Ressource pédagogique : ‘As Whimsical and Chimearical as their Forms Are’ : Ornamental and Fanciful Motives in English Drawing Books / Bénédicte Miyamoto

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‘As Whimsical and Chimearical as their Forms Are’ : Ornamental and Fanciful Motives in English Drawing Books / Bénédicte Miyamoto, in colloque international organisé, sous la responsabilité scientifique de Muriel Adrien, Melissa Percival et Axel Hémery, par l’Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès et l’Université d’Exeter. Toulouse, Musée Paul-Dupuy, 3-4 décembre 2015. In 1715, Jonathan Richardson recommended in his Essay on the Theory of Painting “that all creatures of the Imagination ought to have Airs and Actions given ‘em as Whimsical and Chimaerical as their Forms are,” and his personal collection of drawing dispersed upon his death had many an example of such “Grotesques.” This collection advertised what his writings on art had recommended – that lovers of art should train their connoisseurship by becoming familiar with drawing, and the fruitful comparison between ancient and modern master’s drawings. The production of drawing books and drawing manuals in England was not entirely devoted to the reproduction of European norms – and indeed, the translations of Lomazzo or de Lairesse’s works in England were transformed, purged and English’d sometimes with considerable freedom. Increasingly, such manuals become repositories of patterns and “Whimsical and Chimearical“ forms, distancing themselves from repetitive anatomical sketches to present variations of figures and creatures to be freely associated in amateur composition or in decorative motives. Creativity thus engaged the readers of such manuals to diverge from the norms and rules offered by the translated texts, and to focus instead on the increasingly abounding picture plates, and their seemingly never-ending narrative possibilities. My study will engage with the recurring motives that criss-cross British drawing manuals and fancy pictures. Advertisements for drawing academies and trade cards for drawing masters – which could not display the wealth of examples a full drawing manual could – often chose the chimerical, ornamental or fanciful motives to best advertise their talents. Thus it indicated a certain formalisation of amateur draughtsmanship, of its methods and of its appropriate and most popular subjects – a formalisation that was also reflected in the limited scope of cheap drawing books.

"Domaine(s)" et indice(s) Dewey

• Art de 1700 à 1799 (XVIIIe siècle) (709.033)
• Dessin des figures humaines (formes drapées, nus, ouvrages généraux) (743.4)
• Recueils de dessins (1400-1799) (741.923)

Thème(s)