Charles Bargue Drawing Class - September 2004

The drawings in this exhibition were created by the MFA class of 2006 as part of a drawing workshop held at the Dahesh Museum.  The intensive workshop served as an introduction to the school and its curriculum, held on Saturday-Sunday, September 11-12, 2004. This work represents a study of the Cours de dessin drawing course published by the French artist Charles Bargue between 1868 and 1871, with the collaboration of Jean-Leon Gerome.

The Cours de dessin comprises lithographed drawings intended to improve artists' drawing skills in the academic tradition.   It was developed at a time when the precise imitation of nature, especially the human body, was a principal artistic aim of artists, and includes instruction in cast drawing, copying the Old Masters, and drawing from the live model.   Used extensively in the 19th century by art students, the drawing manuals captured the attention of young artists who became early modernists, including van Gogh and Picasso, thus forming a thread of continuity connecting the established to the revolutionary in art.

Special Thanks to: The Villore Fund and The Dahesh Museum

Hung by Raphael Sassi and John Jacobsmeyer