The Drawings of Guercino

Currently on exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford are drawings from the superb Mahon collection of drawings by the Baroque artist, Guercino (1591 - 1666). A prolific painter, he was also from the outset an outstanding draughtsman and we are very lucky that so many of his drawings have survived and are in British Collections.

I first saw his drawings in 1991 in an exhibition of Guercino's Drawings at the British Museum and was immediately captivated, not just by their superb quality, but by the insight they offered into his working process which, as a practising artist, I can certainly relate to. His method and materials were varied but seemed to reflect the stage of development a work was at. I have chosen some drawings from the Ashmolean's excellent exhibition to illustrate this.

When trying out the options for a compositions he would essay variations in pen and ink, quickly sketching in the less important details but focusing on the attitudes of the heads, and sometimes the limbs. His confidence in simple line is apparent. I particularly enjoyed coming across the second drawing below including a rectangle of paper at the top to reveal another compositional option underneath. The next stage of his process appears to be the addition of a wash to suggest volume and how the subject would be lit, a particular strength of Guercino in his paintings.

His drawings in red chalk seem to reflect another stage in the evolution of a work. Much more resolved and drawn from life I suspect, they have a real vitality which I can only envy. The detail of "Two Women Conversing" below is a beautfiul rendering of light on the the forms. Sometimes he mixes materials and methods as with the "Woman painting a Coat of Arms on a canvas" which has pen, wash, chalk and even some oiled charcoal. Charcoal was a material he used less frequently but he was equally a master of, as is obvious below. The forms in the male figure are so well observed and beautifully captured, providing sufficent detail for me to even begin to sculpt!

I offer below some of my own personal highlights from the Ashmolean collection which I hope illustrate Guercino's use and mastery which, us lesser mortals can but aspire to.

Degas and the Ballet

Now in its final week at The Royal Academy in London, Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement, exceeded my expectations this week, handsomely. It is a comprehensive exploration of Degas's interest in capturing and depicting movement through dance. The curators, Ann Dumas, Jill DeVonyar and Richard Kendall, have done a superb job in putting together a well structured and beautifully hung exhibition.

The visitor can follow Degas's process of investigation from his quick charcoal sketches through to fully resolved paintings. But he also adopted the techniques of sculpture, and the latest photographic innovations to help him capture and depict the ballet dancers' poses and movement in the practice studio and on stage. As a sculptor myself I could well appreciate the series of preparatory sketches from life he did for his famous metre tall bronze sculpture, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. The displays helpfully displayed how each drawing fitted into his scheme in addressing the figure from 360 degrees, with the bronze itself as centre-piece.

The exhibition has so many points of interest but I would also highlight; the panoramic format paintings of the dancers in their Green Room preparing for performance, and the later bolder and larger charcoal drawings matched with the paintings such as the Blue Dancers which embody the poses from the charcoal drawing. The smaller 1/3rd life size sketches, originally done in wax but cast after his death in bronze, of ballet dancers in specific poses have a real charm. But the curators have kept the best almost to last; the wonderful vibrant pastel paintings of his late years such as the Russian Dancers and Dancers in Blue are visually stunning. The irridescent colours and imaginative compositions almost worth going to see for this room alone.

I spent a good four hours at this exhibition resting periodically to absorb the richness of material on offer. From my vantage point on the banquette in the first room opposite Degas's painting, Ballet Scene from Meyerbeer's Opera 'Robert le Diable' I sat sketching the steady stream of visitors as they filed past. There was I, trying to capture movement, I in my little Moleskine sketchbook, much as Degas had been doing over 100 years ago. The artistic challenge in "picturing movement" is still the same.

Art and Mammon

I took this photograph over the City of London on my phone last week from the terrace at Tate Modern where I was enjoying my second visit to see Gerhard Richter: Panorama prior to attending a private view at the Corporation of Lloyds.

For those of you who are used, like me, to see Richter's work mainly in reproduction the scale of some of the abstract work is breathtaking. But for me the most successful of the abstract work is the smaller, almost domestic scale paintings. There is a series of 8 small paintings in Room 10, Abstract Painting 858 1999 series, which I found particularly engaging.

Room 11 also contains some interesting experimental work including monotypes and photographs worked over with paint, which I found especially interesting as they provide an insight into Gerard Richter's process. But it is a big exhibition covering 50 years of the Artist's work and there are many aspects to be discovered. So will I be back for another look? Probably!

After a couple of hours I took a break for coffee on the Tate members' terrace. It was a beautifully mild November afternoon with the setting sun creating some spectacular Canaletto like vistas over the City of London. And even though my phone only has a VGA camera I thought it was worth trying to capture the panoramic views over the Thames towards St. Paul's Cathedral and The Square Mile.

But by the time I left and walked across The Millenium Bridge towards St. Paul's the sun had set to leave a quite magical darkling sky. I was on my way to the Corporation of Lloyd's, where some of my sculpture was on display as part of the Lloyd's Art Group collective's Autumn Exhibition. At the private view I am delighted to report that I was presented with the Miller Prize for "Best Artist in the Show" by Michael Papworth, Head of Facultative Reinsurance at  Miller Insurance, the exclusive sponsors of the event this year. Very much a fund raiser for the Coombe Trust, Lloyd's recognised charity, the exhibition raised  £2,400 this year for this very good cause. Definitely an event where Art sits comfortably with Mammon.

All That Jazz

Signed prints developed from the sketches done during the Marlborough International Jazz Festival last year are now available as digital prints on Hahnemuhle Photorag fine art paper.

They can be supplied as bare prints or in a mount, singly or as a double or triple. Purchasers can even select which musicians they would like to include in combination to create their own ensemble.

There are currently 9 prints in the series to choose from. The full series can be seen on my flickr site .

For further information contact the artist at

enquiries@gordonaitcheson.com

Sheep grazing in the snow

Based on the Moleskine sketch below which I did in January late one bitterly cold afternoon. It was about 4pm and the sun was getting low picking out the trees along the skyline against the pale icy blue sky. At the bottom of the valley at Soundbottom where I stood it was already getting quite dark but the sheep were still busy eating what grass they could find sticking up from the snow. They watched me suspiciously but soon turned their attention back to eating.

The field on the right, which I remember sledging down many years ago, was covered in snow. It contrasted strongly with the woodland which was almost black in comparison. The sheep in the foreground seemed to almost dissolve into the snow-covered field.

At the time the valley was in deep shadow and the view in front of me was almost in black & white so in this development study I decided to stick with a monochrome rendering and concentrate on the richness of tones and textures. Once again I opted for red chalk pastel on a heavyweight watercolour paper which I could really work into. But there are possibilities in colour which I would like to explore at a later date in a painting.

Ash Trees in Winter

Out for a walk one late afternoon last month, I was taken by the way the Ash trees and hedges along the field boundaries were etched against the low setting sun. In the foreground the stubble echoed the vertical forms of the trees and was catching the light before the field fell away, dipping down into a valley and rising up to the tree-line.

I sketched quickly in my Moleskine to catch the salient features. Back in the studio I worked up the sketch into the b&w pencil study below, which I think has possibilities as a painting at a later date.

6B pencil on 200 gsm cold pressed watercolour paper

24 x 32 cm.


Update: November 2012

Finally started work on the painting, provoked by all the current concern about our Ash trees. We mustn't ever take our wonderful landscape for granted. The Ash tree in the garden has shed its leaves for the winter. Let's hope that it comes safely into bud again next year.

Sculpting a Drawing

This red chalk drawing, measuring 48 x 48 in., shows the view north over the Kennet Valley in Wiltshire towards the village of Minal from Chopping Knife Lane. In the foreground is Black Field, the site of the old Roman town of Cunetio, and in the top left hand corner can be seen the old Roman road which leads from Cunetio to Cirencester in Gloucestershire. The cattle were grazing down in the water meadow and you can see the houses and the old school along the river before the fields rise on the other side of the valley towards South Leaze Field and beyond.

At the time when I drew the original sketches it was October 2009 and all the crops were in, leaving just stubble, save for a one field of maize towards the top right. The trees still had their leaves but were changing colour and the vegetation all around the field edges; thistles, nettles and cow parsley, was beginning to die back.

The work started off life as a series of quick sketches, the main one of which from my moleskine sketchbook is seen below, drawn while I was out for a walk one late afternoon.


From the sketches I developed the drawing in my studio in red chalk pastel. Perhaps it is my background as a sculptor but I like to draw on heavyweight papers which I can work back into to almost carve the drawing out of the paper. As well as rubber erasers, I use knifes, wire brushes and even power tools such as a Dremel and a Black & Decker Mouse orbital sander. To stop myself from getting into detail too soon I use fat sticks of Sennelier chalk pastel which are at least an inch in diameter for laying down broad areas of colour and flakes for more fine work.


The original 122 x 122 cm. drawing been digitally captured by specialists and is now available as a signed limited edition giclée print in three image sizes; 30 x 30 cm., 50 x 50 cm. and 90 x 90 cm