Naked Truths About Life Drawing Classes
Experiences of drawing the human form
Not long ago I started attending life drawing classes at a local college.
Just as you see in films or on TV, the disrobed figure sits in the centre of a room with a circle of easels surrounding them. Behind the easels, students drag charcoal blocks or dab Indian ink or smudge oil pastels across the paper, and do their best to render a decent likeness of the posed model in front of them.
People I tell are intrigued by this scene.
They wonder about the model, how young or old they are, if they’re male or female, about the nudity and the potential for allure or disgust.
The drawings I bring home are invariably endowed with some intimate swell of nakedness, and when I present them to my partner, I see her initial thoughts puzzled by the idea of my eye lingering over these confidential details…
Centuries of tradition
The practice of sketching from live models has long been seen as an essential component of artistic education, dating back to at least the Renaissance period.
One of the most intriguing, examples comes from 19th-century Paris.
