I went to the recent Russian exhibition at the Royal Academy in London.
There were some works by Matisse and Picasso I had never seen plus of course
the wonderful dancers, or whatever they are called, which I had only seen in
reproduction. I stood and copied 3 paintings and it really helped me to
see/understand how they had been drawn. To copy another artist you have to
suspend your own practice but to apply it to your own work you need a
certain amount of technical expertise and confidence in your own practice.
You need to be able to 'see' what each line is doing and why it was placed
there, but also that some might be mistakes which have been left. I think
the whole process is very interesting but also a lot more complicated than
it might seem.
Rachel
On 15/6/08 17:16, "Maureen Kendal" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I always dislike this method of teaching for the reasons you note.
> If we are teaching people to look,
> Do not our eyes , hearts and minds emerge from a fresh vision and
> unique universe?
> Looking at something and seeing anew and fresh as if for the first
> time, in a state of emergence?
> Why are we asking people to copy?
> It is one technique to look closely at a great master etc and
> understand the technique and appreciate it etc
> but what about the joy of playing with and manipulating and
> experimenting with the technique, rather than only copying.
>
> I am interested in looking /listening and challenging what we see/
> hear - that is the excitement.
> Does anyone out there get excited from copying?
> Maybe they do, Andy Warhol and yet every image printed was different
> again.
> His duplicated images were been playing with repetition and
> variation, but not mere copying.
> A thought?
>
> Maureen Kendal
>
> On 15 Jun 2008, at 13:59, Y.A.Raw wrote:
>
>> I have an issue with the notion of asking students to paint like
>> famous artists.
>>
>> Does anyone have any tips or advice on getting students to 'apply'
>> the methods and techniques used by other artists, as opposed to
>> just copying them?
>>
>> I'm asking because I have just taught a one-day workshop on
>> 'Drawing like Matisse' to adult learners of varying abilities. I
>> just wondered what other teachers' methods might be. Explaining
>> Matisse's use of gesture, line, colour, pattern, mood etc. wasn't
>> really the problem. Getting students to apply these to their own
>> work was tricky. They wanted to create pictures that looked like
>> Matisse's, as opposed to creating their own pictures and applying
>> Matisse's techniques. There is a difference...
>>
>> (I appreciate that teaching/learning this in one day is a
>> relatively tall order...)
>> Any help would be appreciated.
>> Thanks
>> Yvonne
>>
>>
>>
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