Drapery as Life

An earlier post introduced the problem of educating the artist, especially today.

There is so much to say about the education in the past! The past is such a big place, after all. Artists need to be bold about taking ideas from the past, particularly when the current goes against the practice. Certainly for ideas to be of use, you must thoroughly assimilate them -- to the point where they feel completely like your own ideas. When you can no longer see the seam that separates you from the past, then you own the idea.

One of the topics of past art pedagogy was the "drapery study." It's had a long life, had a very powerful modern life (think of the big two: Picasso, Matisse). Think of their common ancestor, Cezanne.

The drapery study may not be for everyone, but for some it is such a pure and rich form. Look again at Mme Moitessier and consider how much the forms of her dress, its dimensionality, adds to the force and dignity of the picture. Drawing draperies is a study in how abstract shapes can communicate ideas.

Now we come to the amazing example at the top of the blog, Fra Angelico's Tranfiguration. So much of Jesus's transcendence and peace is communicated through the folds of his cloak. If, in a book, you look at a detail of the painting -- if all you knew of the image were the folds of the garment, you would already understand and receive so much of the feeling that the artist intends. This is a quality that Matisse tried to explain to people when he said that a painting communicates its meaning from a distance, from the forms of the whole, from the view in a glance, before you are quite sure what you're actually looking at. The first meaning is hidden in the very structures of things. And the structures of Angelico's draperies are wise and pure.