Rivals in Rome

The 16th-century Italian drawings in a recent exhibition at the Morgan Library & Museum, in New York City, are beautiful working drawings that point toward grand final creations far beyond the edges of the paper and reveal the competing influences of Raphael and Michelangelo.

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The Voracious Eye: The Drawings of Adolph Menzel

Whether at a court ball or at a burial, on the street or in a moving train, the German draftsman Adolph Menzel (1815-1905) exploited every opportunity that presented itself to record on paper whatever caught his eye.

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Studio as Setting: The Paintings of Scott Noel

Through the careful orchestration of figures and still life objects, this Philadelphia oil painter uses his studio as the setting for both natural and metaphorical scenes.

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The Self in Contemporary Self-Portraits

Several established contemporary artists have approached the subject of self-portraiture in different ways, depicting who they are or who they wish to be at various times in their lives.

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The Fine Line: A Close Look at Five Contemporary Silverpoint Drawers

Because silverpoint drawings invite us to come close and examine them carefully, here is a close-up look at several masterful contemporary silverpoint drawings.

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Understanding Anatomy: Drawing the Neck

The neck is the pedestal upon which the head rests. It not only holds the head upright and in place but also allows it to rotate, tilt, flex, and extend so that it can locate and respond to crucial auditory, visual, and olfactory information.

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Drawing Solutions: Drawing the Arm

Some of the most poignant moments in the visual arts involve arms. I think immediately of Jahweh’s extended arm from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling, about to transfer the spark of life to Adam’s exanimate one; or of Daphne’s arms beginning […]

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The Intimate Paintings and Drawings of Mark Karnes

Maryland artist Mark Karnes paints everyday scenes by sketching value studies in ink or watercolor then slowly painting in oil or acrylic without a detailed preparatory drawing.

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“The Erotic Frigidaire”: The Académies of Pierre-Paul Prud’hon

Prud'hon drew from the figure throughout his career, and now those "académies" anchor his reputation. How did he draw such stunning figure studies?

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Understanding Anatomy: Drawing the Ear

The term ear generally refers to the whole complex sense apparatus that detects sound. This organ is composed of a cartilaginous outer ear that catches sound waves, an air-filled middle ear that turns these sound waves into vibrations, and a liquid-filled inner ear that converts these vibrations into nerve signals.

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