Originally uploaded by paulbeard.
I have been taking a class in pencil drawing the past few weeks, meeting once a week, and I am finding it to be very satisfying and informative. What caught my attention about Hockney is this book on how the great masters may have used optics in their quest for better realism and revolutionized visual art. Some differ, but as best I can tell, they aren’t reading the same book.
Hockney’s argument is simple: at some point in the early 15th century some artists discovered the benefits of projecting an image onto a sheet of paper or canvas and by using the projected image to nail down the tricky perspective aspects and complicated angles, were able to more closely approximate the reality they sought to capture. For all the arguments against his theory, I found his evidence — see the book for what look like miraculous improvements in skill in the space of a couple of years — pretty compelling. What bothers some people is the inferred contention that the Old Masters couldn’t draw without these optical crutches. Hockney never makes that claim, but instead argues that the tremendous improvements in perspective and detail can be attributed to the use of a new tool, nothing more.
Just one more question that will never be answered. Some say no artist would stoop to such base trickery, while Hockney seems to think it was quite common. My guess is that truth lies somewhere in between. He explains it better than I can, so if you’re interested, take a look at the book.