Käthe Kollwitz

Käthe Kollwitz was a German artist primarily working with drawing, printmaking and sculpture. The main bulk of her work contains the constant theme of sorrow and loss, possibly intigated by the loss of her son and grandson during WWII. Kollwitz was the first woman ever to be allected to the Prussian Academy, and up until the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, taught at the Berlin Academy. Even after resign due to the Nazi party condemning her work, they without consent used her art in their propaganda. Kollwitz was a socialist and pacifist.

I find Kollwitz’s drawings stunning and I aspire to work as freely and expressively as her, her portraiture captures form and emotion flawlessly. This inspired me to reduce my control of the medium I use in some my work in this project. Hands can be seen throughout her portraiture, expressing emotion as much as any facial expression, this can be seen in later works in my WAWWA project. Kollwitz uses her freedom of mark making to create focal points in her work, areas of detail catch your eye and while looser more expressive parts create energy within the works. This is something I would like to take forward into my drawing style, being able to guide the viewer is essential to a successful work.

Lucian Freud

Lucian Freud was an artist specializing in figurative work born in Berlin Germany to Jewish parents. He fled to England as the Nazi’s rose to power. His work was heavily influenced by surrealism but as he refined his style he became more interested in realism. His early works were created in a meticulous style, with very precise brushstrokes and thinly painted dull colours. As his career progressed he began using broader brushstrokes concentrating more on capturing form. His work often has an eerie atmosphere and explores the sometimes uncomfortable relationship between model and artist. It is said that Lucian would ask his his models to sit for excruciatingly long times.

I am most fascinated by Freud’s drawings, and the way in which he depicted form. His images often skew proportions and include unusual juxtapositions to create very distinct, memorable and sometimes unnerving artworks. This approach influenced the way in which I explored perspective in my domestic drawings. the drawing style with which Freud created form, the cross hatching and linework is a technique I have tried to include in my own work. I am also captivated my the eerie atmosphere he created in his work, and would like to explore the juxtaposition of unusual subject matter in my own work.

Ian Hodgson

Ian Hodgson is a British artist based in Brighton. His work is often figurative but also explores abstract environmental drawings. Hodgson describes the theme of his work as ‘hard gritty undertones softened by ethereal overtones’. Hodgson graduated from Bradford, Yorkshire with a first class degree at the age of thirty after a life of working everyday jobs, which he has continued to do in order to support the growth of his career. His work has now reached around the globe, with clothing store chains using his niche work on the walls of the shops, and art brands such as Derwent using his work to promote their products.

I was first captivated by Hodgson’s figurative drawings but the area of his work that helped inspire my work this project were his environmental drawings. His use of monochromatic colour palettes and linear style drawing demonstrated to me how effective simple drawings can be. This simplicity is not a sign of a less successful work, but shows the importance of the artists role in drawing out the most essential elements of an image. A lot of Hodgson’s drawing work from dark background with light mediums, this accentuates and amplifies each mark and helps create striking images. I sadly did not have access to dark colour paper, but explored this approach using ink washes.

Tracy Emin

Tracy Emin is a British artist working out of London. Emin’s work spans A variety of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, film and photography. Her work often depict her past, and it is not uncommon for them to include text. Tracy Emin’s work is almost autobiographical and explores brutal honesty about difficult to talk about subjects. I was initially wary of Emin’s work the first I heard about her was through her politics, but after visiting one of her her exhibitions at the white cube in London, I began to appreciate the work she creates, specifically her drawings.

During lockdown, Emin has been working on drawings inspired by domestic solitude. The drawing’s she created seem to come from a very similar place as the developmental drawing project. The way in which she expressively depicted her environment resonates with me. I feel she was coming from a similar place to me with my blue biro drawings of my environment where I reduced my control over the used medium. Emin’s drawing concentrate less on being analytical and more on capturing emotion and atmosphere, this is something I have aspired to achieve through some of works. Moving forward I will experiment with using paintbrushes much like how Emin worked.