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7. The General Effect
The gradual development of the main masses.
Q: Do you really mean that you begin straight away
with the brush?
"Why, of course. With my brush I paint in a few
lines to indicate the placing of the figure on the canvas.
As a first step this is essential since the way in which
the figure is placed in the space available is vitally
important in the decorative arrangement of the picture.
It is the foundation of the whole design."
Q: What next?
"I begin to deal with the head, seeking to express
by means of light and shade the construction of the
skull and defining accurately the larger planes. In
this I aim always at as correct a realization as possible
of the tones of nature which I see before me, and I
strive constantly to establish the exact relation between
the head and its surroundings. All this is a process
of gradual building up, but, mind you, it must be done
rapidly and directly."
8. The Evolution of Detail
Indicating the
general form
of the mouth.
Q: I take it that at this stage you are dealing only
with the general effect; when do you begin to concern
yourself with the details?
"How can you separate details from the general
effect? The details are a part of the general effect
and come gradually and naturally as I develop it."
Q: But surely you cannot get correctness in your
forms without drawing them precisely?"
"Can't you see that I have been doing nothing
else but drawing from the beginning? I draw by putting
lights and shades in their right places, expressing
the forms thereby."
Q: It seems to me that you have been painting all
the time, not drawing.
"Certainly you have seen me painting all the time,
but whatever I do in the way of putting down lights
and shades in their correct relationship to one another
develops naturally both likeness and character, and
that is what I call drawing. . Don't you realize that
I draw with the brush and that all my painting is drawing?"
Q: I am sorry to have been so dense, but I think
I grasp your meaning now. May I suggest, though, that
while we have been talking, your sitter has got very
tired and ought to have a rest.
"You are quite right, a rest is overdue. I do
not usually go on long enough to bring my sitter so
near to collapse and on this occasion I fear that I
have been too exacting. But my excuse must be that I
was especially anxious to secure a record of the fascinating
movement and expression which Miss Ffrangcon-Davies
is giving me before any change was made in the pose."
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he
brilliant Hungarian artist, Philip Alexius de László,
1869-1937, was the successor (in 1907) to Sargent's portrait practice
in London. In 1933 de László demonstrated his dashing
technique in a series of photographs, while answering questions
posed by the writer A.L. Baldry. The photos and text were published
in 1934 by The Studio Publications of London, in volume six of their
"How to Do It" series.