Drawing from life is an accumulation of subtle events made evident on a page. Unlike photography, drawing is not instantaneous but a multitude of sequential responses over time…
Before pencils and paper, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, and many other artists drew with lead, silver, gold, and other metal points to create timeless studies on small specially prepared surfaces.
Life drawings, known as académies, served as a conduit for the European academic training nineteenth-century American art students craved. Pam Koob writes about their creation and significance during the Art Students League’s early history.
