Master Sketches: Timed Figure Drawings

Archival Arts Inc, 2012. First Edition. Paperback. Fine. Signed. Large format paperback, 2012. Signed and dated "9/3/2012" by the author on the front free endpaper. Gathers over 100 timed figure drawings by Baltimore artist Gerald Doyle, presented as instruction and inspiration to both aspiring and experienced artists. In 1944, Doyle entered the Maryland Institute of Art at age 16, and became one of Jacques Maroger's earliest students. Maroger and the Maryland Institute are well known for the school of artists that became known as the Baltimore Realists. Citing the stunning cave drawings of Lascaux and Chauvet, from the dawn of human artistic sense, Doyle stresses the importance of line technique in a successful figure drawing. "[T]he sketcher creates a cloud of soft lines each getting progressively truer until the beautiful line that is being sought emerges. This is, in effect, sneaking up on the drawing." While this is presented as an instructional work, it is really more inspirational - there are discussions of technique and the "how to" of life sketching, but the broader emphasis is perhaps philosophical. "Why" and "What" more than "How". Why do we draw, and what makes a drawing succeed? And above all, it is the wonderful sketches themselves, each specifically noted with the number of minutes, which will inspire the artist.