A Renaissance of Figure Drawing

Thanks to AJ

"When it comes to swimming against the tide, Olympic gold medals should go to all representational artists. For half a century, they have been almost completely ignored by museums, boycotted by prestigious galleries and scoffed at by critics." Still, a Renaissance of figure drawing has been evident for some years, led by countless amateurs and enthusiasts, and embraced by a few diehard pros. But "in a society that values quick and easy success... and when so many galleries and museums prefer to give their space to video art, conceptual art and installation art, why do so many keep struggling to master a skill that art critics insist is anachronistic and old hat? Why this continuing compulsion to draw?"

Please read the entire book review in the New York Times, and then print it and send it to every curator and art critic that you know.

And is this topical to the three Trawick Prize curators! I will make sure that they (a) get a copy of my review once it is published, and (b) a copy of the NY Times piece.

The book by Peter Steinhart is "The Undressed Art: Why We Draw," and it is now on my to-read list.

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Article Author: Lenny Campello

F. Lennox Campello is a widely published Washington, DC based art critic, as well as an award winning artist and curator. He is also often heard on NPR and the Voice of America discussing visual art issues. …

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