What
Would An Academy Of Emulation Look Like?
The Reasons We
Learn To Draw:
I. to see
if
we can’t see, we can’t understand
II. to understand
if
we don’t understand, we won’t remember
III. to remember
Memory
is the mother of the Muses
The Role Of
Drawing In Making Art:
I. exploration
invention
is the search for form
II. invention
invention
is not a priori, it is discovered through drawing
III. refinement
once
we have invented, we need to refine in order to make Beauty
How Drawing For
Study Influences Drawing For Invention:
I. what you draw
conditions what you invent
you
only draw after masters you want to emulate
II. how you draw
conditions how you invent
drawing
after masters shapes your hand in a similar way to theirs
III. how you invent
conditions how you draw (which conditions how you invent…)
your
facility in invention facilitates your learning by drawing
Masters Are As
Important As Models:
I. exemplary art
frames our aspirations
other
artists have defined a range of possibilities, and standards of achievement
our
art is understood, evaluated, and interpreted with respect to theirs
we
form virtual apprentices to these past masters
II. Ceci
n'est pas une pipe
(this
is not a pipe): a picture is not the subject, it is an object
a painting is both a
depiction of something else, and a material object with its own qualities
(influenced by the material itself and the artist’s hand)
painterly technique
is what distinguishes the subject from the object
therefore, how you
paint is just as important as what you paint
III. the greatest
masters were great thinkers (as Bernini described Poussin, un grande cervelone, a great big brain)
we
don’t copy them, we emulate them
therefore,
we need to understand them, and therefore
they
need to be understandable
The Theme Is
At Least As Important As Technique:
I. we learn to
paint in order to compellingly convey stories and ideas
II. the classic
subjects of paintings are what sponsor and condition classical form
III. how an artist
painted Dido is just as important as how he or she painted shadows
This should
clarify what would distinguish an academy of emulation (a truly classical
academy) from an academy of imitation, which is most if not all of the
academy’s out there; schools of realism more than academies per se, they are more
properly ateliers, where one learns someone’s way of painting, rather than
learning to think about and understand the nature of painting. An academy of
emulation is directed toward invention, an academy of imitation is directed
toward documentation.
