Advice on Painting from John Singer Sargent

Thomas Jefferson Kitts has done us all a favour and created a digital version - and an ebook in pdf format - of two second-hand accounts of Sargent's teaching and painting methods. One of these is as recounted by the Honorable Evan Charteris, K.C. in his 1927 biographical book, "Sargent" (now out of print).

I've previously read accounts of how Sargent painted - based on those who observed and recorded what he said. However it's nice to be able to read it in an attractive format - albeit online

The difference with this version is that Kitts has added his own annotations - in red ink - to the original text and has also presented it rather well in pdf format.

You can download the pdf file for Advice on Painting from John Singer Sargent from Google Drive

If you prefer you can go to the original digital archive of the book from the Internet Archive - see
John Sargent by Charteris, Evan.
People always think the subject of this painting is John Singer Sargent - but it's not.

The painting is by Sargent - but it's called Reconnoitring and it's a portrait of the painter Ambrogio Raffele. It's currently on loan from Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Palazzo Pitti, Piazza Pitti 1 50125 Firenze, Italy to the National Portrait Gallery where you can see it in the Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends exhibition - on until 25 May 2015.

Artists prefer real art books (Poll result)

Two thirds of artists prefer real art books to ebooks about art.  However one third of those responding to the Making A Mark Opinion Poll in January read art instruction ebooks.  
Can we expect that this balance might change significantly in the next five years?

Making A Mark Poll: January 2013
number responding: 120; number of responses 189

The January Making A Mark Poll asked about ebooks for artists.  The aim of the poll was two-fold

1. to try and track whether there has been any significant change in the way artists consume art books.
2. to find out which type of ebooks artists like best

The poll revealed a number of interesting indications of how things have changed in the last couple of years.

• 120 artists responded suggesting that this sample, although self-selecting, should be pretty reliable in terms of how art book readership is changing
• They provided 189 responses because they could select all responses they agreed with
• The number of responses have been divided by the number of artists to provide a percentage figure which indicates what percentage of the artists indicated a specific response.
• the structure of the poll (multiple response) and the way the responses were phrased suggest that the types of books read and whether or not people could read ebooks are a pretty good indication of the current status quo on ebooks.

Key Findings

Reading Art Books

• Artists gets the most satisfying experience from real art books rather than ebooks - 63% of artists prefer real art books to ebooks about art
• many artists are following national trends and have tablets or ebook readers for reading ebooks - only 20% said they don't have an ebook reader
• almost all artists tend to read books about art - only 5% said they didn't read any kind of art book

It's not surprising that many artists prefer real art books.  The ability to scan images across a double page spread and to flick through a book looking at images - or what people have to say - is easier with a real art book than an ebook reader.  The latter work fine for text but less well when the text comes with images - unless the layout has been very carefully thought through and uses hyperlinking for navigation.  

I've personally noticed that the performance of both publishers and ereaders are very variable at the moment in terms of formatting and readability and I think it's very likely this influences some of the responses.  What do you think?

The figures also indicate that it's very likely that more artists have tried ebooks than currently read them.  Publishers need to find out what it is that deters people from ebooks about art.

Which type of art ebook works best?

This is a problematical area as it's highly dependent on what artists have selected to read as ebooks. Pne of the interesting aspects about art is that the drive to make books more accessible has put a lot of the older art instruction textbooks online and these can be read for free.  (see The Practice and Science of Drawing and In praise of older art books - free and digital)

I was very surprised at what a high percentage of artists are using ebooks - particularly for art instruction.

• 30% read art instruction ebooks
• 20% read art history ebooks
• 15% read art business ebooks

I'm guessing, from my experience of trawling through the art books on Amazon, that the percentages reading different types of art book relate in part to the fact that, for example, there are many more art instruction books than there are art business books.

It also occurred to me that those who bought early versions of ebook readers which can only cope with black and white would not bother to buy an illustrated art book until such time as they had access to a colour screen

Conclusion

It's been an interesting poll.  While I always expected most people to prefer real art books the nature of some of the responses were very interesting.  

I was left wondering whether the 30% who are reading the art instruction ebooks are the counterpart to the 63% who prefer real art books.  I now expect that in five years time, we will have a very different status quo.

For me, the critical issue in terms of how things change in the future is going to be the formatting of art books and people being able to access ebook readers which can cope with colour.  There's nothing publishers (or artists/authors) can do about the technology end of things except run to keep up with the changes.  Those publishers who will do well will be those that create layouts and formats which work well on a screen - no matter what the size of the screen.

The February Making A Mark Poll will be posted on Saturday 2nd February.

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Your NEW Favourite Art Books

What are your favourite art books from the last three years?  

Are they better or worse than previous favourite art books and, if so, why?  

PLUS Do you now read ebooks about art?

Popular art books according to Good Reads

Three years ago, in January 2009, I started the year by writing on this blog about what was happening to art books and the publishing industry.

At the time it was very apparent that a shift was happening within the book industry:

• the impact of digital technology would mean that books in the future would be very different
• that in turn meant there were major implications for the cost structures within publishing and distribution channels for selling books

It also seemed as if there was never a better time for artists to take more control over content and production - if they were so minded.  (Since then I've instituted the Making A Mark Award at the end of each tyear for The Best Book by an Art Blogger Blue Ribbon)

This led to asking people about art books and we all had a major discussion  on this blog about what was happening with art instruction books and the woeful way the content of some art instruction books had been downsized and downgraded.

Out of this came a post Your favourite art books - what you like.

It summarised your views into three categories

• your favourite art books - ones which you've found very helpful
• why you buy and read art books
• your views as to the characteristics of a good art book

I also listed all those books which you liked and found valuable.

Out of this I built a website.  I guess I was wanting to make sure that the good art books didn't get buried!   However I shouldn't have worried as Artists' Favourite Art Books has remained perennially popular with readers of this blog and visitors to my 'resources for artists' websites for the last three years.

I'm now thinking it's time to do an update and identify what are our favourite art books of the last three years.  However. this time around I'd like to suggest some categories as a prompt.  I's also like to ask you about ebooks for art.

What are your NEW favourite art books - published in the last three years?

Have a think about NEW art books (published in 2010, 2011 or 2012) 

Which art books have you most enjoyed reading and/or learning from?

Which have become NEW favourite art books?  

Are they better or worse than your favourite art books from the past? Why do you think that is?

Here's some prompts to get you started.  You don't have to stick to these but you may find them helpful in reminding you about those books which have become your NEW FAVOURITES.

Please share your NEW FAVOURITES with us all via the comments to this blog post

DRAWING

Which is your FAVOURITE BOOK about:

• sketching
• drawing
• how to draw for beginners
• how to draw for advanced artists
• how to draw people
• how to draw landscapes and buildings
• how to draw (whatever)

PAINTING

Which is your FAVOURITE BOOK about:

• painting
• oil painting
• acrylic painting
• watercolour painting
• painting realism
• painting with imagination
• how to paint (whatever)

ART BASICS

• colour
• composition and design
• artistic practice (whatever)

ARTISTS & ART HISTORY

Which is your favourite book about

• an artist
• an art movement
• specific subject matter (whatever)
• an exhibition

ART EBOOKS

• Which is your favourite art ebook?

I'm also particularly interested to hear whether or not you're a convert to ebooks and, if so, which sort of books work best as ebooks.

At the end of the month I'll do a round up and we can see which of the books published in the last three years have had the most impact.

MAM POLL (January 2013) - Do you read art ebooks?

I've also set up the Making A Mark Poll for January with a question which is a bit easier to answer - the question is Do you read art ebooks?

I'd love to know which books work best on the Kindle, Nook or iPad.

The possible answers - and you can click more than one are:

• Yes - I read art instruction ebooks
• Yes - I read art history ebooks
• Yes - I read art business ebooks
• No - I don't have an ebook reader
• No - there are none I want to buy
• No - I prefer real art books
• I don't read any sort of art book

The poll is in the right hand column - just below the subscription section - and closes on 31st January.  There'll be a post later that day to say what the results are

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OCAD / Pearson Art Textbook Update

This is an update on the story about the $180 set text for an Ontario College of Art and Design's new art history course - which had absolutely no pictures of the artwork it was referencing.  Instead there were just a lot of empty image frames. (See Art History - a set text book with no pictures!)

This empty frame normally contains a rather good still life by Cezanne
which hangs in the Musee d'Orsay
Photograph © Katherine Tyrrell (2009)

I've received a comment from OCAD which in turn has highlighted their official response and I'm reproducing both of them below.  Along with some references to Pearson Publishing's approach to creating learning materials - and my comments on the whole affair.

Let me say at the outset that I think there are some lessons for everybody - art schools, publishers, parents and students.

It's very apparent to me that the fact that a concerned parent went public and his network took the story viral around the world means there has been a fast response.  It's to their credit that the College and the Publisher have responded quickly to the concerns being expressed.  The College has listened to the concerns of the students and the publisher would now like to get the book out of circulation asap.  Plus there are some proposals as to how the matter might be resolved for this year.

However I'm still left with the impression that people are still looking at the wrong problem - of which more in my analysis and comments at the end.

First the update on the situation - and then my analysis.

The American Drawing Book

I've found another ebook on the Internet - a digital version of a very old book about drawing called The American Drawing Book: a manual for the amateur, and basis of study for the professional artist: especially adapted to the use of public and private schools, as well as home instruction by John Gadsby Chapman.

This is the page introducing Chapter - the section on etching and engraving

John Gadsby Chapman (1808 - 1889) was an American artist famous for The Baptism of Pocahontas, which was commissioned by the United States Congress and hangs in the United States Capitol rotunda.
Wikipedia - John Gadsby Chapman

The book was first published in 1847 and it's basic premise is that......

"Anyone who can learn to write, can learn to draw."

It's an awful lot of text and quite a lot of drawings too although you need to progress through the book to start finding these.  The one digitised by Google comes from the Fogg Museum of Art at Harvard University.

You can also read it online via an edition digitised by the Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture. and it's also available on a number of other sites.

I found it easier to download it as a pdf file from Google Books which then makes it much easier to scroll through looking at the different sections because you're putting less strain on your internet connection.
 
Its contents include:

1. Chapter I. Primary instructions in drawing., pp. 11-34
2. Chapter II. The rudiments of drawing. The human head., pp. 35-[57] ff.
3. Chapter III. Rudiments of drawing.--The human figure., pp. [59]-90
4. Chapter IV. The rudiments of drawing. Of manner or method--the act of writing, in connexion [sic] with drawing--general instructions, etc.--Conclusion., pp. 91-112
5. Chapter V. Elements of geometry, pp. 113-124
6. Chapter VI. Perspective--its principles, rules, and practical application., pp. 125-168
7. Chapter VII. [Studying and sketching from nature.], pp. 169-208
8. Chapter VIII. Painting, pp. [209]-252
9. Chapter IX. Etching and engraving, pp. [253]-278
10. Chapter X. Modeling, pp. [279]-286
11. Chapter XI. Of composition.--Hints of methods of original productions, etc. Conclusion., pp. [287]-304 ff.

I've not heard of it before and have been dipping in and out of it so have no view at present about how good or otherwise it might be at present.  You can get a feel for what it covers by reviewing the very extensive Contents page and Introduction.

Do let me know, by leaving a comment, what you make if it.


If you're interested in older text books about drawing which have now been converted into ebooks see also an earlier book I identified - The Practice and Science of Drawing

Does your artistic creativity need a stimulus?

Benoit Phillipe (My French Easel) has produced an e-book Creative Exercises for Artists and Everyone Else which has all the makings of a 'standard' for those wishing to develop their artistic skills and creativity.

Benoit told me

This 36 page eBook is a collection of 17 practical exercises for artists. I have learnt some of them over the years and designed some to fulfil my own needs. I am a painter, so most of these exercises are visual ones. However, many of them do not require specific artistic skills and are suitable for anyone regardless of their age or level of artistic ability

I've taken a look at it and read all the exercises he identifies in this book. Those who have had some art school training or have had the benefit of tuition from good visual art tutors will recognise a number if not all of the exercises. However they are rarely all brought together like this in just one book.

I think Benoit has created a really helpful resource:

• for hobby artists to share with their friends
• for tutors to share with their classes
• for semi-professional and professional artists to use as a 'wake-up' call if their creativity or art has lost a certain "je ne sais quoi"
  

The next best thing about this e-book is that it is FREE.

You can find out more about “Creative Exercises for Artists and Everyone Else” in his post Creative exercises for artists.

You can also:

• read the book on screen as a slideshow (see below)
  
• download it as a pdf file and read using Adobe Reader

Creative Exercises For Artists

View more presentations from MyFrenchEasel.

In praise of older art books - free and digital

As anybody who reads this blog or any of my other blogs will know I like books! After all who needs to make choices about colour schemes or wallpapers when you can have book shelves and art lining your walls instead!

Seriously, I've come very late in the day to the notion of buying used books on the internet. I've also only just started to investigate the digital books which are available to read for free (or download as a file) on the Internet.

However I'd like to announce that I'm now convinced that there is huge value to be gained from investigating the books which you won't find in your local book store or on the current directory of publications of your favourite art book publisher.

• Today I'm going to write about digital art books on the internet
• Tomorrow I'm going to highlight some tips about buying used books online
  

Digital books

Older Books - recent posts

I've posted this week and last about two old books which are out of print but which are availabke to read for free on the Internet or which can be downloaded in various file formats

• Art Instruction: Drawing and Painting Landscapes in Watercolour is an art instruction book by Sir Francis Nicholson, one of the founders of the society which became the Royal Watercolour Society. It was published in London in the early nineteenth century and is about drawing and painting landscapes in watercolour
• The Practice and Science of Drawing available to download on the Project Gutenberg site is by Harold Speed (1872-1957), was an English artist, who studied at the Royal Academy Schools and subsequently became a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Artists.

What I'm finding characterises these books is that they are NOT dumbed down for beginners.

Instead they assume they are going to be read by people who want to learn all they can about how to draw and paint. They're long on text and have fewer images than many modern art instruction books which is not to say they don't have any at all. They're just NOT advocating or following a spoon-feeding step by step approach to art instruction.

More to the point, some of these books explain aspects of technique which often get skipped over in modern art instruction books.

If you're interested in approaches to art instruction used in the past you'll find these books absorbing. If you want to know more about the media approaches used in the past you won't mind digging around in these to find the 'gold nuggets' which they contain

Contemporary art e-books

As an aside, although not older books, it's worth highlighting that more and more artists are publishing their contributions to art instruction as e-books.

Deborah Secor is also pioneering a new way of publishing a book online via a blog called Landscape Painting in Pastels - which was featured on my art of the landscape blog yesterday in Art Instruction: Landscape Painting in Pastels

Pastel Landscapes
by Deborah Christensen Secor

How to find and access the older art book - free digital and online

Obviously you need to be online. You also need to be predisposed to reading online whether on a computer or a bit of kit which reads e-books as there is no point in printing these books out! You also need to like searching through directories and files because there's not a out there as yet.

Books I'm searching for are essentially in the public domain and their copyright has expired or a contemporary auuthor has chosen to exercise a form of copyright which permits free distribution for educaitonal use.

I'm still working my way through which sites provide a digital directory of books which exist - and how to buy them online (which is irrelvant to the free digital book for downloading) and those sites which genuinely provide access to digital books. There's also a bunch of sites which are about providing directories for digital libraries of ebooks which are not very accessible. Then there's the ones which look like they're going to be about books but which turn out to be trying to be like mini specialised search engines !

Places which definitely contain art books which have been digitalised are as follows:

• Google Books. This contains information about virtually all current books in publication and a lot of books which are out of print. Some of the books in its database are very old. You can view books which have been digitalised in one of three ways Limited preview and full view; full view only; and Public domain only. You can often read bits. Lerss often you can read the full book. They also have a section on Classics (with free EPUB downloads) but this isn't easy to search. I recommend using the advanced seach facility to find books which may be interesting. Bear in mind this works pretty much like a library or book store where something sounds about right and then is really boring when you begin to look in more detail. Plus it's always worth investigating some tenuous links to your interests as these can sometimes throw up really good results. So basically a bookworm predisposition to seaching in libraries will help a great deal. I've gone down a number of blind allies trying to get my search terms right!
  
• Project Gutenberg is the first and largest single collection of free electronic books, or eBooks. Its structure is not great for searching so again you have to get your detective hat out to track down good books.
  

Wikibooks is supposed to be creating open content textbooks. It has a visual arts section and an Art History section - but neither are well developed as yet. This project gives the impression of being a bit confused at the moment and doesn't sdeem have much to offer in terms of digital books for download.

Future posts

I'm going to continue to search the internet and try and find digital art books which can be read in their entirety online. I'd be very interested to know your perspective on them.

Tomorrow I'm going to write some more about the value of older books - bought second hand!