Drawing to see at the Art Institute of Chicago

I had a few minutes during our field trip to the Art Institute of Chicago today with the Newberry students, so I sketched a couple of sculptural pieces to see if I could learn anything. Of course, my sketches are kind of crappy, but in both cases the process of drawing let me see the subject in new ways. The griffin head protome is one of my favorite pieces (it’s one of a pair at the entrance to the Greek material). I’ve seen it many times, but in drawing it, I began to notice several things I had never seen before. For one thing, there is a pattern of tiny hatch marks that emphasizes the contour lines along the edges (my drawing only hints at these). There’s also the very faintest spiral on the front of the neck. If it’s what I think it is, I’m going to be excited. I need to come back and look at it more carefully. I also noticed how beautifully balanced the piece is in its s-curve, because I had to re-draw that several times to get it to work.

The other piece is an early Indian sculpture of a rampant lion. His eyes really look like they do in my drawing (!). In drawing the piece I was struck by how beautifully it uses the balance between positive and negative space in its architectural frame. The sturdy linearity of the legs is also complemented by the curvilinear upper form. Is that a fish he’s eating? (yes, he has a mane which I noticed only when drawing). Having to draw the mouth and muzzle drew my attention the mysterious activity there.

I found it interesting that both of the culture that produced these pieces, separated by 1400 years and thousands of miles, seem very interested in the contrast between symmetry/balance and dynamic living tension.