This year, one of the tasks I've been tackling has been to go through corners of my studio to deal with unfinished and abandoned work. For the pieces I'm finding, I've set several objectives: either file, finish, or put in the fire.
Digging through the stacks of stuff, I discovered a few pieces I'd been looking for, buried in a pile of half-done work. These particular pieces were some sketches I did on my trip to France in 2005.
During the first part of our stay there, we were in Paris where I was able to make my pilgrimage to the Louvre. My family and I ventured to the museum right away. What an amazing collection of world treasures is there! The drawing at left was done from Michelangelo's Dying Slave, a most inspiring and beautiful sculpture from the Master.
It's interesting to run across the studies from a decade ago. I can see improvement in my drawing skills since I did this study.
(left) "Study of Michelangelo’s Dying Slave"
16"x12" charcoal and chalk on cotton paper
©2005 Diana Moses Botkin
A different sketch (not worth showing you) I did while at Musée d'Orsay, which is another colossal treasury of art. When at the Louvre the previous day, I'd had no trouble when I scooted an unused chair over by The Slave, to sketch the piece. At Musée d'Orsay the next day, I also found a vacant chair and moved it by the statue I admired, for observation with my sketching materials.
Soon after I sat down in the chair near the beautiful Oedipus at Colonos by Jean-Baptiste Hugues, the guard on duty told me something in angry French. Now my French is very bad, limited to a few words and phrases. But I was able to tell, from the guard's body language and gestures, that I should move the chair back to its original location. I complied and then sat on the floor by the sculpture to study.
Not long after that, I noticed the guard was on the phone, gesturing toward me and speaking in urgent angry tones. There I was, in a foreign country with jet-lag and extremely limited language skills. I had visions of being carted away by the gendarmes for lock-up in some lonely Paris jail. I was able to manage only a quick drawing, not much more then a gesture, before hurriedly putting away my supplies and moving away to the ladies room to compose my rattled brain.
Friday, February 20, 2015
Uncovering Buried Work
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2 comments:
Wow, what a story, Diana, and it shows just how motivated you were to take advantage of the fleeting opportunity. Artist to artist, I completely understand your passion!
I appreciate that, Susan! I learned later that those chairs are for the guards. Obviously, some of those on duty are very protective of their sit down space.
I also learned that day at Musée d'Orsay that one should not sit with feet off the floor, even on provided benches for visitors. I never did, however, learn if it was against the rules to sit on the floor!
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