857-1903) is perhaps best known for his paintings of Venice and Japan, but in his day he was also renowned as a muralist. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnuf_zbhizaQpq2uiQPVEvSskDzWqfk4_WA1lfrIaDGTW5Y33PQJcgts1u_bLRLm5NVxURh2cD3Oj03a8wV6gU48cNxyALHJ_9HM8PQOXvTe1nfCk8bSvjvHxy_znRL6krJqNZG2abXnE/s1600/Blum.Flower+Market.Tokyo+1892.sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnuf_zbhizaQpq2uiQPVEvSskDzWqfk4_WA1lfrIaDGTW5Y33PQJcgts1u_bLRLm5NVxURh2cD3Oj03a8wV6gU48cNxyALHJ_9HM8PQOXvTe1nfCk8bSvjvHxy_znRL6krJqNZG2abXnE/s400/Blum.Flower+Market.Tokyo+1892.sm.jpg" width="317" /></a><br />His most ambitious mural undertaking was the decoration of the <a href="http://www.nycago.org/Organs/NYC/html/MendelssohnHall.html">Mendelssohn Music Hall</a>, home of the <a href="http://www.mgcnyc.org/history.htm">Mendelssohn Glee Club</a>, which was once located at 113-119 West 40th Street in New York. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizoGNhdTPvOGmj7Yte8IXOg5LtNRJiBv4yZMV16IusML0EiULAUsPnQZ8KUk6z5P9S_8T-_7Qely-d-XzAEb2RbW-Sfqi8oyOr71Lwg6tZc1VTHpi8VuJAnAFxpEjT0700gouxIXqL99I/s1600/Blum_Mendelssohn+Glee+Club.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizoGNhdTPvOGmj7Yte8IXOg5LtNRJiBv4yZMV16IusML0EiULAUsPnQZ8KUk6z5P9S_8T-_7Qely-d-XzAEb2RbW-Sfqi8oyOr71Lwg6tZc1VTHpi8VuJAnAFxpEjT0700gouxIXqL99I/s400/Blum_Mendelssohn+Glee+Club.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />The first was called “Moods of Music,” started in 1893, and followed soon after by “Feast of Bacchus,” from 1895. The Bacchus subject is shown in two repros above: Note Blum in the top black and white image, photographed working on the mural at center.<br /><br />Each frieze was 50 feet long and 12 feet high. The twin panels flanked the proscenium arch of the concert hall.<br /><br />Blum executed the murals on canvas in a studio that was too small to unroll the composition to its full extent. He opened it one third at a time, but wasn’t able to see it all together until it was installed.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigfYTHSSY7atUR_ueI0JjbkfETE-2Nzuuq_y8gO-wOKM26oL9wj2WQXRnQHVRCu-n6K1D8v88G7Yv-LakCeYrwgNV-PuGyJKt_K8JGNTJ48xM8WByXtgfP5MKEtUWudcHc5R7Sn5fApYY/s1600/Blum+figure+sculpture.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigfYTHSSY7atUR_ueI0JjbkfETE-2Nzuuq_y8gO-wOKM26oL9wj2WQXRnQHVRCu-n6K1D8v88G7Yv-LakCeYrwgNV-PuGyJKt_K8JGNTJ48xM8WByXtgfP5MKEtUWudcHc5R7Sn5fApYY/s320/Blum+figure+sculpture.jpg" width="262" /></a>He developed the composition for “Feast of Bacchus” over a period of three months by sculpting groups of small figures in clay and setting them on a ledge, rearranging them as a tableau until he was satisfied with the relationships of the figures. According to an observer at the time, by using this method, “he could study each figure in the round instead of in the flat, could block out the perspective, could tell which knot of figures to make prominent and which subordinate, and, in brief, handle a plastic theme in a plastic manner.”<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhGhxp6psrnt6QoKtczuUriW5etUZ5QYEYt1fhBS-L8Orecdp7HywnpGRq_r31_smBOafZbQTgdC8jH7GGW6r83_X_szUTz0fZNyquKqYKwmtUImadWgfX3XLbMTQuC8XJlXGtSwtAY1E/s1600/Blum+Mural+Detail.sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhGhxp6psrnt6QoKtczuUriW5etUZ5QYEYt1fhBS-L8Orecdp7HywnpGRq_r31_smBOafZbQTgdC8jH7GGW6r83_X_szUTz0fZNyquKqYKwmtUImadWgfX3XLbMTQuC8XJlXGtSwtAY1E/s320/Blum+Mural+Detail.sm.jpg" width="238" /></a><br /><br />After sculpting the maquettes, he sketched the design in color, posed models for each of the figures, and made individual studies of the costumes and decorative details.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFhNWaV5JClZtKOp85Y-brk65MznGXXeylJxWtLAdD6v3u5T33SYAM38ZDvRIGMC2zy1GT4Hwnfig8qXTXuK7hnijepi4mvVTHRy5laeIrb7zkf3ld9-SW2yaQGwICPBR-zbGrC0hYJZU/s1600/Blum+Mural+Study.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFhNWaV5JClZtKOp85Y-brk65MznGXXeylJxWtLAdD6v3u5T33SYAM38ZDvRIGMC2zy1GT4Hwnfig8qXTXuK7hnijepi4mvVTHRy5laeIrb7zkf3ld9-SW2yaQGwICPBR-zbGrC0hYJZU/s320/Blum+Mural+Study.jpg" width="309" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiQJIgFZCNr2sdKTn6xoYlLp5w7P5ES_f8iQCms4IKQQKCFwr9i8ImO5KZZSpZ-uyFZ1lXlKCRcsMZb6DoEkLHDex39P06t80dod0WBKqWrL-0mOkdWSxLtWePuYnDtzYMF87DtmeApSI/s1600/MendelssohnHallDrw.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiQJIgFZCNr2sdKTn6xoYlLp5w7P5ES_f8iQCms4IKQQKCFwr9i8ImO5KZZSpZ-uyFZ1lXlKCRcsMZb6DoEkLHDex39P06t80dod0WBKqWrL-0mOkdWSxLtWePuYnDtzYMF87DtmeApSI/s320/MendelssohnHallDrw.jpg" width="222" /></a>Within four years of its completion, the Mendelssohn Glee Club fell into financial difficulty. The founders lost control and the building was sold in 1911. The new owners hoped to convert it to a movie theater, but the enterprise failed and it was torn down in 1912 to make room for a modern building. <br /><br />Since the murals were painted on canvas and attached with paste, it was possible to successfully remove them before the building was torn down. The canvases went to the Brooklyn Museum, which displayed them in 1965. They’re preserved in the BMA collection, but not currently on view. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0HSWeT4_rNgU_hKcf9lPMG6uuTUeoNF2XxoW6ZUsSs3g8PmGQ9xcjT150xwGiEdW64d8oFbNgIk1ToGi-IYNjMvJZX2Tglae-j_wsGaD_QjqG7YX9u0TPhzY_UGx01piRjpH5Z5ZtSuY/s1600/Blum+mural.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0HSWeT4_rNgU_hKcf9lPMG6uuTUeoNF2XxoW6ZUsSs3g8PmGQ9xcjT150xwGiEdW64d8oFbNgIk1ToGi-IYNjMvJZX2Tglae-j_wsGaD_QjqG7YX9u0TPhzY_UGx01piRjpH5Z5ZtSuY/s400/Blum+mural.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />Blum also painted murals for the New Amsterdam Theater, which were later destroyed.<br />Sources:<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=1HYAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA58&lpg=PA58&dq=The+Making+of+a+Mural+Decoration:+Mr.+Robert+Blum+Paintings&source=bl&ots=EMZHKmV6QS&sig=yTfjnasaJNVPyjaKubg5VJR3-Mg&hl=en&ei=l_GrTreADqHK0AGF1PSVDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=The%20Making%20of%20a%20Mural%20Decoration%3A%20Mr.%20Robert%20Blum%20Paintings&f=false"> “The Making of a Mural Decoration: Mr. Robert Blum’s Paintings for the Mendelssohn Glee Club,” by Royal Cortissoz, The Century Magazine, November 1899, Pages 58-63</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Frederick_Blum">Wikipedia on Blum </a><br /><a href="http://www.nycago.org/Organs/NYC/html/MendelssohnHall.html">History of the Hall </a><br /><a href="http://www.mgcnyc.org/history.htm">History of the Glee Club</a><br /><a href="http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/24795/Vintage_Festival/image/24180/image">Brooklyn Museum Website: “Feast of Bacchus” (mistitled “Vintage Festival” in the BMA collection)</a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigfYTHSSY7atUR_ueI0JjbkfETE-2Nzuuq_y8gO-wOKM26oL9wj2WQXRnQHVRCu-n6K1D8v88G7Yv-LakCeYrwgNV-PuGyJKt_K8JGNTJ48xM8WByXtgfP5MKEtUWudcHc5R7Sn5fApYY/s1600/Blum+figure+sculpture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=oxErAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT154&dq=robert+frederick+blum&hl=en&ei=_--rTs-nIsja0QG5suWvDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&sqi=2&ved=0CFAQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=robert%20frederick%20blum&f=false">Robert Blum by Martin Birnbaum (Free Google book)</a>

Blum’s Mendelssohn Music Hall Murals

Cincinnati-born Robert Frederick Blum (1857-1903) is perhaps best known for his paintings of Venice and Japan, but in his day he was also r...

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Flying Fish

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXdY2CtVUOjEjqBw4-BGt-ztLl3Ixx_Wa4aYhs-hFT79iDWbVZRzbXn0xnA0wDaA3oHbV9uBGsKogjLc_BOwsaBJf7ZHwp3iyGPBJ1xDN_AM-HIfR24uMKnbntRfSffMh2Y8ttL7qcnK4/s1600/Draper_Flying_Fish_Comparison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Herbert James Draper</a> (1863-1920) was another one of those lesser-known Victorian painters who combined good drawing with a romantic sensibility in his painting of mythological subjects. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXdY2CtVUOjEjqBw4-BGt-ztLl3Ixx_Wa4aYhs-hFT79iDWbVZRzbXn0xnA0wDaA3oHbV9uBGsKogjLc_BOwsaBJf7ZHwp3iyGPBJ1xDN_AM-HIfR24uMKnbntRfSffMh2Y8ttL7qcnK4/s1600/Draper_Flying_Fish_Comparison.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXdY2CtVUOjEjqBw4-BGt-ztLl3Ixx_Wa4aYhs-hFT79iDWbVZRzbXn0xnA0wDaA3oHbV9uBGsKogjLc_BOwsaBJf7ZHwp3iyGPBJ1xDN_AM-HIfR24uMKnbntRfSffMh2Y8ttL7qcnK4/s400/Draper_Flying_Fish_Comparison.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />He based the painting “Flying Fish” on a charcoal study from a live model. The figure’s pose, with the foreshortened near arm, is delightful. He keeps his tonal masses simple. The light mass is kept light throughout, allowing much of the upper figure to read very delicately as light-against-light.<br /><br />Images from the “<a href="http://inspirationalartworks.blogspot.com/?zx=66d407c5a482b8d7">Inspirational Works of Art</a>” archive (which contains some artistic nudity). Thanks, Keita!<br /><br />If you like Draper, you’ll like <a href="http://www.jwwaterhouse.com/paintings/">Waterhouse</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic_Leighton,_1st_Baron_Leighton">Leighton</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Alma-Tadema">Tadema,</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Joseph_Solomon">Solomon</a>, and Dicksee.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Bernard_Dicksee">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Bernard_Dicksee</a><br /><br />And there's a 2003 <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Herbert-James-Draper-Life-Study/dp/1851493786?ie=UTF8&tag=gurnjour-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">book on Herbert Draper.</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gurnjour-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1851493786" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />

Flying Fish

Herbert James Draper (1863-1920) was another one of those lesser-known Victorian painters who combined good drawing with a romantic sensibi...

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