Christopher Lloyd's 'L'arte del disegno' explores Impressionist and Post-Impressionist drawing
Christopher Lloyd's essay 'L'arte del disegno' (Einaudi, 2020) argues that drawing is central to understanding Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. Lloyd challenges the cliché that these movements only painted en plein air, noting that while Monet, Pissarro, Van Gogh, and Gauguin worked outdoors, Degas, Seurat, and Toulouse-Lautrec focused on domestic or public interior scenes. Degas famously said he was bored by nature. Lloyd contends that artists collected material outside and completed works in the studio. The book features twenty artists with introductory profiles, highlighting Degas, Van Gogh, and Cézanne as those who pushed drawing to its limits. Degas's 1882 pastel 'At the Milliner's' addresses the coexistence of genre and still life by emphasizing hats in the foreground. Van Gogh's 'La Crau from Montmajour' (1888) vibrates with life using carpenter's pencils, reeds, and goose quills. Cézanne's 'The Roofs at L'Estaque' combines pencil, watercolor, and lyrical outlines. Lloyd aims to abolish the hierarchy that placed drawing secondary to painting.
Key facts
- Christopher Lloyd authored 'L'arte del disegno' published by Einaudi in 2020.
- The book focuses on Impressionist and Post-Impressionist drawing.
- Lloyd argues drawing is key to understanding revolutionary art by Pissarro, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Degas, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, Mary Cassatt, and Odile Redon.
- Lloyd challenges the notion that Impressionists and Post-Impressionists only painted en plein air.
- Degas, Seurat, and Toulouse-Lautrec preferred domestic or public interior subjects.
- Degas stated he was bored by nature.
- Artists collected material outdoors and completed works in the studio.
- Degas, Van Gogh, and Cézanne are identified as the three who pushed drawing to its limits.
- Degas's 'At the Milliner's' (1882) uses pastel to emphasize hats in the foreground.
- Van Gogh's 'La Crau from Montmajour' (1888) uses carpenter's pencils, reeds, and goose quills.
- Cézanne's 'The Roofs at L'Estaque' combines pencil, watercolor, and lyrical outlines.
- The book includes 288 pages and costs €60.
Entities
Artists
- Christopher Lloyd
- Eugène Delacroix
- Charles Baudelaire
- Claude Monet
- Camille Pissarro
- Vincent van Gogh
- Paul Gauguin
- Edgar Degas
- Georges Seurat
- Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
- Mary Cassatt
- Odile Redon
- Paul Cézanne
- Fausto Politino
Institutions
- Einaudi
- The British Museum
- Artribune
Locations
- London
- United Kingdom
- La Crau
- Montmajour
- L'Estaque
- France