Life drawing: the nude and the ideal
Five-week practical evening course
25 February 2019 6.15 - 9.15pm4 March 2019 6.15 - 9.15pm11 March 2019 6.15 - 9.15pm18 March 2019 6.15 - 9.15pm25 March 2019 6.15 - 9.15pm
The Life Room, RA Schools, Piccadilly
£480. Includes all materials, light refreshments and a drinks reception at the end of the final session.
The Renaissance Nude
Terms and conditions
Drawing inspiration from the Renaissance Nude exhibition at the RA, this practical and historical drawing course explores the nude as a motif by focusing on drawing from antiquity to the contemporary.
“This great ideal perfection and beauty are not to be sought in the heavens, but upon the earth. They are about us and on every side of us….the whole beauty and grandeur of the art consists, in my opinion, in being able to get above all singular forms, local customs, particularities, and details of every kind.” – Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723 – 1792)
The earliest images of the human figure known to us, portrayed in the form of nudes, appear during the Paleolithic period c.28,000 - 25,000 years ago. In the 5th Century B.C. in Ancient Greece nudes were created in the newly discovered language of naturalism and realism, but with an anatomical artifice in the pursuit of the ideal.
In Europe, it wasn’t until the Renaissance period that the nude reappears in art, reviving the classical concepts of the ideal. At this time, proportions of the human figure were constructed for their aesthetic virtue rather than their literal value. Great examples include Leonardo da Vinci’s divine proportioned Vitruvian Man, Sandro Botticelli’s mythological The Birth of Venus, Titian’s beauty within The Venus of Urbino and, of course, Michelangelo’s paintings and sculptures.
From the 17th Century onwards, traditional figurative concepts of the ideal were questioned by artists: was the human form to be depicted as an idealised ‘nude’ or as a fully representational ‘naked’ form, as in Rembrandt’s etching, Naked Woman Seated on a Mound of 1631.
The re-emergence of the ideal and the move away from the literal reappear in France during the first half of the 19th Century in the works of the Neo-Classical artist, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and, however profoundly different they may look, similar concepts are explored by fellow Frenchman, Henri Matisse, during the first half of the following century.
What of Post-War and 21st Century ideas of depicting the human form? Questions whether a ‘nude’ or the ‘naked’ resurface. If we accept that all art must be made abstract, just how abstract, and in which direction do we go?
This course endeavours to explore the language of drawing through such dialogue and discourse while encouraging participants to develop a personal language of their own whilst drawing.
This course will take place on consecutive Monday evenings in intensive 3 hour sessions.
This course will take place on consecutive Monday evenings
Each session runs from 6.15pm to 9.15pm
Week one - Monday 25 February
The Ideal & Antiquity: measurement & proportion
Week two - Monday 4 March
The Renaissance nude
Week three - Monday 11 March
The Renaissance and beyond: nude or naked?
Week four - Monday 18 March
The re-emergence of the point of departure: 19th to 20th Century
Week five - Monday 25 March
The Modern & Contemporary
About the course
This exciting and dynamic drawing and ideas based course, both practical and historical, looks at the nude as a form of art structured over five consecutive weeks under the guidance of painter and expert tutor Andy Pankhurst.
The course will focus on various conceptual and abstract languages of drawing, from antiquity to the contemporary, to enable participants to contextualise the aesthetics of their own work. Participants will work perceptually from a variety of both male and female life models, with a structured combination of both long and short poses, while using a variety and choice of drawing mediums, both wet and dry.
This course is suitable for all levels, but participants will ideally have some prior experience of drawing, painting or creative practice in general.
This course is for you if:
• You have an interest in drawing or some prior knowledge and would like to improve on existing skills
• You would like a new perspective in your approach to life drawing
• You would like to work within a small group in the historic setting of the Royal Academy’s Life Room, with one-on-one teaching and expert-led guidance
• You have no prior experience of life drawing but have an interest in the theory, practice and history of art and/or drawing from life
Minimum age 18
The number of participants is strictly limited to enable detailed feedback from the course tutor.
£480
Monday 25 February – Monday 25 March 2019
6.15pm to 9.15pm for each session (five sessions in total)
• An introduction to the RA with particular reference to works in the Collection
• The opportunity to work from both male and female professional life models throughout the course
• All specialist practical art materials
• Course learning materials and hand-outs
• Refreshments at the beginning of each session
• A drinks reception at the end of the final session
• A certificate of participation upon course completion
About the tutor
Andy Pankhurst
Upon graduation from the Slade School of Fine Art in 1992, Andy Pankhurst won first prize in the Windsor and Newton Young Artist’s Award and was represented by leading gallery Anthony Mould Contemporary Ltd.
In the same year, he was awarded the Richard Ford Scholarship by the Royal Academy, with which he travelled to Spain to study the Old Masters in the Prado. He subsequently became a committee member of the award in 2003, nominated by Christopher Le Brun PRA, alongside former Keeper of the Royal Academy, Maurice Cockrill RA. Through the Boise Travel Scholarship, he later lived in the Veneto area of Italy, studying primarily Giotto and the Venetian School.
As a figurative painter, Andy Pankhurst is known as an artist and teacher working from the life model. Andy’s work is represented in various public, corporate and private collections and museums in the UK and USA. Andy currently exhibits with Browse and Darby in London, with his most recent show of paintings and drawings in 2014. He is the co-author with Lucinda Hawksley of the book What Makes Great Art?, published in 2012 by Apple Press.
About the space
The Life Room
The Royal Academy’s historic Life Room sits at the heart of the RA Schools. Usually closed to the public, this unique and significant space was designed in the 1860s, when the galleries and art school first moved to Burlington Gardens.
The semi-circular seating arrangement, based on an ancient design, traces its British history back to Hogarth’s Academy in St Martin’s Lane from around 1730. Directional light is used to enhance the delineation of the model’s musculature and aid life drawing, which has been practised in this room by generations of Royal Academy artists and students.
Our courses and classes programme
Our varied programme of short courses and classes provides an opportunity to explore subjects ranging from life drawing to the history of exhibitions and arts management, led by expert tutors and practising artists. These courses introduce traditional art-making processes, as well as perspectives on art history, theory and business.